By R.V. Baugus and Mark Mettes, Jr.

The Herberger Theater, alongside more than 15 Arizona arts organizations, will honor the life of Judd Herberger with a dimming of the theater lights at 7:15 pm on Friday, November 5. Judd Herberger, longtime arts philanthropist and beloved member of the community, passed away on October 27, 2021.

The tradition of dimming the lights pays tribute to the life of celebrated artists who have passed away. For a few moments, the marquees and facades of theatres dim to symbolize a light going out in the community.

“Most of our staff and volunteers met Judd or knew him well since Judd and his wife Billie Jo spent countless weekends here at the theater enjoying performances and events,” said Mark Mettes, CVE, President and CEO of Herberger Theater Center. “They often said that our Festival of the Arts and Wolf Trap programs were among their favorites.

“Recently, a few of us were fortunate to have visited with Judd and Billie Jo in their home. As I think about that priceless visit, I’m reminded of the lyrics to a song I heard recently, “If I only knew the last time would be the last time.”

“Judd’s passion for the performing arts and love for the theater was put on display each and every day. He was determined to fulfill the vision his parents, Bob and Kax Herberger, had for the arts community in Arizona. Each time he met with theater leadership to discuss current successes, emotion would overcome him knowing that the Herberger Theater, in its present state, would have made his parents proud.”

The arts community from across the valley will honor Judd’s legacy in this collective effort to commemorate Judd’s life and pay homage to the Herberger family. These organizations include Herberger Theater Center, Arizona Theatre Company, Childsplay, iTheatre Collaborative, Arizona Broadway Theatre, Ballet Arizona, Chandler Center for the Arts, Phoenix Theatre Company, Valley Youth Theatre, Theater Works, Southwest Shakespeare, Symphony Hall, Orpheum Theatre, ASU School of Music, Dance and Theatre, Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, and Scottsdale Arts Canal Convergence.

While the true reach of Judd Herberger and the Herberger family’s support is incalculable, it is well known across the arts community that their support has made a difference in the success of many organizations and touched the lives of countless people who have had the ability to experience the arts as a direct result of their efforts. Without Billie Jo and Judd Herberger and the Herberger family’s commitment to creating and maintaining the first major theatres and arts organizations in Arizona, the arts community would not be what it has become today.

Billie Jo and Judd Herberger were often nominated as honorary chairs of major arts and philanthropic events. In October of 2019, Billie Jo and Judd were inducted into the Herberger Performing and Broadcast Arts Hall of Fame for their commitment to the arts. The couple joined Judd’s parents, Bob and Kax Herberger, who were inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame in 2005.

The Herberger Theater extends its deepest condolences to the family of Judd Herberger and invites organizations to join in solidarity as it dims the lights on Friday evening.

Mark Mettes Jr. is Marketing Manager for Herberger Theater Center.

Photo by Herberger Theater Center

By R.V. Baugus and Smart Meetings

IAVM is pleased to announce that our very own Director of Safety & Security Mark Herrera was honored recently in receiving a Catalyst Momentum Award from Smart Meetings.

“I received this award but I’ll always call it a team effort,” Herrera said. “It was a means of highlighting our (IAVM) programs.”

The Catalyst Award is the premier recognition of organizational diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that drive representation and inclusion for women.

The global Catalyst Award attracts organizations from around the world. Every year, Catalyst identifies and receives applications from companies of all sizes, regions, and industries whose groundbreaking initiatives to advance women and other underrepresented groups make them eligible for the Award.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a strategic imperative for organizational success. That is a proven fact. How you get there… that’s the real story.

We are pleased to share with you below just how Herrera “got there” in the write-up from Smart Meetings in honoring a true ambassador for the public assembly venue industry and champion for all. Your staff colleagues and the entire industry salute you for this meritorious award!

Editor’s Note: Herrera chairs a committee that brought all facets of the industry together regularly throughout the pandemic to share safety updates and learn best practices from each other.

Boards: Chair, Department of Homeland Security Public Assembly Facilities Sub-Sector Council

Motivation: Accept challenges head-on, learn to let go, move forward.

Approach to supercharging experiences: Creating better experiences within the venue industry inclusive of all facilities is more important now than ever before. It is knowing that the world challenged by a health pandemic requires empathizing with people to assure we focus on what they desire most: guest experience and customer service.

To provide better guest experiences, we must understand guest DNA today and continue benchmarking the industry through our guest X committees, guest-service town halls, and by surveying the industry.

The goal is to create exceptional, safe and extraordinary guest experiences by training frontline teams through skills-based workshops and networking sessions that create the levels of competency needed to positively impact the overall guest experience. We will lead the charge by creating innovative strategies and education through a conference known as GuestX.

Moment of enlightenment: Life is challenging, and I have been practicing my level of awareness and understanding of people’s states of mind through my own personal challenges. I have learned the most powerful ways to guide, teach, and inspire people but also to establish connections among people—as well as between people and their ideas that help unite humanity.

