ILLUSTRIOUS CAREER: Brad Mayne has run several buildings and helmed the IAVM as president and CEO for the past seven years. He’s seen here with current IAVM board chairwoman Kerry Painter. (VN Staff)

Admired Industry Veteran Led IAVM through COVID crisis

Outgoing IAVM President and CEO Brad Mayne, who announced his retirement earlier this month, said the organization’s board of directors had sought to extend his tenure through 2026, but the 32-year venues industry fixture felt it was time to sunset his career.

“I said, I’m getting old and I’m not sure I can do that,” Mayne told VenuesNow after announcing he would retire following the IAVM’s VenueConnect conference in 2024 in Portland, Ore.

Mayne said of the many employment agreements he’s had over the decades, he’s never broken any of them and wouldn’t start now.

A Utah native who worked at the Salt Palace early in his career, Mayne went on to run Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now Honda Center), American Airlines Center in Dallas and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Mayne, who plans on remaining in the Dallas and making up for lost time with his wife Cheryl of 48 years, their three daughters and nine grandchildren, all of whom live in the area.

“It’s a time for me to spend more time with the grandkids, and help my wife out, because she has done an incredible amount of work,” Mayne said. “Cheryl, she’s my rock and it’s time for me to help her with all these grandkids and the challenges that they face with their families.”

Mayne said he had an epiphany of sorts before announcing his retirement.

He left the annual VenueConnect conference, which was held in Pittsburgh July 31-Aug. 3, after the board chair’s gavel was passed from Adina Erwin to Kerry Painter, to attend his 50-year high school reunion. It was the first time in seven years that he departed before the confab was over.

“They gave us a whole bunch of data,” he said. “They said we had 486 members who graduated in 1973 and during the program, they put up 86 names of people who have passed away. When I saw that, it was a wake-up call for me. And I’m a man of faith. So, I figured that what the Lord is telling me, it’s time to retire.”

Mayne a diehard fan of his alma mater and the Utah Utes, said he also noted how some great athletes extend their careers unwisely.

“They goofed,” he said. “They didn’t retire, and they should have. I looked at that and said, you know what, I’ve had a good run with IAVM, even though we had basically three years of challenges with the pandemic. I just started thinking, I want to go out on top.”

When he’s not tending to his daughters and grandchildren, and even when his is, Mayne plans to do some hunting, fishing and camping, all activities he’s enjoyed since he was young.

Editor’s note: See the October print issue of VenuesNow for a Q&A with Mayne.