The IAVM iCommit campaign was created in 2012 to enable our members to identify and encourage potential venue management superstars as new members. As a result, our network has become larger and everyone benefits from a collective sharing of smart practices across all venue types. Due to the great response of our annual recruitment campaign, we added 148 new members to our membership. We thank all of our members who helped support this effort!

The winners are: 

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By Chelsea Johnson

The University of Phoenix Stadium is unlike any other stadium in the country. With its retractable roof and field, and critically acclaimed space design, the venue is sure to be a perfect match for this year’s 2017 NCAA Men’s Final Four Tournament.

Located in Glendale, Arizona, the stadium has been transformed into a fully functional basketball arena for the tournament that will start on Saturday, April 1. Designed to be a multi-purpose facility, the University of Phoenix Stadium has certainly held its own when it comes to versatility in sports – but it has never hosted a basketball event of this size or configuration before. To assist in the conversion from a football stadium to a basketball arena for this anticipated event, Staging Concepts helped supply equipment along with the Colonnade Group and other partners.

Since 2008, Staging Concepts has helped the NCAA transform these spaces by customizing a seating riser and supports for each venue, which maximizes sight lines and creates a world-class fan experience. Around 5,200 seats were removed to allow for additional temporary seating to be built for the game. This year, Staging Concepts provided almost 5,000 platforms which allowed temporary seating to be built for almost 17,000 patrons. Additionally, Staging Concepts provides over 1,000 SC9600 Frames and supports that support the risen floor, allowing better sight lines and an overall excellent viewing experience for the audience. Guardrail, aisle rail, step units, frames and accessories accompany the platforms to create a reliable and impressive riser system.

Staging Concepts was thrilled to return to the Final Four Tournament again this year to continue providing customized systems to enhance the experience for each venue. Check out upcoming tournaments below where you will see our equipment again!

Alamodome-San Antonio, TX- 2018
US Bank Stadium- Minneapolis, MN – 2019
Mercedes-Benz Stadium- Atlanta, GA – 2020
Lucas Oil Stadium- Indianapolis, IN- 2021
Mercedes-Benz Superdome – New Orleans, LA – 2022

Chelsea Johnson is a marketing specialist for Staging Concepts

Think TicketsWest and you have to think of Jack Lucas, founder of the Spokane, Washington-based company in 1987. Thirty years later, Lucas said that while his zeal and passion for the business remain, the timing was right to pass the presidential torch to Dusty Kurtz, who assumed leadership of the company on March 26.

“When we started TicketsWest in 1987, we had a goal to be the best ticketing company that we could be,” Lucas wrote in an email to close industry colleagues. “As I now reflect back on 30 years, and realize the significance of where we started and where we are currently at in our history, I am thankful for the many team members, both current and those in the past, that have helped to make TicketsWest into a national brand, and one of the premiere full service/full enterprise ticketing solutions in the United States.

“I am so fortunate that for the past 30 years I have had the great joy of being part of this history. To this day, I still enjoy and look forward to walking through the front door each and every day. I must confess, after 30 years, I still love what I do, and still have a passion for my work.

“But after 30 years, there comes a time when you have to pass the torch on to someone else, and let them lead and create the vision for the next 30 years. I have finally made that decision.”

While announcing the promotion of Kurtz, who had served as the company’s vice president since 2010, Lucas said that he will remain as president of WestCoast Entertainment.

“Dusty has had a great career with TicketsWest and has worked alongside me as my vice president for the past several years,” Lucas said. “I can state without reservation that Dusty is ready to take TicketsWest to the next level. Dusty is ready to create the vision and the strategy to position TicketsWest for the future. There isn’t anyone that I would want to have lead TicketsWest than Dusty Kurtz. He is honest, forthright, a hard worker, and provides all of the skills and experience needed to lead TicketsWest.”

Lucas said that he looks forward to devoting more time to WestCoast Entertainment and to expand the business into other regions while growing the business into a more recognizable national brand.

Event and venue management software leader Ungerboeck announced the addition of Andy Weiss to the company’s executive leadership team. As vice president of marketing, Weiss will lead worldwide brand strategy and demand generation efforts from company headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.

“We are thrilled to welcome Andy to the Ungerboeck team,” said Ungerboeck CEO Manish Chandak. “His considerable experience in tech marketing strategy and the additional complexities involved with working on a global scale make him a particularly great fit for Ungerboeck at this exciting time in our history.”

Prior to his position at Ungerboeck, Weiss served most recently as the global director of marketing at Apollo Global where he headed an international, data-driven digital marketing team focused on driving scale and operational efficiency for the education network. In addition to the development of a worldwide mobile initiative to make education more accessible to people in developing countries, Weiss also led the expansion of Apollo programs in India and South Africa. Most notably, his tenure at the company saw the transformation of marketing from a cost center to a lead-generating revenue driver.

“I am very excited to join a company like Ungerboeck that understands the value of client-focused development and innovation,” Weiss said. “I see incredible opportunity for us to really own our role as a visible and vocal leader not just on the St. Louis tech scene but in the events industry as a whole.”

Weiss holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Theatre from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. When he is not cheering from the sidelines at sporting events for his son, Joe, and daughter, Ella, he enjoys endurance sports and traveling with his with wife, Beth.

The SMG-managed Blue Water Convention Center in Port Huron, Michigan, has named Gino Giacumbo its new general manager. With over two decades of experience in sports and venue management, Giacumbo brings a wealth of knowledge with him to his new position in Port Huron. Most recently, Giacumbo served as the general manager at the Birch Run Expo Center in Birch Run, Michigan.

“We are very happy to have Gino join our team,” said Rich MacKeigan, SMG’s regional general manager who has oversight of the Blue Water Convention Center. “The relationships that Gino has built in the area paired with his years of experience will be a great asset for the venue and SMG as well as the community.”

Giacumbo was chosen to fill the position after an expansive nationwide search by SMG and St. Clair County. In addition to his time at the Birch Run Expo Center, Giacumbo worked in Flint, Michigan, as vice president of business operations for Perani Arena and Event Center and Flint General Hockey Club and in Port Huron as vice president and general manager of the Port Huron Beacons.

“I’m excited at the opportunity to be back in Port Huron and am looking forward to collaborating with SMG and this community to carry on forming a creative and productive environment for the region,” Giacumbo said.

Giacumbo graduated Cum Laude from William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey, in 1990 and obtained his Juris Doctor from Widener University School of Law in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1994. Before his time with the Port Huron Beacons, Giacumbo spent time in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as the director of corporate sales and marketing for the USA Hockey-National Team Development Program, Elmira, New York, as the vice president and general manager of the Louisville Panthers and Elmira Jackals, and Moline, Illinois, as the general manager of the Quad City Mallards.