This has been a transformational year for the IAVM Foundation.  With your help, the Board of Trustees has continued to take the necessary steps to strengthen the Foundation both organizationally and financially.  As a Trustee, it has been a pleasure to be a part of this transformation.  We have placed our focus on Leadership, Strategy and Fundraising which has created positive outcomes for the IAVM Foundation and IAVM membership. 

VenueConnect is in just a few weeks and the Foundation will continue to build upon this momentum through our many events and activities such as the Foundation Golf Tournament sponsored by People Ready on July 21^st and the IAVM Foundation Silent Auction sponsored by Spectra which will take place at the Trade Show. Online bidding for all of the fabulous items in our Silent Auction will begin on July 9^th!

We also look forward to engaging with you at the Young Professional 30|UNDER|30 Awards Reception on July 21^st and the Diversity In Leadership Reception on July 24^th .

See you in Chicago!

 
YOUR FOUNDATION. YOUR FUTURE.
 
Adina Erwin
Incoming Chair – IAVM Foundation

Bertice Berry, PhD, a best-selling author, award-winning lecturer, and sociologist, understands the challenges women face in aspiring to leadership positions. She also knows well the ramifications that businesses make should women not be given the opportunity to attain those higher positions.

As part of her Women in Leadership keynote, titled Putting You Center Stage, Berry will tackle many of those issues that women confront as part of their chosen vocations. In the case of the public assembly venue world, she calls women in leadership critical and crucial to the advancement of our communities.

There is much more that Dr. Berry will discuss in this keynote that benefits both male and female genders. The session also cuts across all sector types, so plan to arrive early for a seat to hear from this expert in the field.

Before VenueConnect in Chicago, Dr. Berry spent a few minutes talking about some of her keynote.

The title for your keynote is quite intriguing. Let’s start by asking how women do attain center stage status?

The tendency for women is to shy away from leadership, interestingly enough. I find it kind of ironic that women have no problem standing up and accepting the responsibilities of a given position, but not necessarily the role.

Do you find that more women are attaining executive management or leadership status today based on qualification and skill set than might have been the case just a few years ago?

Women have had the skill sets and qualifications for years. I think men are accepting the role of promoting more women. If you ask any woman in leadership, she hasn’t celebrated anything. With the accolades and everything, there is a tendency to not to want to outshine or make anybody feel bad. The change that’s happening ironically is men who have daughters are looking even a few years back and saying we’re not going to succeed without having more women in these roles because we (women) are the ones making the purchase decisions. We need to have our leadership look like our clientele. Men are moving out of the way or stepping aside and saying let me guide you. Women, what we have to do is step up and recognize we deserve it and have for a long time but it just wasn’t there.

What are some challenges that still might be holding women back from reaching their true potential?

Again, I would say that a number of women don’t deserve the good they have attained. There is a concept that says we achieve because of love but you don’t deserve it and you think at any point somebody is going to recognize that you don’t really belong there. If you have a bunch of people around you who are not sure who they are or what they do then they won’t feel like they deserve anything. That is pretty much everywhere, but for women in this industry multiply it by a thousand. Everyone at the end of the day wants to know that they did a good job,

How do you see the role of women becoming more prominent in our venue management world which traditionally has been a male-dominated one?

Everything is happening all live. We are the keepers of social events. It doesn’t matter where I come from, whether I am black or white, gay or straight, Democrat or Republican, we all want to see the same thing and enjoy it. You in this industry bring us together. Women have to be an integral part of that. You have women in the household making 90% of the purchasing decisions. If that decision is not represented on the other side of that interaction, then they are going to lose. You have to consider that the role of a woman has to be considered in the events, in the experience, in all of that. It is not just inevitable but it is necessary … it’s happening in every other industry and in this one it will have to happen just for survival sake.

Their will obviously be a large number of women in your audience for this session. What would be your desired main takeaway for them as they return to their venue or business?

All of this is for all of us, but the thing I really want people to understand is none of this means if I have 80% we have to fight over the other 20%. It means the more we create for everybody the more we have created for all of us. It doesn’t take a leadership position away from a man because a woman gets one. It opens up many, many more leadership positions everywhere. The way my mother would say it is if you are trying to make a peach pie and you don’t have enough peaches, put some apples in there. You’ve got a whole other pie! Now you’ll have people calling and asking for the peach apple pie. The more great people you put into leadership the more there is for all of us to have to go around. I have never done a presentation when there weren’t men in the room. More often than not, they are already the good men who know and understand all of this.

After conducting a national search, Steve Peters, CVE, owner and president of VenuWorks, announced the internal promotion of Tiffany Vickaryous-Hubbard to Executive Director of The Sanford Center in Bemidji, MN.

“I am pleased to announce Tiffany’s acceptance of the Executive Director position in Bemidji,” Peters said. “She has proven her leadership at the venue and within the community and I have great confidence that she will work hard to ensure continued success.”

