Global Spectrum has named David Aiello assistant general manager and director of Marketing for both Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell and Lowell Memorial Auditorium. Aiello, a five-year Global Spectrum employee, previously served as director of Marketing at Roanoke (Va.) Civic Center, where he also participated in the second annual Global Spectrum Leadership Institute. He first joined Global Spectrum as Marketing manager at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
There have been two new hires announced at the Public Assembly Facilities in Tacoma, Wash. Tom Alexander joins the City of Tacoma’s PAF Department as Booking manager. He brings more than 20 years of event and music industry experience, most recently working at Allen (Texas) Event Center Arena. He has also worked with Live Nation, AEG Live, and Sony Music Entertainment. Matt Balk joins the City of Tacoma as Operations manager for the PAF Department. Most recently, Balk served as director of Operations at the Stockton (Calif.) Events Center.
Comcast-Spectacor has named Robert Auritt as deputy general counsel, and has promoted three attorneys in the legal department. Auritt has more than 16 years of experience, most recently serving as senior counsel for NBC Sports Group. Brian Rothenberg has been promoted to VP and senior deputy general counsel. He will continue to serve as primary legal adviser to Global Spectrum, Ovations Food Services and Front Row Marketing. Betsy Brubaker McGill has been promoted to VP and deputy general counsel, and Linsey Levine has been appointed as Comcast-Spectacor’s chief compliance counsel.
AEG Ogden has named Malu Barrios GM of the Sydney Exhibition Centre at Glebe Island, an interim facility for conventions and exhibitions during the construction of International Convention Centre Sydney, due for completion December 2016. The Glebe Island Facility will be open for the 2014 season. She has spent the past five years overseeing the opening and success of the AEG Ogden-managed Darwin Convention Centre. Prior to her time in Darwin, Barrios was GM of Sydney Showground and events director at the Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre.
Eventbrite has hired Limvirak Chea as VP business development EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). Most recently, Chea worked for mobile advertising network InMobl, where he served as director business development EMEA and general manager, France. Before his time with InMobl, Chea worked on strategic partnerships at Google.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo didn’t have to look far for a new president and chief executive officer. Joel Cowley will lead the 81-year old event, having joined the show in 2005 as the executive director of agricultural competitions and exhibits. Before his time with Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Cowley worked for Certified Angus Beef, where he began as executive account manager in the international division and finished as assistant director of the food service division.
Global Spectrum has named Rebecca Goodman as director of Public Relations for the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Most recently, Goodman served as publicist for the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers. She joined Comcast-Spectacor in 2006 as an intern with the National Basketball Association’s Philadelphia 76ers.
The German Convention Bureau (GCB) has appointed Christine Koch to the newly created position of sustainability advisor. Koch helped develop the Sustainability Code for the meetings sector and worked on the Green Globe certification for the GCB. She joined the company in 2000.
ScoreBig.com has appointed two senior executives. David Marcus has been named senior vice president, partnerships. Previously, Marcus served as senior VP, worldwide artist services for Warner Music Group. Eric Wilson has been named senior VP, technology and product. He has more than 20 years of experience in software engineering, most recently serving as chief technology officer at Sidebar.
Steve Mariakis has joined the team at Edlen Electrical Services as general manager of Edlen’s Cleveland office. Mariakis brings more than 20 years of hospitality and trade show experience to his new position. Most recently, he served as the international tradeshow manager for Global Keratin. Mariakis has worked as a tradeshow and exhibit manager since 1993.
Legends has hired Shervin Mirhashemi as its new president and COO. He will open up a new West Coast office for Legends. Mirhashemi steps into the newly created position from AEG, where he spent 12 years. As AEG’s president of global partnerships, Mirhashemi was principally involved in brokering the naming rights deal for Farmers Field, AEG’s proposed NFL stadium in Los Angeles, and recently sold naming rights for StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.
SMG Canada has hired Ken Noakes as GM of the new St. Catharines (Ontario) Spectator Facility. He brings more than 20 years of facility management experience to his new position. Most recently, Noakes served as GM at the K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario, and has been in a regional position with SMG Canada. He also has served as GM of the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, B.C., and the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.
