Justin Aquino, an accomplished county fair and corporate event professional, has been named operations manager of the San Mateo County Fair.

“We are pleased to welcome Justin to our leadership team,” said Dana Stoehr, chief executive officer for the San Mateo County Event Center and Fair. “Justin has an impressive background in the diverse aspects of a county fair, from concessions to exhibits to execution of large-scale events. We are delighted to welcome him back to California where his county fair roots were established.”

As the fair operations manager, Aquino is responsible for planning, organizing, directing, and coordinating the activities of the San Mateo County Fair. The fair is an annual Bay Area event that attracts more than 120,000 guests each year. “The county fair has a special camaraderie and family atmosphere,” Aquino said. “Memories are formed into traditions that create joyful reunions for employees, vendors, and guests. There is no better opportunity to celebrate the successes and talents from those living in our county than at the annual fair.”

Aquino comes to San Mateo from the Utah Valley Convention Center, where he spent the last three years as event manager with Spectra Venue Management. He also served as the center’s exhibitor services manager, show manager and catering and sales manager. Previously, Aquino worked for the Orange County Fair and Event Center as year-round event coordinator. The Southern California fair is a month-long event that attracts more than one million fair guests each year. His duties included commercial and concessions coordination.

“The fair industry is where my career began,” Aquino said. “Even in a management development program with my former employer I shared that I saw my future as a fair manager. The fair business is in my heart and soul; it is where I have the most passion.”

Aquino holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Communication. He currently serves as Vice Chair of the IAVM’s Mentoring Committee. Aquino is a former board member of the Equestrian Center in Utah.

Concession industry leader Gold Medal Products Co. announced the hiring of Joe Macaluso as vice president of sales for the U.S. & Canada.

In this role, Macaluso will be responsible for new business development, key relationship management, and sales leadership. He comes to Gold Medal with more than 30 years of professional sales experience. The majority of his tenure was spent with Weaver Popcorn Company, most recently as senior vice president of sales – concession division (U.S. and Canada). Macaluso has a solid history of consistently increasing revenue and strengthening strategic partnerships. His proven skills and accomplishments clearly demonstrate the value he brings to Gold Medal.

“We feel privileged to have Joe Macaluso join the Gold Medal team. With sales knowledge that’s second-to-none and a well-respected reputation in the industry, he has all the characteristics necessary to drive success,” said Gold Medal President Adam Browning.

Macaluso enters the role with innovation on his mind. “I chose Gold Medal because of their investment into physical and human resources and their unquestionable commitment to growth. As a company, they reach for higher expectations. I plan to work diligently to find ways to grow existing customer business and develop new opportunities that expand the size and scope of Gold Medal’s business.”

The iCommit member referral campaign is still under way, but we need YOU to help us meet our goals before June 30th. For each new member you refer, your name will be entered in a raffle to win great prizes!

Do you have interns, students, or young professionals working for you now? Is there a long-time employee who hasn’t gotten involved yet? Encourage them to become a part of our network.

If you know of a venue in your community that is not a part of IAVM, encourage them to consider Group Membership. As of today, 156 venues are participating as group members.

Do you have a vendor that is not an Allied Member? Urge them to join now and experience all that membership has to offer!

To ensure you are eligible to win one of the prizes, ask your new member to do the following:

• List your name in the Application Section titled, “Who Recommended IAVM To You/How Did You Hear About IAVM?”
• Enter “iCommit” in the Promotional Code fieldin the online membership application
• For new Professional or Allied members only, the $150 one-time initiation fee will be waived

 Prizes

• The grand prize will be a complimentary registration to VenueConnect2019 (value up to $1,000).
• Win one of five, $500 Apple Gift cards
• The IAVM Region that adds the most new members will have one CVP application fee waived (value $125)

We will continue to share monthly updates as we strive to meet our goal of adding 550 new members. It’s a lofty goal, but we can do it! The campaign ends June 30, 2018.

The post iCommit: Building an Even Stronger IAVM appeared first on International Association of Venue Managers.

Jerry Teplitz, JD, Ph.D., CSP, carries many titles and decorated designations into his presentation of the All Venues track at VenueConnect on Tuesday, July 24, from 9:15-10:15 am. The one most important to the energy doctor and brain performance expert on this day, though, is to ensure that attendees in Toronto go home essentially a “new you.”

