The NFL’s Houston Texans have promoted Greg Grissom to the position of team president.
Grissom most recently served as the Texans’ senior vice-president of corporate development. Grissom replaces Jamey Rootes, who announced last month that he would be stepping down as Texans president.
Grissom will oversee the direction and management of all Texans’ business operations including marketing, communications, broadcasting, ticket sales and services, event services, corporate sponsorship, community relations, accounting, legal, human resources and general administration, as well as all aspects of Lone Star Sports & Entertainment.
The NFL’s UK managing director Alistair Kirkwood (pictured) has also stepped down from the role after 20 years.
Kirkwood joined the NFL in 2000 and the league has since staged 28 regular-season games in London. Kirkwood led all commercial and business operations at NFL UK, including the staging of the London games, the first of which came in 2007.
Kirkwood’s decision to step down comes after Brett Gosper, the former chief executive of World Rugby, recently joined the NFL to head up the league’s operations in Europe and the UK.
The NFL’s Washington Football Team has also appointed Dave Baldwin as its chief ticketing officer.
Baldwin will serve on Washington’s executive leadership team and oversee all of the team’s ticketing functions, including ticket sales, member services, group sales and ticket operations.
In this role, Baldwin will report directly to team president Jason Wright and will be responsible for growing and retaining the team’s season ticket member base, as well as attracting new sales. Baldwin previously worked for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and Major League Baseball’s Detroit Tigers.
Elsewhere in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs have made three promotions on the franchise’s business operations team.
Chief financial officer Dan Crumb has added executive vice-president to his title, while Matt Kenny has been promoted to executive vice-president of Arrowhead Operations and Events. Kirsten Krug has also been promoted to executive vice-president of administration.
Crumb has served as the club’s chief financial officer since September 2010, having previously served as senior vice-president and chief financial officer of the NBA’s New Orleans Hornets.
Kenny was hired as vice-president of stadium services and events in 2017 and currently oversees the fan experience at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Krug joined the Chiefs in 2010 as director of human resources before becoming vice-president of administration in 2012.
SeatGeek has named former Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) president Laurel J. Richie to its board of directors.
Prior to her role with the WNBA, Ritchie worked as the chief marketing officer of the Girl Scouts of America and was part of the senior leadership at marketing agency Ogilvy.
In her new role, Ritchie will be tasked with building upon SeatGeek’s brand, reaching new audiences, and helping bring live events back across the US.
PTI Digital has expanded its Asia-Pacific team with the appointment of Shaun Lumsden as head of data and insight.
Lumsden will be based in Melbourne alongside PTI Digital’s APAC general manager Corey Kirby. Lumsden recently returned to Melbourne from London, where he served as a senior technology and business analyst at the Marylebone Cricket Club.
Lumsden previously spent eight years at the AFL Aussie rules football competition, working across a range of roles including commercial, membership, data and analytics.
Ticketing services provider CTS Eventim has appointed Martin Fitzgerald as managing director of Eventim UK alongside John Gibson.
Fitzgerald most recently served as chief commercial officer at See Tickets, where he spent 18 years. He will begin his new role tomorrow (Tuesday).
The City of Cranbrook, British Columbia and the Recreation and Culture department has appointed Glen Mikkelsen as the city’s new general manager of venues and events.
Mikkelsen is a sports and entertainment manager with over 30 years of experience and has worked on events such as rodeos, trade shows, conferences, skating shows, Broadway-style shows and rock festivals. He most recently worked with the CN Centre in Prince George.
Mikkelsen’s new role is an amalgamation of the former facility operations manager left vacant when Stacy Paulsen was named director of recreation and culture, and the former events and marketing position previously filled by Paul Heywood, who now serves as the building and bylaw services manager in Cranbrook.
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: NFL UK
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