Sports & Entertainment General Manager Barry Geisler will retire after 34 years at EagleBank Arena on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, at the end of the year.

Geisler began his career in 1982 at the Oakland Coliseum and subsequently became an event coordinator at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in California from 1983-85.

He moved to the Washington, D.C. in 1985 to work for Centre Management at the then-Patriot Center as the director of arena administration working for Gary Handleman. Geisler was named Patriot Center GM in 1987.

“It has been a great run and I’m looking forward to working these final three months, making a seamless transition to my successor and then cheering on EagleBank Arena’s continued success,” Geisler said in a release.

“A huge thank you to the many agents, promoters and family show producers who have placed their acts in our venue and have made EagleBank Arena one of the most successful mid-size arenas over the past 34 years.”

By Andy Weiss

Bluefin, the leading provider of payment security technologies and PCI-validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE) solutions for retail, hospitality, healthcare, and higher education today announced its partnership with Ungerboeck, the world’s leading event software, to provide PCI-validated P2PE to Ungerboeck clients.

Ungerboeck’s event technology platform is trusted by over 50,000 event professionals in more than 50 countries. Customers include top shows from across the world; universities; performing arts venues; global convention centers; some of the world’s most visited museums, professional sports arenas, and stadia; plus, other unique events and venues of all shapes and sizes. Ungerboeck also allows customers to accept a variety of payment types, from cash to credit to ACH, and process payments within one system.

Ungerboeck has partnered with Bluefin to provide the company’s PCI-validated P2PE solution directly through the company’s software platform. PCI P2PE secures credit and debit card transactions by encrypting all data within a PCI-approved point of entry device. This prevents clear-text cardholder data from being available within the device, or in the merchant’s system where exposure to malware is possible. Data decryption always occurs offsite in a Bluefin hardware security module (HSM), ensuring the highest level of security.

“Data security is an utmost priority for our customers,” said Manish Chandak, President and CEO of Ungerboeck, “especially for the ones who deal with credit card transactions. With Bluefin, we can now offer those customers a way to remove credit card data from their network and reduce their PCI compliance burden. Ultimately, our customers get an even more secure solution.”

Bluefin enables PCI-validated P2PE on partner platforms using their Decryptx® Decryption as a Service (DaaS) product, which allows gateways, ISV’s, and processors to connect directly to Bluefin for the P2PE service.

“Ungerboeck is a true technology pioneer in events software – and as we know from the myriad of data breaches, hackers do not discriminate between industries, whether event venues, stadiums or convention centers,” said Greg Cornwell, Global Head of Sales, Bluefin. “We are excited that Ungerboeck will be providing PCI-validated P2P2E to their global customer base to devalue sensitive payment data and protect cardholders.”

The benefits of the Bluefin and Ungerboeck P2PE solution include reducing PCI scope from 329 to 33 questions on the P2PE self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ), which in turn provides significant cost and efficiency savings; online management of the P2PE device process with Bluefin’s P2PE Manager®; and seamless integration with the Ungerboeck platform utilizing the P2PE-validated ID Tech SREDKey payment terminals.

Andy Weiss is vice president of marketing for Ungerboeck.

By Detra Page

ON Services, a GES company and leading full-service audio visual provider supporting live event productions, announced the hiring of experiential experts Craig Pemberton as national sales manager for corporate business and Matt McGraw as account manager for corporate trade show accounts.

Pemberton is an innovative sales and marketing leader, bringing more than 20 years of experience. He has held leadership positions at H.B. Stubbs Company, EWI Worldwide and The George P. Johnson Company. Prior to joining ON Services, Pemberton was head of business development for One Group. In his new role, Pemberton will work with ON Services’ staging team, focusing on corporate manufacturing business including automotive, healthcare and construction.

McGraw joins ON Services from SmartSource Rentals. He has more than 10 years of experience in national and international trade shows and corporate events. He brings extensive knowledge of technology and global sales account management, show management, sales and operations. In his new role, McGraw will support trade show exhibit technology clients.

“The addition of Craig and Matt to the ON Services team continues to expand our bench strength as we partner with clients to create engaging live events,” said ON Services Senior Vice President of Sales Jeffrey Byrne. “Along with deep technical expertise, Craig and Matt know the essential role of audio visual services in delivering successful and memorable experiential events.”

Detra Page, APR, is Sr. Manager Corporate Communications for GES

By Coliseum/Global Sports Venue Alliance

Populous has designed the stadium of Nashville Soccer Club, the Major League Soccer (MLS) expansion team, about two miles south of downtown Nashville. The venue will be located in the city’s Wedgewood-Houston area.

The team will start playing in their new home at the start of the 2022 season and the venue is expected to liven up the whole neighborhood.

Nashville SC will officially join the MLS during the 2020 season and will play at Nissan Stadium till the new facility is completed in 2022. Construction work of the new stadium is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2020.

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Photo by Nashville SC/Populous

The IAVM Foundation Legacy Award may be awarded annually by the Board of Trustees to an individual or organization who, in the opinion of the IAVM Foundation has made a significant financial and/or non-financial contribution to benefit the mission and objectives of the IAVM Foundation. The Foundation Chief Executive Officer will provide evidence the nominee meets the criteria.

The following criteria are established for the Legacy Award nominees:
1. The nominee may be from any membership category of IAVM or from outside of the Association in a related field.
2. Any current or past contributor to the IAVM Foundation may make a nomination, which must provide, in writing, specific examples of the nominee’s outstanding contributions to the IAVM Foundation.
3. At least three letters of recommendation must accompany the nomination.
4. No Chair of IAVM or Chair of the IAVM Foundation is eligible for consideration until the third VenueConnect following his/her term of office.
5. Previous recipients are ineligible (and may be found on our website under Awards).
6. The award may be given posthumously.

The nominations and letters of recommendation should be written to Brad Mayne, CVE, IAVM Foundation CEO and submitted to Rosanne Duke electronically. The nomination letter and all letters of recommendation must be received by close of business November 25, 2019. If you have any questions, please contact Rosanne Duke at 972.538.1025.