Speaking on the topic of Increasing Your Brain’s Performance for Greater Leadership Success, Dr. Teplitz promises that through on-stage demonstrations to show people how to literally change from anything negative that might have taken place within the last four hours. Literally.

“We will equip people to change the last four hours to literally change their relationship with everyone around them as well as their home life,” he said from his Virginia Beach, Virginia, headquarters.

Dr. Teplitz will present from the concept that if a leader has experienced a negative day how that person feels different in a positive day. It is something that sounds rather simple but Dr. Teplitz will demonstrate from how our personal energy systems operate and how we are all affected by it and in turn affect others.

“We will demonstrate all of that, not just talk about it,” he said. “I will bring people on stage to demo it and the whole audience can self-validate themselves. The overall concept is you can actually take charge of your day to hopefully turn every day into a positive one but as we say in the seminar how about making the last four hours a positive, high-energy day? That then affects your leadership ability and communication ability and how you lite3rally feel and what your home life is like once you get home. It’s designed to show people things they have never seen before.”

Dr. Teplitz cited a study from Stockholm, Sweden, with 3,000 men all in good health and an average age of 42. The group filled out a form with one question asking if their boss gave them the information they needed, with the boss rated from very highly to very poorly.

“It was a 10-year study and over that period 74 of these men had either a heart attack or a cardiac event,” he said. “The interesting thing became those who rated the boss with the lower leadership score had a higher risk for a heart attack or cardiac event. The longer that person worked for the same boss the higher their risk went. You can underline it several times and say there is proof. You as the boss affect all of your staff and I will be demonstrating that and what you can do about that and alter it for yourself and for your team.”

Dr. Teplitz understands the proposition of good days and bad days, positive days and negative days. Trained and educated as an attorney, he said that he “stumbled” into his eventual career calling in 1974.

“I was actually an attorney and living in Chicago many years ago,” he said. “I hung around some friends who were into yoga and nutrition, things that at the time were considered weird. I was not interested in it and was scared of it but kept hanging around my friends. I decided to try yoga but went into it with a negative attitude to show my friends it did not work so they would leave me alone. Shortly after I started I noticed fewer lower back pain problems that I had most of my life. I actually had more flexibility than I ever had as a high school athlete.”

Hello, new career.

Dr. Teplitz went on to earn a Ph.D. in Holistic Health Sciences and has found a calling where he makes a difference in the daily lives of people.

“Trust me, this will become a conversation for the rest of the conference,” he said. “People at the program will start doing what I did and mirror the demonstration that I did on folks.”

For a heads-up on what to expect, please click here to view a segment in which Dr. Teplitz appeared on Virginia CBS-6.

Lee Zeidman, president of STAPLES Center, Microsoft Theater and L.A. LIVE, announced several promotions at Microsoft Theater and L.A. LIVE effective April 1, 2018. The continued growth and leadership at Microsoft Theater and L.A. LIVE has helped create industry leading management teams and they are a contributing factor to the success and establishment in making both the theater and district a premier destination for concerts, movie premiers, dining, tourism, live entertainment, and more.

Don Graham began his career with Microsoft Theater (formerly Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE) in February 2008 as the director of event production and has made a tremendous impact on not only the events that take place at the theater, but events throughout the L.A. LIVE district. In 2009, he was promoted to assistant general manager and in January 2012 he was promoted to vice president of events and production for Microsoft Theater. In his new title as Microsoft Theater general manager, Graham will oversee the entire theater including booking, ticketing, production, guest services, security, and overall operation of one of the busiest and most successful mid-size theater’s in the country.

Russell Gordon began his career with Microsoft Theater before the venue opened its doors in 2007 as senior manager, event and guest services. Gordon played a crucial part in helping plan the grand opening of Microsoft Theater from an event operating standpoint and worked to instill best practices used from STAPLES Center (Microsoft Theater’s sister facility) which he continues to adjust and improve on as necessary. In 2009, he was promoted to director of guest services and event security where his responsibilities increased to include leadership of the venue’s security team, along with providing a safe and secure environment for all guests, staff, and artists who step foot into Microsoft Theater. In 2012, his area of responsibility increased yet again to include management of the venue’s operations department and overall event logistics as the senior director, events and venue operations. This included project managing recent venue refurbishments and enhancements. In his new role as vice president and assistant general manager, Gordon will direct all aspects of large-scale event logistics for all of the concerts, numerous award shows, premieres, and corporate events hosted at Microsoft Theater annually in addition to special projects and artist relations.