State Theatre in New Brunswick, N.J., has promoted Brian O’Boyle to VP of programming. He joined the facility in 2011 as director of programming. O’Boyle began his career at Radio City Music Hall in New York, where he spent almost a decade. He was also the owner and manager of promotion company Backline Concerts.
Rob Reed has been promoted to chief financial officer at AEG. Reed has served as CFO of AEG Facilities since 2008, and added the responsibility of chief operating officer of the division in 2011. He first joined AEG in 1999. Also, Mas Matsumoto was promoted to the newly-created position of chief accounting officer. Matsumoto joined AEG in 2001, most recently serving as executive VP and corporate controller.
The Mitch Schneider Organization (MSO) has promoted Jill Segal to the position of Associate Publicist/Tour Publicist. She began at MSO in 2011 as a part-time assistant, later moving up to executive assistant to vice president Alexandra Greenberg.
Robb Spitzer has been appointed to the newly-created role of managing director of Live Nation China Concerts. Spitzer has lived in China since 2003 when he joined Sony Music China. He also co-founded promoter China West and served at Ticketmaster China. Most recently, Spitzer worked as managing director of Radical Media’s Chinese subsidiary.
MARRIAGES
OLSEN-BRIGODE — Dave Olsen, executive vice president and general manager of PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C., married Marci Brigode, July 14. The wedding took place at a private residence on the Intracoastal Waterway in Swansboro, N.C.
BIRTHS
BOONE — Lexie Boone and Kim Boone welcomed Cora Blakely Boone, July 18. The baby girl weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces. Lexie Boone is the general manager of Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C. Kim Boone is the event coordinator for the department of Sport & Entertainment Management at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
PASSINGS
KIRK BREED — 73, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, Aug. 7 of cancer at a Sacramento, Calif.-area hospital. An Oklahoma native, Breed was a founding member of the Oklahoma Horse Council and a lobbyist. He was appointed GM of the California Exposition and State Fair in Sacramento in 1979, and was appointed to his post at the CHRB in 2008. Breed is survived by his wife Mary Ann, their daughter Cloe; three adult children, Ashley Neumann, Shayna Guigliano, and Monte Breed; three grandchildren, Wyatt and Halle Neumann, and Piper Guigliano; and his three sisters, Anna Osban, Gloria Headerlin, and Amelia Baugh.
JOHN R. “JOHNNIE” HOLMES — 88, former manager of the Arkansas State Fair, July 6 in Little Rock. Holmes became general manager of the state fair in 1975 after several years in broadcasting. In 1956, he became secretary-manager of the American Dairy Association of Arkansas. While managing the Arkansas State Fair, he was also secretary treasurer of the Arkansas Livestock Show Association and was named executive vice president in 1982. In 1992, Holmes received the National Future Farmers of America’s “Honorary American FFA Degree,” the highest award presented by the FFA. He retired from the fair in 1994, after which he became the first executive director of the National Independent Concessionaires Association. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Patte Holmes; a sister, Joan Etheridge; a brother, Patrick Lee Holmes; and three God-children, Pam Alagood Taylor, Greg Alagood and Nancy Alagood Meredith,
TURNER DAVID MADDEN, JR. — 61, lobbyist and lawyer, July 22 in Newark, Dela. Madden served as legal counsel and government affairs director for International Association of Venue Managers since 1996. Turner served as co-chair of the Department of Homeland Security’s Commercial Facilities Sector for many years. He was instrumental in IAVM’s relationship with DHS. He was a founding partner of Madden & Patton, and created the National Football League Community Affairs Disability Services Program. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Joan Justice Madden; daughters Margo Jean and Katharine Lee; sisters Karen Brown and Linda Fontaine; brother Lester Gentry, and several nieces and nephews.
FRED NORMAN — 78, venue manager, July 2 at his home in Mesquite, Nev. Norman served as the first executive director at the Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Boise (Idaho) State University from 1982-1989. The center officially opened to the public in 1984 with “My Fair Lady,” which Norman also directed. He retired in 1994 but continued to be active at the university, helping to build the Boise State Pavilion (now, Taco Bell Arena).
HELEN L. PENCE — 93, concessionaire, July 28 in Edgerton, Ohio. She was owner and operator of Pence’s Concessions from 1948-2006, and was a member of the National Independent Concessionaires Association. She is survived by her daughter, Anita Nichols; sons, Michael and Kevin; seven grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.