MOVE OF THE MONTH
StubHub appointed Greg Mrva as its chief financial officer. Mrva was most recently managing director of Global Internet Banking at Morgan Stanley and global head of Internet investment banking for Barclays. Other previous positions include vice president of mergers and acquisitions at Yahoo and vice president of corporate development at Mpath Interactive.
Turnkey Search, a subsidiary of Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, named Rick Alessandri managing director and general manager. Alessandri spent 35 years at Disney/ ESPN, Dow Jones and SportsTicker and most recently was Univision executive vice president.
PLC Construction named Deron Brown president and chief operating officer for U.S. operations. Brown joined PCL in 1996 as a project engineer in the Orlando office and became vice president and district manager, directing PCL’s Southeast building operations.
The Cairns (Australia) Convention Centre named Benjamin Boudaud executive chef. Boudaud spent five years with the Atlantic Group in Melbourne.
At the Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park, Christy Castillo Butcher came aboard as senior vice president of programming. Castillo Butcher most recently served as the senior vice president of booking and events for Staples Center and Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Kameron Durham will join as the vice president of guest experience. Durham worked for the San Diego Padres for 15 years and helped open Petco Park. Skarpi Hedinsson was named chief technology officer. Since 2017, Hedinsson has served as the CTO for the Los Angeles Rams. Joe Sesin will join as vice president of finance and accounting. Sesin was a vice president at J.P. Morgan.
Visit Baltimore added Anita Nuñez Cepollaro as senior national sales manager. Cepollaro served in sales roles for Hiltons of Washington, D.C., and Meet Puerto Rico. The organization also promoted Shavonne Harding to regional director of sales for the central and West Coast regions and Christina Ghani to senior national sports manager. Harding joined Visit Baltimore in March as senior national sales manager; Ghani joined in July 2016 as a national sales and sports manager.
Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and Spa Resort Casino in Palm Springs appointed Michael J. Facenda to the role of vice president of marketing. Facenda will oversee all marketing operations for the Agua Caliente Casino Resorts properties.
KAI Design & Build added Dan Forguson as vice president of finance. Forguson held the title of regional project controls director at Jacobs in St. Louis.
The Broadmoor World Arena and Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts in Colorado Springs, Colo., named Chad Higgins director of events. Higgins started his career in event operations as director of operations for Live! Technologies. He went on to produce the Jeff Dunham tour 2008-12. Higgins left the venue business for six years before taking his new role at The Broadmoor. Stephen Marquez is joining the team as event manager. Marquez returns to Colorado from Wichita Falls, Texas, where he was the senior event manager for four facilities. In addition, Kelsey Guymon joins Centerplate as the venue’s executive chef. Guymon moved to Colorado two years ago to become the executive chef at Granby Ranch Ski Resort in Grand County.
Visit Seattle promoted Kelly Saling to vice president of convention sales and services. Saling joined the Visit Seattle convention sales team in 2009 and has worked selling a variety of market segments. She was promoted to director of sales in 2014 and most recently to vice president of convention sales in 2017. Previously, Saling worked in Seattle for Columbia Hospitality, a management company, selling a variety of hotel and venue properties.
Jessica Wilson Beckmann is the new director of the Spectra-managed Owensboro (Ky.) Sportscenter. Beckman spent the last 10 years in the St. Louis area managing events at a variety of venues, including a casino, convention center, ballpark and arena. She joined Spectra Venue Management at Chaifetz Arena on the campus of Saint Louis University in 2015. Heather Terry was promoted to director of sales for both venues. Terry started her career with Spectra as a sales manager in 2015. Cody Ball was promoted to operations manager at the Owensboro Convention Center. Ball joined the Spectra team in 2017 as a housekeeping lead.
PASSINGS
John “Nick” L. Alberts, 61, longtime employee of Reithoffer Shows, Oct. 2 at Sun City Center Hospice House in Ruskin, Fla. Alberts spent 37 years with the company.
