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People on the move: Inter Miami, AEG and more

Major League Soccer team Inter Miami CF has named Victor Oliver as senior vice-president of facilities revenues and operations.

Oliver (pictured) joins Inter Miami after six seasons with Spanish LaLiga club Barcelona, where he most recently worked as stadium and museum revenue director. His responsibilities at Barcelona included the men’s and women’s teams; basketball, futsal and rocker hockey teams; the Camp Nou Tour and museum; ice ring; food and beverages; meetings and events.

At Inter Miami, Oliver will lead all ticketing and related facilities departments, including parking, meetings and events, food and beverages, and operations. He will report directly to chief business officer Xavier Asensi.

At Barcelona, Oliver implemented a new ticket sales system based on predictive modelling and also oversaw the opening of the first-of-its-kind Barca Café. Barcelona also generated more stadium revenue than any club in Europe during his time there.

Dr. Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, the chair of the independent review into the events at the UEFA Champions League final at the Stade de France in Paris on May 28, has made two key appointments to assist him with the investigation.

Frank Paauw and Kenny Scott have both been appointed as lead experts of the panel. Paauw has been the chief of police in Amsterdam since 2019, while Scott was recommended by Real Madrid and Liverpool and is a former UK police chief superintendent.

Scott served for over 30 years in the Strathclyde police before heading up the security and operations division for Scottish Premiership club Rangers. He was head of safety and security operations at UEFA from 2017 until February 2021.

The independent group has also decided to consult with a number of experts and consultants, including human rights barrister Pete Weatherby, crowd management and policing consultant Clifford Stott, Football Supporters Europe executive director Ronan Evain, Football Supporters’ Association chief executive Kevin Miles, and Emilio Abejon, secretary general of FASFE, the National Supporters’ Organisation in Spain.

Dr. Rodrigues will also be administratively supported by international event and venue managers Daniel Ribeiro and Luís Silva. The independent group has set a timeline for its preliminary findings to be released at the end of September and aims to have the final report delivered and published by November 2022.

Endeavor Group Holdings has combined the events group operated by its IMG agency with On Location, the official hospitality partner of the NFL, and announced that the new division will be led by Paul Caine as president and Jon Lavallee as chief financial officer.

The launch of the new division comes just two months after On Location became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Endeavor, which initially acquired a majority stake in the hospitality provider back in January 2020.

Check out our story from last week for full details on the new division.

Sports and entertainment giant AEG has appointed David Jones to the newly-created role of chief information officer at AEG Global Technology.

Jones will oversee the company’s technology strategy and solutions across the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. The new AEG Global Technology division will help facilitate the use of data and customer-facing technologies to drive revenue across the business and provide best-in-class customer experiences.

Jones, who formerly served as chief information officer for AEG Europe, will continue to be based out of London. He will deliver technology expertise, services and support across AEG’s global businesses, and will also oversee the company’s information security and privacy teams. Jones will also work closely with technology teams at AEG-owned venues such as The O2 and Crypto.com Arena.

OVG360 has revealed its local leadership team for the management of the American Bank Center arena in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Brian Martin will be the general manager of the facility, while Joe Castor will serve as general manager of hospitality, overseeing all food and beverage operations. Nick Ustruck has also been appointed executive chef.

OVG360, a division of Oak View Group, assumed venue management, food and hospitality, and corporate partnerships responsibility at American Bank Center on Friday. The arena has a capacity of 10,000, with the wider facility also including a 140,000-square-foot convention centre and a 2,500-seat auditorium.

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: Inter Miami