Brad Mayne has to get more than the 24 hours a day that other people get. How else do you explain how a man can take on prominent professional roles, participate in numerous civic volunteer positions, live as a devoted family man and serve actively in his church?
The public assembly venue industry knows Mayne as one of its most visible, recognized and respected professionals spanning a number of decades.
As of July 19, Mayne takes on a new role — president and chief executive officer of the International Association of Venue Managers. For Mayne, one of his stated immediate goals is to see as many IAVM members as possible, get to know them, understand their needs and help them become more successful in their careers. The first opportunity to do that comes at IAVM’s VenueConnect in Minneapolis July 23-26.
“I found that when I served on various boards and committees within the association that I met people who could further my career,” Mayne said. “I met other servant leaders. I’ve learned as I’ve served. Other people have that same opportunity and if they don’t want to serve, that’s fine, too. It is important for me to be transparent and have integrity in all that I do. I want the members to know that, and I do plan to meet as many as I can, beginning with VenueConnect.”
PAYING IT FORWARD
The timing was right for Mayne to return to Dallas/Fort Worth following a successful run when he opened MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. in 2012 and served as that National Football League venue’s president and CEO. With two daughters and eight grandchildren in the area and after having opened yet another venue in the American Airlines Center in Dallas in 2001, the Metroplex became home to Mayne and further cemented his decision to accept the offer to become the new leader at IAVM and fill a position which had been vacant since Vicki Hawarden’s departure in January of this year.
“I joined IAVM in 1987 and it has been a vital part of helping me enjoy the successes I have had in my career,” Mayne said. “It was just one year after I joined when I was at (Venue Management School) Oglebay and I sat down at lunch next to this gentleman who wanted to know a bit more about me, how long I had been with IAVM and as a volunteer. He kept asking all these questions and told me his name was Ray Ward and that he was the incoming president of the association and needed volunteers. He assigned me to chair the Awards Review Committee. I had also been asked at the last minute to teach that year at the school. What a great way to introduce me to what IAVM was all about.”
As much as IAVM has been a major part of Mayne’s career, when you drill down within IAVM you will discover a very special connection he has to the Venue Management School. Mayne “practices and preaches” education every opportunity he gets, and it is the week-long school in Wheeling, W. Va., where he receives and imparts much of that knowledge.
Following that impromptu teaching experience in 1988, Mayne became an instructor again in 1997 and has been one ever since. He has served as Dean of the VMS Graduate Institute since 2012 and was instrumental in getting approval for that school which finished its 11th year and focuses on leadership, a topic close to Mayne’s heart.
Mayne served as a regent on the VMS and GI Board of Regents from 1997-2006 and from 2008 to present and was Chair in 2005. Mayne received the VMS’s highest recognition in 2006 when he was bestowed the Ray Ward Award.
The list goes on and on of roles served and awards received for Mayne, but there was that one time when Mayne was preparing to serve as Chair of the IAVM Foundation when he had to say no due to a calling to be an ecclesiastical leader of his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
FAMILY MATTERS
Asked what gets him excited in his professional world, Mayne readily cites education and leadership and any opportunity he has to translate his experience and success to help others achieve the same regardless of the type or size of venue where they work.
But just as important in identifying the person that is Brad Mayne is understanding his devout faith and complete devotion to his family. It was, after all, one of the first things that Mayne underscored when discussing his relocation from the Big Apple to Big D. Family comes first, and even in the crazy and hectic world that has been public assembly venue management and now association management, Mayne believes strongly in striking a work-life balance.
“Family is very important to me as is my faith and eternal heavenly father and my lord Jesus Christ,” Mayne said. “It is very central to who I am. Being an ecclesiastic leader of large groups of individuals helps to define who I am. It gives meaning to life.”
Mayne said that he did not grow up active in the church but went because his friends attended church. It would be one of his best moves for yet another reason.
“I met this amazing young lady that I thought would be great to marry,” he said. “We started talking about it and she said that if I wanted to marry her I would have to be active in the church. I made that commitment to her and it’s the best decision I have made in my life. Cheryl has been my eternal companion and by my side and supportive for anything I have done. She has allowed me to volunteer my time also outside of the church to work in the communities where we have lived.”
Mayne is also a Scouting enthusiast, has served as a district chair and has served on Scouting councils in California, Texas and New Jersey.
“People always ask why I would be involved in scouting since I have three daughters,” Mayne said. “My answer is I wanted quality individuals for my daughters to be able to marry. Scouting finds a guy out. It teaches them the values that I live by, some of the things that I think are very specific to the needs and the wants of the family.”
During this interview a young grandson, Nicholas, had just come home following a trip and the excitement is evident in the voices of both grandfather and grandson as they see each other. With a third daughter and ninth grandchild in Medford, Ore., Mayne talks about his role in his family, yet another place where he can exercise leadership and education.
“I want to be a provider, protector, a loving and caring person,” he said. “It has always been about family first and foremost in everything that Cheryl and I do.”
With a schedule this full, it might surprise that Mayne actually not only has some outside interests and hobbies, including movies and fishing, but that he occasionally gets to do them.
It is time to go. Young Nicholas beckons, Mayne will leave the next day for a planned fishing trip to Alaska and then there is the business of leading IAVM looming soon on the horizon.
Interviewed for this story: Brad Mayne, (972) 906-7441