Edlen Electrical Exhibition Services has made several major promotions. In the Las Vegas office, Tina Basilio has been promoted to national event services manager. Basilio has worked in the trade show industry for 15 years, 12 of which have been with Edlen. Edlen's Miami office also has a new national event services manager, having promoted Alexia Gonzalez. She has been with the company for six years, and assisted in the production of Art Basel Miami, Graphics of the Americas, the Miami International Auto Show, and IDEA Expo. Donna Debusk has been promoted to national event services manager at Edlen's Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, operation. Originally from Hokkaido, Japan, Debusk joined Edlen's Accounting department in 1997, and moved to the events side two years later.
The Central Wisconsin State Fair Board has named Heidi Born-Smith as general manager for the Central Wisconsin State Fair in Marshfield. She brings experience in event planning to her new role, and has also held government positions.
Ryan Brach has taken the position of senior vice president of partnership Marketing at Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, where he will oversee all corporate partnerships with the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Mammoth, and Colorado Rapids. Most recently, Brach served as senior VP of business development and broadcasting with the Portland (Ore.) Timbers of Major League Soccer. He also has been corporate Sales manager for the National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings.
Consulting firm ZweigWhite has appointed Chad Clinehens as executive vice president and COO. He brings more than 15 years of consulting engineering and management experience to his new position. Clinehens served as chief Marketing officer and strategy officer at a prominent consulting engineering firm for the last seven years. He will work out of the company’s Fayetteville, Ark., office.
Adam Cook has settled into his new position with Northlands as venue director and general manager of Rexall Place and Edmonton Expo Centre in Alberta, Canada. Cook served for more than eight years in various positions at Comcast Arena at Everett, Wash. Most recently, he served as assistant venue manager. Cook is a graduate of the Venue Management School.
Mariette Du Toit-Helmbold will no longer serve as CEO of Cape Town (South Africa) Tourism. She has spent nine years leading the tourism organization, having been appointed CEO in 2004. In October, Du Toit-Helmbold will officially welcome the new CEO at the Annual General Meeting of Cape Town Tourism. She will continue working in tourism and marketing as an independent consultant.
New Era Tickets has promoted Steve Geib to vice president of Operations. He has been with the company since 2003 when he joined as regional Sales manager and was later promoted to VP of client services.
GenieMobile has appointed Jackie Groves as global Sales and Marketing director. Most recently, Groves worked for IT security vendor Sophos as UK head of corporate Sales. She brings 22 years of technology industry experience to her new position.
Paul Hendrickson has started his new position as general manager of Ralston (Neb.) Arena. The former Operations manager for SMG at Reliant Park in Houston started his new position Feb. 4. Hendrickson brings more than 25 years of experience to the new role. In addition to his year at Reliant Park, Hendrickson spent nearly six years as Operations manager at Berry Center in Houston. He served as VP of Operations for The Football Network from 2004-2006, and has experience owning his own business, PH Productions. He and his wife, Karla, are looking forward to living in the metro area.
Staco Energy Products has named Jeff Hoffman as president. He has held various executive management positions at Fortune 500 companies, including United Technologies. Emerson Electric, and Berkshire Hathaway. Most recently, he worked at Illinois Tool Works. Hoffman earned his MBA from the University of Toledo, Ohio.
Michael E. Hurwitz has been appointed chairman of the board for the Greater Springfield (Mass.) Convention & Visitors Bureau (GSCVB) for a two-year term. Previously, he has served on the GSCBV's board of directors and executive committee. Hurwitz has managed several restaurants in the area, including Uno Chicago Grill, and Sonic. He also was chairman of the Howdy Awards for Hospitality Excellence Committee. John Doleva of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was appointed vice chairman, and Barry Crosby of Freedom Credit Union will serve as treasurer. Also, Robert Schwarz of Peter Pan Bus Lines will be secretary, while Robert Gilbert of Dowd Insurance will serve as compliance officer for a three-year term. The GSCVB added a new hire, also. John Parsons will serve as Sales & Marketing coordinator. Parsons is a 2011 graduate of Western New England University.
The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission has announced that Jason Jordan will serve as director of Sales. Most recently, Jordan served as regional director for Experient. He has held sales and leadership positions in the hospitality industry for the past 20 years and is a member of the American Society of Association Executives.
Archem International, provider of industrial and maintenance products, has announced the appointment of Frank Mauro as president of its latest acquisition, Handi-Clean Corporation. Mauro will pull from his 26 years of experience in the chemical industry to run operations of the Greensboro, N.C., based company. He previously served as president of Athea Laboratories for 11 years. He also worked on consumer products, including Orange Glo International.
Live Nation Entertainment has appointed Jason Miller to senior VP talent Asia. Miller spent more than 10 years as an agent at Creative Artists Agency. He earned his Global Executive MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles and National University of Singapore. Though his position will be focused on the Asian market, Miller will be based out of the Beverly Hills, Calif., office.
Scott O’Neil has joined the advisory board at ScoreBig.com. He has worked in the live event industry for more than 20 years, holding senior executive positions for Madison Square Garden in New York, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the National Basketball Association.
Centerplate has appointed Michael Strahan to the newly-created position of special advisor. Recently, Strahan joined Kelly Ripa to host the nationally syndicated morning show Live! with Kelly and Michael. He played 216 National Football League games with the New York Giants during his 15-year career.
Jim Ure has been named professional business development manager, installed sound, for the eastern region at Harman Professional. He previously served as representative for Sigmet Corporation. Also, Harman Professional has appointed Anton Pukshansky as territory Sales manager for Southern California and Southern Nevada. He will be based in Northridge, Calif.
Global Spectrum has appointed Scott Warren as general manager for the Copps Coliseum, Hamilton Place, and the Molson Canadian Studio, all in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Most recently, he has served as general manager of Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University. He has spent time in other Global Spectrum positions at L.C. Walker Arena in Muskegon, Mich., and Stroh Center at Bowling Green (Ohio) State University.
Etix announced that Ben Wingrove and Dennis Scanlon have been promoted and ticket industry veteran Don Orris has joined the company in all newly-created positions. Wingrove, who has been with Etix for more than 12 years, has been promoted from vice president of sales to executive vice president. Orris, former vice president for Ticketmaster’s western region, has joined the Etix team as vice president of sales and general manager for the western U.S. Scanlon has been promoted to vice president of sales for the Midwest region. Before joining Etix in 2010, he worked with Ticketmaster.
Ernest Wooden, Jr., has been named president and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board. He takes the position after Mark Liberman stepped down, having held the role since 2003. Wooden has lived in the Los Angeles area since 1999 and has been a hospitality industry executive for many years. He spent more than a decade with Hilton Hotels Corporation, including serving as executive VP, global brand management. Currently, Wooden serves as CEO of Creative Consulting.
PASSINGS
GERALD HATTEN ‘JERRY’ BUSS — 80, majority owner of the National Basketball Association’s Los Angeles Lakers, passed away in Los Angeles Feb. 18 after a long bout with cancer. Buss received his master’s degree and Ph.D. from University of Southern California in physical chemistry and worked for the Bureau of Mines. He owned several properties including Pickfair Mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif., and was co-owner of Mariani-Buss Associates, a real estate investment company. He bought the LA Lakers, as well as the National Hockey League’s LA Kings, in 1979, later selling his share of the Kings. He is survived by his six children, Johnny, Jim, Jeanie, Janie, Karen, and Jesse.