Vickaryous-Hubbard served as Director of Food & Beverage Sales with Ovations Food Service for the first seven years of her career. During this time, she was instrumental in the grand openings of Winnipeg Blue Bombers Stadium, Texas Tech Athletics/Jones AT&T Stadium, Chafetz Arena St. Louis University, Gateway International Speedway, Nashville Municipal Auditorium, and Tennessee State Fairgrounds.

Following her time with Ovations, Vickaryous-Hubbard was the Director of Food & Beverage at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, ND where she managed a team of five full-time and 130 part-time employees. Most recently, Vickaryous-Hubbard has worked for VenuWorks as the Associate Executive Director of The Sanford Center.

“We are so excited to welcome Tiffany as the new Executive Director of The Sanford Center. As an established member of our community, she brings a local connection and an understanding of the area that is appreciated and will benefit the building, its partners, and the community,” said Mayor Rita Albrecht.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the amazing team at the Sanford Center. To be able to work in an industry that I love while living in a community that my family and I call home is truly an incredible opportunity. I look forward to working with the City of Bemidji, VenuWorks, and all our community partners to continue to build on the success we enjoyed during Jeff’s (Kossow) tenure,” said Vickaryous-Hubbard.

Vickaryous-Hubbard’s first official day in her new role will be July 1.

Edmonton Economic Development (EEDC) announced the appointment of Arlindo Gomes to the role of Vice President, Venue Management.

Gomes previously served as the General Manager of the Edmonton EXPO Centre. In his new role, Gomes will provide strategic oversight over the Edmonton EXPO Centre and Edmonton Convention Centre, ensuring both venues continue to operate as best in class while maximizing the economic and community benefit to the City of Edmonton.

“I’m thrilled Arlindo has accepted the role of Vice President, Venue Management,” said Derek Hudson, EEDC CEO. “His experience in the fields of live entertainment, sports, and venue management will be a major influence on the ongoing success of both venues.”

“It’s an honor to be trusted with the stewardship of these two venues,” Gomes said. I look forward to working with both teams at the Edmonton Convention Centre and Edmonton EXPO Centre to build upon the strong reputation and success of both venues while driving efficiencies and operational excellence.”

Gomes has more than 25 years of experience in the sports, entertainment, and venue management industry. He began his career at the Edmonton Convention Centre, was instrumental in the integration of the Edmonton EXPO Centre within EEDC, and was the creative mind behind many of the new events introduced at the facility.

Richard Wong, General Manager of the Edmonton Convention Centre, has formally resigned his position to pursue another opportunity. For nearly two years, Wong provided exceptional leadership and stewardship of one of the city’s most iconic facilities, recognized as one of North America’s top performing venues in 2018.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have become the latest Major League Baseball team to commit to extend netting at its ballpark following another incident of a fan being injured by a foul ball.

On June 23, a young girl at Dodger Stadium was hit in the head by a liner from home team slugger Cody Bellinger. The girl received treatment at the game before being taken to hospital for precautionary tests.

The incident comes amid growing awareness of the dangers of foul balls at MLB stadia. The Washington Nationals recently committed to installing additional protective netting, with a view towards enhancing fan safety. The new netting will extend down the line and end just short of the right- and left-field foul poles at Nationals Park.

The Chicago White Sox earlier revealed plans to extend the netting at Guaranteed Rate Field. The actions of the two teams came after a White Sox home game against the Nationals saw a woman struck on the head by a foul ball.

Incidents involving children have occurred just this month at both Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals, while the Dodgers have prior history. It was revealed in February that a California woman died in August 2018 as a consequence of being hit in the head by a batted ball while attending a game at Dodger Stadium.

Linda Goldbloom, a mother of three and grandmother of seven, died on August 29, four days after watching a game between the Dodgers and San Diego Padres. While deaths have been rare, injuries from foul balls at baseball games are commonplace. Last year marked the first season in which all 30 MLB teams had protective netting extending from behind home plate to at least the far ends of both dugouts to protect especially vulnerable sections of stadiums’ lower bowls.

In response to the latest incident, the Dodgers said in a statement: “Fan safety is of the utmost importance to the Dodgers and during the offseason, we began the process of studying how the netting at Dodger Stadium could be configured to provide better protection for our fans. Once this study is completed, the team will implement the recommended changes and extend the netting at Dodger Stadium. The team will provide more information on the project timeline and scope when available.”

Dodgers team president and CEO Stan Kasten said that these plans are expected to be made public in the “next couple weeks”. Regarding the wider announcements in MLB, he added, according to the Orange County Register newspaper: “I think it was expected in baseball because all of us have been talking about doing more. All of the teams have. It wasn’t a surprise at all.

“One of the things that has changed and has been helpful is that the modern-day fan has more of an expectation of seeing netting than they ever have before. And that’s useful to know because customer opinions are very important.”