This week saw the European Arenas Association (EAA) elect John Langford as its new president.
Langford (pictured) will replace Peter van der Veer as president of the EAA, which comprises 35 arena members across 22 European countries.
Langford was named as the chief operating officer of AEG Europe last November. As president of the EAA, he will lead the association’s board, which includes Adrian Doyle, Girts Krastins, Jorge Silva, Lotta Nibbell and Olivier Toth.
The English Football Association (FA) has appointed Kathryn Swarbrick as its new commercial and marketing director.
Swarbrick will join the FA on November 4 from PepsiCo, where she has worked for seven years, most recently as vice-president of marketing across Western Europe and South Africa. She has also held marketing roles for the likes of Heineken and Diageo.
In her new role, Swarbrick will report to FA chief executive Mark Bullingham and will be responsible for the commercial and marketing strategy across the organisation’s portfolio. Her responsibilities will include the 29 England teams, Wembley Stadium, the FA Cup, the Women’s Super League and the Women’s FA Cup.
Luke Daniels has been named as the new general manager of Newcastle Entertainment Centre, a 7,500-seat multi-purpose arena in the Australian city.
Daniels joins the venue from Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena, where he most recently worked as commercial manager. He has also spent time working at the Wests Tigers NRL rugby league club and the Illawarra Hawks NBL basketball team.
Daniels’ appointment was announced by ASM Global, which manages the Newcastle Entertainment Centre on behalf of Venues NSW.
The Utah Jazz NBA basketball team has named Jim Olson as president of the franchise and Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment.
Olson has served as the executive vice-president for LHMSE and the Jazz’s Vivint Smart Home Arena and in his new role will oversee the day-to-day business operations of the team. As president of LHMSE, he will also provide strategic leadership for Vivint Smart Home Arena and other properties.
Olson joined the Jazz in 1994 and has held multiple positions within the organisation, including vice-president of ticket sales (2003-06), senior vice-president of sales and marketing (2006-2013) and chief operating officer of LHMSE (2013-15), as well as interim president of LHMSE.
English Premier League football club Leicester City has named Dan Barnett as its new commercial director.
Barnett joins the club from U.S. Ski & Snowboard, where he worked as chief marketing and commercial officer until last month. Barnett has previously worked as chief commercial officer for the America’s Cup sailing event and as a commercial lawyer for UEFA, football’s European governing body.
Do you have news of an appointment that we should know about? Get in touch by emailing news.editor@thestadiumbusiness.com and we’ll include it in our next round-up.
Image: EAA