Often, I have seen teams create obstacles that get in the way of teamwork by focusing solely on their own pursuits and goals rather than selflessly devoting their time to ensure others have the tools to succeed. My arduous work came together when I found success in helping others achieve their goals and satisfaction is in knowing I was an integral part of their development.

Next advance pursuing: I want to help others build elite teams within their organizations focusing on developing diverse cultures surrounding themselves around safety, security and health awareness. To develop the most important assets: front-line teams and young professionals to be the leaders of tomorrow. Training them to forecast and expect those unexpected challenges in the future with the tools to mitigate the risks our world delivers daily. It is shaping the minds and souls of others, teaching them to never give up and to tap into all available resources to shape their lives and their respective organizations.

by Nat Grubbs

Kevan Kirkpatrick is the new Executive Director of the BancorpSouth Arena & Conference Center in Tupelo. He brings 18 years of experience in the venue management industry to the area’s premier regional event center.

“The Tupelo Coliseum Commission conducted a national search that garnered interest from all over the country. Kevan has served three terms as interim director of the BancorpSouth Arena & Conference Center. He knows our venue and understands what it takes to run a successful regional event center,” said Nat Grubbs, Tupelo Coliseum Commission Chairman. “We are grateful for his leadership over the years and are
thankful for the continuity that he will bring to the arena from day one.”

Kirkpatrick began his career with the BancorpSouth Arena & Conference Center in 2003, previously serving as both Assistant Executive Director and Director of Marketing. He was instrumental in securing the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant for the facility during the pandemic, providing much needed capital at a time when events were cancelled.

“Kevan’s long term commitment to Tupelo and the venue management industry is exemplary,” said Tupelo Mayor Todd Jordan. “We look forward to the continued success of the BancorpSouth Arena & Conference Center under his leadership as he works to create exciting events for citizens and visitors to Tupelo.”

Opened in 1993, the BancorpSouth Arena & Conference Center is a 10,000-seat multipurpose arena and conference center located in the heart of Downtown Tupelo. A $15.2 million expansion was completed in 2021, doubling the meeting space and renovating existing spaces at both the arena and conference center.

“I’m excited to continue to serve the city of Tupelo and North Mississippi in bringing top entertainment acts and providing world class conference facilities,” said Kevan Kirkpatrick. “Our staff has set high expectations for ourselves as we move into the next chapter of the BancorpSouth Arena & Conference Center.”

By Stacie Bauer

Ungerboeck, the World’s Event Software, has hired Ryan Morrow as Chief Financial Officer and recently promoted several key leaders, as the organization looks to grow and scale globally.

Morrow serves as Ungerboeck’s first CFO. As part of the executive leadership team, Morrow will focus on building a high-performing organization that will scale with the expected growth coinciding with a recent investment from Cove Hill Partners. As a strategic advisor to Ungerboeck’s CEO and Board of Directors, Morrow will drive the overall financial strategy of the business while building out FP&A, corporate development, accounting, treasury, tax, and other departments.

“We are glad to have Ryan join our rapidly growing team. Ryan brings a wealth of cross-industry experience in accelerating companies’ growth, as well as strategic business planning and handling mergers and acquisitions.” said Manish Chandak, President and CEO. “Ryan will help us continue to achieve our financial metrics and accelerate our growth trajectory.”

Along with the addition of Morrow, several recent promotions round out the leadership team.

“We are thrilled about the post-pandemic growth of the events industry, and we are preparing our team to support that growth,” Chandak said. “I am very excited to announce our expanded leadership team. This leadership team truly embodies our values and is ready to serve our customers and lead the industry with expertise and innovation.”

The new roles include:

FRED LAZZERINI – Senior Vice President, International
In his new role, Lazzerini will oversee sales and delivery for all markets outside of Americas, where he will drive the rapid growth of Ungerboeck activities and the company’s ongoing focus on customer success.

Lazzerini brings more than 20 years of experience in the events industry, first working for the technology branch of GL Events, a major venue and exhibition management company based in France, and then having held a variety of roles with Ungerboeck, providing and delivering their event technology solutions to customers in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and Africa. For the last 10 years, Lazzerini has overseen the expansion of the Asia-Pacific region.

MIKE CAMERON – Vice President, People & Culture
Mike Cameron will continue fostering a workplace culture where employee engagement, strong leadership, employee relationships, and successful endeavors can thrive. The importance of company culture has become an even more vital element of the work experience for all of us. While working alongside our leadership team and each individual employee, the People and Culture team strives to attract, engage, retain, and unleash the potential of our teams.

