Features

People on the move: Legends, MSE and more

Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), the parent company of the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and Capital One Arena (pictured), has appointed Charles Myers as its first-ever chief technology officer.

Myers will report to Zach Leonsis, MSE’s president of media and new enterprises. In the newly created position, Myers will oversee a new department covering information technology, engineering, cyber security, digital development, new technologies and innovation projects, as well as other critical technology needs.

Myers joins MSE from Sirius XM, where he served as vice-president of media and development engineering for several years. He also served as general manager of Sirius XM from 2020.

Premium experiences company Legends has hired Brett Unzicker as senior vice-president of partner solutions for its global technology solutions division.

In the new role, Unzicker will lead the sales team for the division and secure new business opportunities for Legends as a whole. He will also spearhead growth and revenue-generating strategies within Legends’ existing partnerships across the company’s 360-degree services, including merchandising, hospitality, partnerships, sales and other key business areas.

A veteran of the sports and entertainment industries, Unzicker and his teams have completed technology integrations utilised by the NFL, FIFA, SoFi Stadium, Citi Field, Allegiant Stadium, Chase Center and more.

NASCAR has announced that Julie Giese, the current president of Phoenix Raceway, will transition to the same role overseeing all operations for the first-ever Chicago Street Course.

The race will take place on July 1-2 next year and will form part of the NASCAR Cup Series. Giese will immediately begin work on several key initiatives in Chicago and also continue to oversee all day-to-day operations at Phoenix Raceway until NASCAR Championship Weekend in November, at which point she will switch her focus full-time to Chicago.

Giese will relocate to Chicago and will head up a new NASCAR office in the city. Giese has overseen a $178m (£152m/€177m) modernisation effort at Phoenix Raceway to reinvent the fan experience and transform the venue into a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment facility.

Football Australia has extended the contract of chief executive James Johnson until the end of 2024.

Johnson joined Football Australia in January 2020 on a three-year contract and his extension will cover this year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, as well as the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which Australia will co-host with New Zealand.

Sports and entertainment agency MKTG has announced several key hires to its consulting, experiences, operations, stadium production and business operations teams.

Hugh Rogan has joined as sponsorship account director, Sara Ferr has been named business project director, and Jess Surkit has been hired as senior event production manager.

Jeff Leong has also been hired as sponsorship manager, while Chris Anderson and Jai Lockwood have joined as motion graphics artist and commercial team coordinator, respectively. MKTG has also hired Kelvin Giraldo as content coordinator and Bianca Gerin and Taylah Gillis as multi-skilled technical operators, while Martin Ansell has been promoted to strategy and insights director.

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.

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