The Florida Panthers and parent company Sunrise Sports & Entertainment have promoted Rory Babich to CEO and president. Dale Tallon, current executive VP and GM, has had his responsibilities expanded to include business operations, and both he and Babich have been named as alternative governors to the National Hockey League’s board of governors. Babich has been working as a consultant with the owners of the Panthers since they began exploring buying the team last summer. Before launching his consulting business, Babich was a senior executive with Fortress Investment Group. He also has more than two decades of experience as an international corporate attorney. Tallon has been executive VP and GM of the Panthers since May 2010. Former CEO and President of the Panthers Michael Yormark resigned to accept an offer to join Roc Nation.
Chris Bird has been named GM of Augusta (Ga.) Entertainment Complex for Global Spectrum. Bird had been GM of Bicentennial Center in Salina, Kan., where he cut the fiscal budget loss nearly in half during his first 10 months. He has also worked as Asst. GM at Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, and spent five years at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, N.J. He started his career with Global Spectrum as a changeover Supervisor at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C., in 2003.
Zane Collings has taken the assistant general manager position for Jacksonville (Fla.) Veterans Memorial Arena and a 4,000-seat equestrian center. The move keeps Collings with SMG, whom he worked for at the Santander Arena and Santander Performing Arts Center in Reading, Pa., for nine years. He began as director of Operations in 2002, left for a GM position at Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Mich., in 2004, and returned to Reading as general manager in 2007. Santander Arena and Santander Performing Arts Center have named Director of Finance Hope Harkin as interim GM.
ETS International has announced the addition of Cathy Coyne as a reservationist. Most recently, she served as a senior client management consultant for Sentient Jet in Weymouth, Mass., and a corporate travel consultant for Fresh Pond Travel in Cambridge, Mass.
Comcast has named Alice Fei, a 19-year veteran of the Human Resources industry, as the company’s new Vice President of Human Resources. She is relocating to Comcast-Spectacor’s South Philadelphia offices from Comcast’s Center City, Philadelphia, offices, where she spent the past 10 years, most recently as executive director of Human Resources, Technology and Product. During her career at Comcast, Fei also served as Human Resources business partner for Finance, Human Resources, Comcast University and several other groups. Prior to joining Comcast, she worked in Utah with Select Portfolio Servicing and Mountain States Mortgage Centers.
PPL Center, scheduled to open in September, now has a general manager. Global Spectrum has named Gunnar Fox, a nine-year company employee, as GM of the Allentown, Pa., venue. Fox will relocate to Allentown from the Global Spectrum-managed Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M. Fox also spent two years as GM for the Global Spectrum-managed EnCana Events Centre in Dawson Creek, B.C., and as an event manager at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. Global Spectrum was chosen to book and operate PPL Center Jan. 30, 2014. Fox is a graduate of Ithaca (N.Y.) College. His wife, Moira, and two daughters will be relocating to the Lehigh Valley.
Bo Freeman has been named a national accounts manager with MTS Seating. Freeman was previously a sales representative with Northwestern Mutual. While in that position he was director of the company’s regional college internship program and completed leadership and management programs.
Brett Fuller has joined Delaware North Companies Sportservice as VP of Business Development. Most recently, he spent seven years as VP of development for sports architecture and engineering firm AECOM. Before delving into architecture, Fuller spent 10 years with Sprint Corporation. He will report directly to Delaware North Companies Sportservice President John Wentzel.
Joe Furin has been named general manager of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena for the University of Southern California. He had worked at the venues from 1986 to 1994 before leaving to work for Petersen Publishing and then, George P. Johnson and Hello Florida, always in the event and meeting space. He was recruited to return to L.A. Coliseum in August 2011 as director of operations during the transition from Coliseum Commission to USC management.
Major League Soccer’s Portland (Ore.) Timbers have promoted Mike Golub to president of Business Operations. Most recently, he served as COO for just more than five years. Before his time with the Timbers, Golub had served as senior adviser at Vulcan Sports and Entertainment, and COO of the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association.
Mike Gowen has been promoted to associate publicist at the Mitch Schneider Organization. He began at MSO in 2012 as a part-time assistant before advancing to executive assistant to the president. He has been involved with media campaigns for artists including Black Sabbath, Dwight Yoakam, The Smashing Pumpkins and Dream Theater, among others.
Global Spectrum, operators of the Cross Insurance Center, Bangor, Maine, named Joseph “Joe” Imbriaco as the facility’s new general manager. He had been with Global Spectrum-managed Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C., where he most recently served as assistant general manager. Prior to spending two seasons in Columbia, Imbriaco was director of Events and Operations at the Global Spectrum-managed Ted Constant Convocation Center on the campus of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of South Carolina.
Paul Long has been named director of facilities services for Pittsburgh-based G.S. Jones Restoration and Consulting. Before joining the company, Long served for 21 years as director of facilities management for Highmark, which he retired from in 2012.
AlliedBarton Security Services has announced the appointment of Michael Losier as Business Development manager serving the Greater Boston area. Prior to joining AlliedBarton, Losier held several succeeding positions at DTZ, formerly UNICCO Service Company in Boston.
Kayla Lyons has been appointed general manager at Carolina Event & Conference Center (CECC) in Forest City, N.C. Her most recent position included local and regional experience for meeting and event space management in North Carolina.
Jana Lee Schmid has been named Marketing and Public Relations manager for metroConnections. She has more than eight years of experience in marketing, design and promotional advertising.
Chuck Steedman has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer, AEG Facilities. Having joined AEG in 2008 as senior VP and GM of AEG Connecticut LLC, Steedman went on to lead the organization’s expansion into South America including the development and implementation of management agreements with four stadia in Brazil in addition to overseeing all business, legal and structural aspects of the creation of AEG’s Brazilian subsidiaries. Prior to joining AEG, Steedman spent the previous seven-plus years under the employ of New England Sports Ventures (NESV), the parent company of the Boston Red Sox, New England Sports Network (NESN) and Fenway Sports Group (FSG).
Global Spectrum has named Karen Totaro general manager of the Atlantic City (N.J.) Convention Center. She joins the team led by Fran Rodowicz, GM with oversight of Atlantic City venues including the convention center and Historic Boardwalk Hall. Totaro most recently served as Asst. GM at the Global Spectrum-managed Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati. Previously, she spent nearly a decade as assistant executive director at Oregon Convention Center in Portland.
Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) named Michael Unanue as the VP of Sales. He was formerly with the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville, N.C., where he held the position of Associate Director of Sales.
PASSINGS
BILL BALLARD — 67, concert promoter, March 13 of cancer. As a partner in Concert Productions International with Michael Cohl, Ballard helped bring acts like Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones to Toronto. He is the son of former NHL Toronto Maple Leafs Owner Harold Ballard, and stepped in as director and VP of Maple Leaf Gardens, then-home of the team, after his father was convicted of fraud. Ballard was also a lawyer and one of the co-founders of Canada’s Walk of Fame. He is survived by his wife, Renee, and daughter, Maryke, as well as brother, Harold Jr., and sister, Mary Elizabeth Flynn.
MARGERY ‘GIGI’ PILHOFER — 86, event marketer and a founder of the Event & Arena Marketing Conference, Jan. 24 in Sun City, Ariz. In 2000, she was the first recipient of EAMC’s Gigi Award of Excellence, which was also named after her. Her marketing career spanned 50 years. She is survived by her son, Eric, daughter, Nancy, and grandchildren, Hanna and Dustin Pilhofer and Ava, Erica, Sylvia and Evan Bindas.