Wembley Stadium has appointed Mark Lynch as its new stadium director.
Lynch (pictured) joins Wembley from the Rugby Football Union, where he was executive director of venue with responsibility for Twickenham Stadium. Prior to that, he worked as operations director at Yas Marina Circuit, home of Formula 1’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Lynch has also worked on two FIFA World Cup tournaments. In his new role, he will be responsible for overseeing the overall delivery of events at Wembley, in addition to managing day-to-day operations, sales and revenue for the stadium.
Liam Boylan stepped down as Wembley’s stadium director last year after almost nine years at the venue. In December, Paul Smyth was promoted to general manager to oversee the delivery of events and day-to-day operations, and these responsibilities will now be taken on by Lynch.
Harvey Lister, chairman and chief executive of ASM Global APAC, has announced the appointment of Meagan Walker as group director of arena operations.
Walker will replace Tim Worton, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Walker has held senior management roles with leading Australian venues, including Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena, John Cain Arena and Palais Theatre.
She will join ASM Global on October 10 from her current role with Live Nation. Walker will lead the ASM Global arena network in Australia while supporting other arena venues in the region, with a focus on event acquisition, operational planning and event delivery.
US-based sports marketing agency Relevent Sports has appointed Sean Bratches as its new chairman.
Bratches previously spent nearly three decades at ESPN and also worked as managing director of commercial operations at Formula 1 following the motorsport series’ takeover by Liberty Media.
Relevent has a 20-year partnership with LaLiga in North America, and also markets media rights to the UEFA Champions League in the US. The agency also worked with the Premier League on its Summer Series pre-season tournament.
UBS Arena and the New York Islanders have appointed Adam Cross as senior vice-president of corporate partnerships.
Cross will oversee all corporate partnerships, partner activation and strategy for the two properties. He will report to Ryan Brach, executive vice-president of global partnerships at UBS Arena operator Oak View Group.
Cross previously worked as senior vice-president of corporate partnerships at Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment. Prior to that, he spent 10 years with Six Flags Theme Parks as vice-president of corporate alliances.
Basketball Ireland has announced the appointment of Karl Stafford as arena manager of the National Basketball Arena.
Stafford joins Basketball Ireland following five and a half years as sales and operations manager at football club St. Patricks Athletic. He will replace Philip Nolan in the role.
Basketball Ireland announced last December that Dublin’s National Basketball Arena would undergo major redevelopment as part of a €35m (£29.6m/$39.1m) project. The upgrades will expand the arena’s capacity to 3,300.
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.
