Appointments

People on the move: ASM Global, Oak View Group and more

Featured image credit: ASM Global/Oak View Group

Featured image credit: ASM Global/Oak View Group

ASM Global has appointed Alex Bowen as vice-president of live entertainment.

Bowen (pictured left) will manage event procurement and live entertainment bookings for ASM Global venues in New Orleans, including Caesars Superdome, Smoothie King Center, Champions Square and Shrine on Airline, as well as the new Thunder Ridge Nature’s Arena in Ridgedale, Missouri.

The role will also include live content development and booking responsibilities for venues in the Southeast US region. Bowen has previously worked at entertainment venues throughout New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Oak View Group has appointed Kristina Heney as executive vice-president of marketing, media and conferences.

In the newly created position, Heney (pictured right) will become OVG’s head of marketing and communications and take on leadership of the company’s expanding media and conferences division, including the Pollstar and VenuesNow brands.

She will be based in New York and report to Francesca Bodie, OVG’s president of business development, and Chris Granger, president of OVG360. Heney worked as chief marketing and experience officer for Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group from 2015 to 2020, and previously spent 15 years with Madison Square Garden Entertainment. She also worked for the NBA as senior manager of Global Merchandising Group, managing the NBA, WNBA and USA Basketball global collectibles categories.

Àlex Barbany has left his role as executive director of Espai Barça, according to multiple Spanish media reports.

Espai Barça is FC Barcelona’s wide-ranging facilities development venture. Barbany joined Barcelona in March 2021, initially as chief revenue officer, having spent his entire career in the real estate sector. He was named executive director of Espai Barça in April 2022.

Read our story from last week for full details.

Anthony Kirchner has been sacked as chief executive of Adelaide Venue Management (AVM), which operates Hindmarsh Stadium, after issuing a ban to fans of A-League football club Melbourne Victory.

Kirchner was stood down from the role in August after a post on the AVM website said that Victory supporters would be banned due to a history of “violent and riotous behaviour”. Last December, violent scenes marred the derby match between Victory and Melbourne City at AAMI Park, leading to bans being handed out to supporters.

As a result, AVM announced that only Adelaide United fans would be able to attend the upcoming A-League match against Victory, but this decision was quickly reversed. Following a review, Kirchner has had his contract terminated. Martin Radcliffe will continue as acting chief executive in the meantime.

The NBA 2K League has named Andrew Perlmutter as its first chief executive.

Perlmutter begins his new role today (Monday) and will report to a board of directors that includes NBA commissioner Adam Silver, NBA president of global partnerships Salvatore LaRocca, chairman and chief executive of Take-Two Interactive Strauss Zelnick and chief operating officer of 2K Games Phil Dixon.

He will oversee the league’s business and competition operations. His appointment comes after Brendan Donohue stepped down as NBA 2K League president last week. Donohue will stay on to assist with the transition to new leadership until October 31.

Dutch ticketing company Eventix has appointed Rosa Martinez as its new country manager for Spain.

Martinez will play a key role in driving Eventix’s expansion efforts in Spain. She has previously held leadership roles at Ticketmaster, AXS.com, Eventim and Utopia Music.

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.