JENNIFER DIEBLING – Vice President, Marketing
Jennifer Diebling will serve as an active contributor and collaborative member of our dynamic senior leadership team. She will be responsible for designing and implementing the organization’s strategic global marketing plan. Diebling will be instrumental in positioning the brand for growth, increasing brand awareness in emerging markets, growing the sales pipeline with strategies that align with our business goals, and developing opportunities to grow affinity and advocacy with current customers in the broader Ungerboeck community.

JOE WHITE – Vice President, Product Development
After a six-year hiatus from Ungerboeck, Joe White is returning home as Vice President, Product Development. White will focus on the new direction and the next generation of Ungerboeck software. He will concentrate his efforts on automation, unit testing, and a heightened level of customer satisfaction and confidence in the products that the department delivers. White’s teams are the backbone of Ungerboeck, delivering high-quality software at an amazing pace. In his new role, White will continue to focus on delivering business value while ensuring that we’re building our products on a solid foundation.

Stacie Bauer is the Event & Sponsorship Coordinator, Marketing at Ungerboeck.

By Mary Klida

Karen Totaro, general manager, TCF Center/ASM Global in Detroit, announced several awards recently received by the venue, each representing the highest quality of venue service and meeting experience.

“These awards are such a wonderful reflection of the creative, hardworking team at TCF Center,” Totaro said. “I’m so proud to be part of this extraordinary group.”

Centers of Excellence Award (Exhibitor Magazine)

Exhibitor Magazine readers evaluated their favorite convention centers using an objective algorithm weighted to reflect how they value a variety of variables. The myriad criteria considered were categorized into five primary areas:

• Facility & Functionality
• Location & Accommodations
• Service & Execution
• Expansions & Upgrades
• Awards & Industry Participation

TCF Center received this distinguished award for four years in a row. The award is a particular honor because essentially it comes from the venue’s trade show customers.

Stella Award (Northstar Meetings Group)

The silver medal in the Best Convention Center Category, Midwest Region was given to TCF Center by the Northstar Meetings Group in their 2021 Stella Awards program. It demonstrated a commitment to helping meeting professionals pull off a flawless event, as determined by the people who know best: experienced meeting planners. The nominations received public, planner voting and third-party, objective planner judging.

The Stella Awards honor excellence in the meetings industry. The program distinguishes suppliers from around the globe that consistently deliver quality service and innovation to meeting and event professionals. Winners include the very best hotels, convention centers, conference centers, convention and visitor bureaus, destination marketing organizations, destination management companies, airlines and cruise lines. This year, more than 6,000 votes were cast from around the world for the 603 destinations, hotels and service providers nominated in 17 categories in six regions in the United States and worldwide. There were a total of 260 total winners and finalists for 2021.

The program distinguishes suppliers that consistently deliver quality service and innovation to meeting and event professionals. The winners are recognized for achieving overall excellence, superb food and beverage, professionalism of staff, technology innovations and other critical aspects of meetings and event experience.

“Congratulations to all of the 2021 Stella Award winners and finalists,” said Loren Edelstein, vice president and content director for Northstar Meetings Group. “All of the honorees truly represent excellence in the meetings and events industry as valued and respected suppliers.”

TCF Center also received the award in 2019.

Prime Site Award (Facilities and Destinations Magazine)

For the seventh year in a row, Facilities & Destinations Magazine has recognized TCF Center with its Prime Site Award, as a venue that is an ideal environment for stakeholders to engage in dialogue, brainstorming, learning and networking. Winning the award signals client satisfaction on many levels and recognizes that the center is a standout in a competitive meetings marketplace.

Community Safe Haven Award (US Green Buildings Council)

TCF Center was awarded the Community Safe Haven award at Michigan Energy Summit in August. The 2021 Michigan Energy Summit recognized and celebrated competitors of the Michigan Battle of the Buildings ‘biggest loser’ competition. It has been a program of the U.S. Green Building Council of West Michigan since 2014. It is the largest voluntary biggest-loser-styled energy competition in the country.

TCF Center was recognized with this award for providing several essential community services in downtown Detroit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2020, TCF Center’s doors were opened to Forgotten Harvest and Food Rescue US as a food distribution center to lessen food insecurity in Southeast Michigan; aided the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Detroit District to construct a field hospital for up to 1000 COVID patients in the venue to help alleviate the overcrowded Southeast Michigan hospitals; housed a Battelle for sterilizing and redistributing masks; housed the Pope Francis Warming Center to care for the needs of Detroit’s transient population including showers, laundry, food, rest, legal counsel and health care; became a 2020 General Election Ballot Counting Center; and served Detroit’s largest COVID vaccination center.

Amid these services, the facilities team was meticulous to create separate zones for each initiative and were highly strategic to steward the center’s energy use wisely in concert with safety. One strategy included stacking the segregated zones to be served by the same air handling column without risk of cross exposure. Through careful research, TCF Center devised top procedures to make sure air changes aligned with health best practices without excessive energy costs.

Mary Klida is Sr. Marketing and Communications Manager at TCF Center.