Jenn Hunter, senior director of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Portland Trail Blazers, oversees the internal and external execution of equity and inclusion initiatives for the team and leads all related strategy and policies. Continue Reading Venue Voices: Jenn Hunter
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Taneshia Nash Laird on Newark Symphony Hall’s serving as a gateway to opportunity for one of the more diverse large cities in the country.
Continue Reading Venue Voices: Taneshia Nash Laird
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One of Dallas Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall’s favorite adages: “Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”
Continue Reading Venue Voices: Cynt Marshall
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Event operations manager, University of Florida Performing Arts Zakiya Smith-Dore is an event operations manager with University of Florida Performing Arts. She’s held that position since April 2017. Smith-Dore is a true-blue Florida Gator, with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the SEC school. Smith-Dore started working at the Stephen O’Connell Center on campus as an undergraduate. Prior to her current role, she served as a changeover supervisor at the 10,133-seat arena for about four years. Former NBA arena manager Sporty Jeralds says she’s a “young, fast-rising star in our business.” Smith-Dore is a Certified Venues Professional and active with the International Association of Venue Managers, where she represents the state of Florida and is vice chair of the trade group’s University Venues Committee. She led research and co-authored IAVM’s pandemic recovery guide and received its 2020 Chairman’s Citation. Smith-Dore spoke with VenuesNow reporter James Zoltak about how she went from studying… Continue Reading Venue Voices: Zakiya Smith-Dore
Continue Reading Venue Voices: Zakiya Smith-Dore
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Sporty Jeralds: “I want to encourage other people who don’t look like me to just give people a chance.” ‘It just takes people being intentional’ Sporty Jeralds Senior clinical instructor, Sport and Entertainment Management Department University of South Carolina Sporty Jeralds is a highly regarded venues executive who managed the Charlotte Coliseum for 15 years. A native of Fayetteville, N.C, Jeralds earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at Guilford College, a master’s degree in public administration at the University of North Carolina and a second master’s in sports management from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He began his venues career in the early 1980s at the Hampton (Va.) Coliseum. Jeralds is the author of several books and is now a full-time senior clinical instructor at the University of South Carolina’s Sport and Entertainment Management Department and also works with the Charlotte Hornets in the team’s community relations department.… Continue Reading Venue Voices: Sporty Jeralds
Continue Reading Venue Voices: Sporty Jeralds
Read MoreIn the weeks after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the protests that followed, three Black professionals in venue management spoke to VenuesNow’s James Zoltak about their career paths and experiences, their thoughts on whether America has reached a tipping point regarding race, and what the industry must do to create positive change. Adina Erwin Senior Vice President of Business Operations TD Garden Adina Erwin, senior vice president of business operations for TD Garden in Boston, is a Certified Venues Executive who has served as vice president and chief operating officer of the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, where she launched the Fox Theatre Institute, a community engagement and consulting division that’s provided over $3 million in grant funding and support to Georgia communities. A VenuesNow “Women of Influence” honoree in 2017, the same year she was selected as one of the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Women Who Mean… Continue Reading Venue Voices: Adina Erwin
Continue Reading Venue Voices: Adina Erwin
Read MoreIn the weeks after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the protests that followed, three Black professionals in venue management spoke to VenuesNow’s James Zoltak about their career paths and experiences, their thoughts on whether America has reached a tipping point regarding race, and what the industry must do to create positive change. Frantzer LeBlanc Director of Events and Operations UMBC Event Center Frantzer LeBlanc serves as the director of events and operations at the Oak View Group Facilities-operated University of Maryland Baltimore County Event Center. Prior to UMBC, he was the assistant athletic director in charge of operations and events at Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware. Before that, LeBlanc was assistant director of athletics facilities at Hofstra University and has also held positions at Wagner College and American University. For the last three years, he has served on the university committee for… Continue Reading Venue Voices: Frantzer LeBlanc
Continue Reading Venue Voices: Frantzer LeBlanc
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Among the most accomplished black executives in the facilities industry, Larry Perkins speaks about his career, racism he has experienced in his own life and mentors who have helped him on his way to success.
Continue Reading Larry Perkins: ‘We Don’t Blaze Trails Alone’
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