Appointments

People on the move: Oak View Group, US Soccer and more

Featured image credit: Stephen Leonardi on Unsplash/Oak View Group

Oak View Group, the global venue development, advisory and investment company for the sports and live entertainment industry, has appointed Chandra Allison as senior vice-president of strategy and growth for meetings, conventions and exhibitions.

In the newly created role, Allison (pictured) will oversee the strategy to grow the convention centre business across the OVG360 portfolio and elevate the OVG guest experience. She will also design and develop meeting spaces and programming for OVG’s planned $3bn (£2.7bn/€3.1bn) Las Vegas Hotel and Casino project.

Allison joins OVG after a 24-year spell at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas. In her new role, she will report jointly to Greg O’Dell, OVG360’s president of venue management, and Randy Morton, president of OVG Las Vegas Hotel and Casino.

JT Batson has been appointed as the new chief executive and secretary general of the US Soccer Federation.

Batson succeeds Will Wilson and will start in the role immediately. Wilson will stay on with US Soccer throughout October to assist in the transition.

Batson is a former member of the US Soccer Finance Committee and previously served as chief executive of software company Hudson MX, which he co-founded and where will remain a member of the board.

Grant Ferguson has assumed the role of chairman of the board at English League One football club Oxford United.

Ferguson has assumed the role after the club announced the completion of a series of share sales and purchase transactions that result in the Indonesian shareholding group of Erick Thohir and Anindya N. Bakrie holding a 51% stake in the club.

Oxford also hopes to confirm the appointment of Tim Williams as chief executive in due course, subject to EFL regulations. Williams previously served as chief financial officer at Inter Milan and group financial controller at Manchester United.

Niall McWilliams will also assume the role of chief strategy officer, working with Ferguson and Williams to shape the future of Oxford. McWilliams will concurrently serve as the project director for the club’s stadium move.

League Two club AFC Wimbledon has appointed Danny Macklin as its new managing director.

Macklin, a former chief executive at Leyton Orient, will begin the role on November 1. His previous experience in the sports industry includes nine years in senior commercial roles at Southend United and Essex Cricket.

Macklin spent five seasons at Leyton Orient before leaving to join sports marketing agency Synonymous earlier this year.

Rob Holland and Timo Skrzypski have started new positions as vice-president of operations at Ticketmaster Sport.

Holland has worked at Ticketmaster for over 11 years and most recently served as director of operations for the company’s sport division. Skrzypski previously worked for Ticketmaster International as senior director of sports business development in Europe.

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.