Features

People on the move: AELTC, UBS Arena, Arizona Coyotes and more

Jamie Baker, head of tennis relations at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), has taken on the role of head of professional tennis and tournament director ahead of next year’s Wimbledon Championships.

Baker will support chief executive Sally Bolton and will lead on all tennis matters relating to the tournament and qualifying on behalf of the AELTC.

The AELTC also revealed that it is considering three scenarios for next year’s edition of Wimbledon: a full-capacity Championships, a reduced-capacity Championships, and a behind closed doors Championships. Each scenario will be dependent on the status of government and public health guidelines. The 2020 Wimbledon Championships were cancelled due to the pandemic.

UBS Arena, the under-construction new home of the New York Islanders NHL ice hockey team, has named Mark Shulman as senior vice-president of programming, Michael Sciortino as senior vice-president of operations and assistant general manager, Ethan Brown as senior vice-president of marketing and community relations, and Zane Parry as vice-president of finance.

Shulman helped establish the AEG office in New York, where he expanded the company’s footprint into multiple cities as senior vice-president of the east coast. Sciortino has spent the past two years working as vice-president of operations at Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors NBA team, and previously worked as head of facility and event services at Madison Square Garden.

Brown has worked with the Islanders for the past year, having previously spent three years at Pacers Sports & Entertainment, where he oversaw all marketing properties for the Indiana Pacers and Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Parry joined the UBS Arena staff in June and has 20 years of arena and entertainment experience, with previous roles including director of finance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

Jared Kozinn has started a new role as executive vice-president of corporate and premium partnerships at the Arizona Coyotes NHL team.

Kozinn (pictured) joins the Coyotes from the Detroit Lions NFL American football team, where he spent seven seasons, most recently serving as executive director of business development and premium partnerships.

Prior to joining the Lions, Kozinn served as director of suite sales for the Milwaukee Brewers NBA team and as the manager of ticket sales and services for the San Francisco 49ers NFL franchise. He has also held various other roles for the Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Chiefs and the St. Louis Blues.

David Baldwin is to step down from his position as chief executive of the English Football League (EFL).

Baldwin was unveiled as the EFL’s new chief executive last December and took up the position in June. He joined the EFL from Premier League club Burnley, where he had served as chief executive since 2015.

Baldwin has now informed the EFL he will leave the organisation in six months’ time after considering his future. The EFL said Baldwin’s departure was unrelated to ‘Project Big Picture’ and the decision was taken prior to the since-rejected proposals being made public.

Baldwin said: “Having thoroughly reflected on my own personal circumstances at length in recent weeks, I have now determined it is only appropriate to inform the board and the membership of the EFL of my intentions at the earliest opportunity.

“Clearly, accepting this position pre-COVID-19 means the situation is now very different to the one I originally envisaged coupled with it being a very different environment inside the EFL, when compared to the one I left in 2015-16. Taking those two factors into consideration and balancing the needs of my family, health and well-being, I feel the decision to leave is the right one.”

The EFL will start the recruitment process for Baldwin’s replacement with immediate effect.

The Football Association of Ireland has confirmed the appointment of Jonathan Hill as its new chief executive.

Hill previously worked as group commercial director for the English Football Association (FA) and as commercial director for Euro ’96. The 57-year-old has also worked with IMG and as chief executive of the Laureus World Sports Awards.

Hill will start his new role on November 1 and will initially work between London and Dublin due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions but will be based in the Irish capital when it is safe to do so.

Architecture firm Populous has appointed Earl Santee as its new global chair and Jonathan Mallie as a director of the holdings board.

Santee will succeed Populous founder Joseph E. Spear as global chair of the company. Santee has spent 35 years at Populous and has helped deliver projects in Minneapolis, New York, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Denver.

Mallie currently leads Populous’ New York City office and has worked on projects with the likes of the Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Google. He is currently leading Populous’ design for a new stadium for Major League Soccer franchise FC Cincinnati.

The British Olympic Association has confirmed Sir Hugh Robertson will serve as chair of the body for a second term, which will take him up to and including the Paris 2024 summer Games.

Robertson stood unchallenged during the nomination period after declaring his intention to run for re-election. Robertson was first appointed BOA chair in November 2016, replacing Lord Sebastian Coe.

The Event & Arena Marketing Conference (EAMC) has elected Paul Bee as vice-president of diversity and inclusion for the newly-formed EAMC committee.

Bee serves as vice-president of ticket sales for the Milwaukee Bucks NBA basketball team. As vice-president of the EAMC committee, he will lead the non-profit organisation’s diversity and inclusion committee, which focuses on the pursuit for equality.

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: Arizona Coyotes