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.”

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council met at the Baltimore Convention Center from June 25-27. The WBENC is the largest conference of its kind for women business owners in the U.S. with more than 2,000 in attendance.

A signature event, the National Conference & Business Fair features innovative educational programming, inspiring keynotes, 1:1 MatchMaker sessions, networking opportunities, and an unrivaled Business Fair.

WBENC’s event is attended by women business enterprises, senior executives and procurement representatives from the Fortune 500, U.S. Government and select partner organizations whose missions align with WBENC’s vision of expanding women’s business opportunities in the marketplace.

In honor of the event, Baltimore Convention Center Executive Director Peggy Daidakis gathered the business women of the Baltimore Convention Center for a photograph.

IAVM has partnered with Team Coalition to bring you a webinar on how to Turn on the Taps Responsibly and Profitably! Be sure to secure your spot now!

Date: Tuesday, June 25th

Time: 3:00 – 3:45 EDT

Topic: Join collegiate facility managers as they share the best practices and reasonable efforts they implemented to successfully serve alcohol through general concessions at the collegiate level. Lean what pitfalls to avoid. Consider the keys to success from those who have rolled out alcohol service responsibly and profitably.