Maria Fulay began her career with Microsoft Theater in June 2007 as the manager of box office operations as part of the team which opened Microsoft Theater in 2007. Currently, as the senior director of box operations, Fulay oversees the overall operations of ticketing for events and daily duties in the box office. In her new role as senior director of box office and ticketing, Fulay will expand her role by incorporating all the ticketing technologies in streamlining the booking, event build, and on-sale process for Microsoft Theater clients.

Graham, Gordon and Fulay have all played critical roles and have a pulse on the over 120 music, family, dance and comedy acts, award shows, televised productions, conventions, and product launches annually. Since opening its’ doors in October 2007, Microsoft Theater has hosted six nights of the Eagles and Dixie Chicks and have hosted the likes of Alan Jackson, Katy Perry, Charlie Wilson, Juan Gabriel, Aretha Franklin, Ed Sheeran, John Fogerty, Gabriel Iglesias, Kanye West, Marc Anthony, Sesame Street Live, John Legend, The Avett Brothers, Neil Young, Steely Dan, Trey Songz, Kelly Clarkson, Rush, Yanni, Nicki Minaj, Juanes, Cat Stevens, The American Idol Finale shows, Michael Jackson’s This is It, Straight Outta Compton, The Hunger Games and Twilight Movie Premieres and many more. American Music Awards, ESPYs, Primetime Emmy Awards, BET Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Radio Disney Music Awards, 2010, 2011 & 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, 2014 & 2015 MTV Movie Awards and the 2013 Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame. Over 500,000 people pass through the doors of Microsoft Theater annually.

Shelby Russell joined AEG in 1998 as the sales coordinator for the Los Angeles Kings. He then joined the marketing team and was part of the opening of STAPLES Center in 1999. Throughout the years, he has managed marketing initiatives for numerous AEG properties and entities including STAPLES Center, Home Depot Center, Los Angeles Kings, Amgen Tour of California, WTA Tour Championship,s and more. He will now take on the title of senior vice president, L.A. LIVE Marketing and L.A. LIVE Cinemas. He is responsible for L.A. LIVE marketing initiatives that drive revenues and attendance to L.A. LIVE properties, events, and restaurants as well as overseeing the business operations for Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE.

Ryan Golden started his career with AEG in 2006 as the marketing manager for AEG Sports and then was promoted to director of business operations for AEG Sports. Within his time at AEG, he also was the production manager for Microsoft Theater for three years handling production and venue operations prior to his role as the director of business operations for L.A. LIVE. In this position, he managed L.A LIVE’s 150+ events a year including Nike3on3, All Star Chef Classic, BET Experience plus corporate parties and events on Microsoft Square, the L.A. LIVE Event Deck and the Terrace at L.A. LIVE. He will now take on the role of vice president, L.A. LIVE Events, where he will oversee both the sales and operations teams responsible for bringing events to L.A. LIVE.

Sean Otrakul has been promoted to manager, marketing, L.A. LIVE. Otrakul joined AEG in 2010 as part of the L.A. LIVE street team climbing within the department with his dedication and commitment to his work. Over the years he has provided tremendous support in marketing the L.A. LIVE annual events including BET Experience, All-Star Chef Classic and Nike Basketball 3on3 Tournament. Otrakul has always shown commitment to the company and his duties and in his new role he will spearhead the curation and planning for the Dark Nights and Round Up events at L.A. LIVE.

Morgan Helsom has been promoted to assistant manager, marketing, L.A. LIVE. During her two and a half years with the L.A. LIVE Marketing department, Helson has displayed positive leadership skills and the ability to successfully support the overall marketing efforts of the department. In her new role, she will assist with many of the department’s marquee events driving creative content as well as helping upkeep the L.A. LIVE brand including campus signage and marketing collateral for L.A. LIVE.