VenuesNow Conference 2019-September 10-11 New York, NY

REQUEST FOR ATTENDANCE

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

William J. Bratton

Teneo Risk

Cindy A. Coppola

FBI

Nicole Feld

Feld Entertainment, Inc.

Don Garber

MLS Commissioner

Al Guido

Elevate

Charlie Jacobs

Delaware North/Boston Bruins

Jason Miller

Live Nation New York

Adam Silver

Commissioner
National Basketball Association

For sponsorship and tradeshow opportunities, please contact Aki Kaneko: akaneko@oakviewgroup.com

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As Principal and Studio Leader for the LAB at Rockwell Group , Melissa Hoffman works at the intersection of technology, strategy and architecture, guiding the company’s cutting-edge incubator for innovation within built environments. From new software platforms to compelling virtual experiences, the LAB brings fresh concepts to Rockwell Group’s forward-thinking projects.

Since joining the company in 2009, Melissa continues to grow relationships with some of the greatest multi-national brands, including Google, Intel, The Coca-Cola Company, and The Walt Disney Company.

Prior to Rockwell Group, Melissa held senior positions at Fitch Worldwide (a WPP Company), Gensler, Desgrippes Gobé, and Pentagram. After graduating from Ohio State University with a B.S. in Political Science, she began her career at HBO and worked in television for many years. In August 2009, she wrote and performed her one-woman show, Bossy Girl, as part of Lincoln Center’s “American Living Room” series and is the author of Free Fall (2008), a collection of short stories.

Kirk Safford joined Lyft as a Business Development Manager in 2015 and now serves as the Director of City Partnerships. He leads a team that develops and executes partnerships with airports, venues, universities, transit and governmental agencies that reflect the community and civic ethos of the company.

Prior to Lyft, Kirk worked in the Financial Services industry at Fisher Investments. Over the course of 9 years he held a variety of roles and managed multiple teams across; marketing, operations, client service, sales, and business development before ending his tenure as a VP of Business Development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and resides in San Francisco, CA.

Todd Merry oversees Delaware North's strategic global marketing efforts, spanning all of its operating companies and locations on four continents. He guides its customer-centric mission and leads all sales and marketing efforts. Additionally, he is the lead for all of the Delaware North efforts in esports including their investment in Dignitas and sits on the board of Mal Pais, the holding company for Dignita. Todd has been involved in the business side of esports for the last four years and previously sat on the board of Splyce gaming.

Mike Newquist is the Vice President of Event Marketing & Ticketing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (“UFC”). In this role, he oversees globally all Event Marketing, Event Revenues, Ticketing, and Global Travel. In 2019 alone, the UFC will produce events across the United States, Canada, Mexico, UK, Russia, Brazil, Sweden, Uruguay, China, United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Australia, and Singapore.

A 20-year Sports & Entertainment veteran, Newquist began his career in the National Football League with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he spent 8 years and ultimately had oversight of all business operations for the NFL club, reporting directly to team ownership. Prior to joining the UFC, he most recently worked with Ticketmaster/Live Nation in both Los Angeles and Chicago.

Assistant Commissioner for Intelligence Analysis Rebecca Ulam Weiner manages counterterrorism and cyber intelligence analysis and production for the New York City Police Department’s Intelligence Bureau. She is one of the principal advisors to the Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, and she shares responsibility for Bureau-wide policy development and program management. Assistant Commissioner Weiner coordinates and integrates intelligence analysis and operations and represents the NYPD in matters involving counterterrorism and intelligence.

In March 2010, Assistant Commissioner Weiner became the first representative of local law enforcement to serve in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s National Intelligence Council, where she focused on transnational crime and terrorism. She served previously as Legal Counsel to the Intelligence Bureau’s Intelligence Analysis Unit and as Team Leader for the Middle East & North Africa, overseeing intelligence collection and analysis related to threats associated with those regions.

Prior to joining the NYPD in 2006, Assistant Commissioner Weiner was an International Security Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, focusing on national security and legal issues. She also worked as a biotechnology consultant at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and as a Science & Technology Research Associate at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Assistant Commissioner Weiner graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts in History & Literature, and she graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2005 with a Juris Doctorate. She was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York in 2006 and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Karri Zaremba is the founder and Chief Operating Officer of Venuetize, bringing 20 years of experience across technology, media, sports and entertainment, and entrepreneurial startups. Prior to founding Venuetize, Karri served in a variety of senior roles at Vubiquity, including operations, commercial delivery, marketing, finance, and project management. During her 7 years there, Karri led efforts around post-acquisition integration (Vubiquity closed 6 acquisitions in 7 years), synergies, scalability, and automation. Prior to Vubiquity, Karri was founder & CEO of Media Gateway, a Dubai-based aggregation model business focused on global content rights aggregation and multiplatform distribution. Karri has a total of 5 start-up ventures under her belt, financed through both Venture Capital and Private Equity. She resides near Venuetize HQ in Tampa, Florida, where she was recently recognized by the Tampa Bay Business Journal as a Business Woman of the Year honoree.

Sara Slane has over 12 years of experience working in the casino gaming industry. Most recently, she was the senior vice president of public affairs at the American Gaming Association (AGA). As a key industry strategist and spokesperson, Slane helped enhance the gaming industry’s reputation and built favorable perceptions among critical stakeholders, including regulators, legislators, the media, and the broader public. Her messages were delivered across multiple platforms, including: testifying before Congress and state legislatures; conducting television and print interviews with major outlets such as CNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times; and delivering remarks at high-visibility forums around the country.

Most recently, Slane managed the most important advocacy victory in AGA history, a campaign to overturn the federal ban on sports betting known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). Slane was integral to planning the campaign’s strategy and leading key aspects, including building alliances with sports leagues and policymakers; handling the association’s day-to-day grassroots and communications efforts; and overseeing the development of original research that demonstrated the overwhelming support for legal, regulated sports betting among fans and quantified the economic opportunities for American businesses. Slane's efforts culminated in the May 14, 2018 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court to deem PASPA unconstitutional and clear the way for the gaming industry to offer sports betting under state regulation.
Because of her leadership role, Slane is touted as “the face of legalized sports betting” and deemed one of “the most important and influential voices in gaming”.

Prior to joining AGA, Slane served as vice president of regional government affairs with MGM Resorts International where she spearheaded the largest gaming ballot initiative in the country. Her efforts led to a victory at the polls, the successful awarding of licensure to MGM National Harbor, and the building of the $1.4 billion gaming resort on the Potomac River.

Slane is the recipient of numerous awards, including Sports Business Journal's Forty under 40, Global Gaming Business Top 25 People to Watch, Gold Stevie Award for Best Communications campaign of 2018, Association TRENDS' Advocacy Campaign of the Year, and The Hill's Top
Lobbyist in 2018.

Slane is a graduate of Ohio University and lives in the Washington, D.C. region with her two sons.

Don White is the CEO and Co-Founder of Satisfi Labs. He is a business strategist and entrepreneur with a long history of bridging complex technology solutions with client needs. Don or Donny as he is best known, is a key voice in the Artificial Intelligence start-up community, regularly providing commentary around the future of AI and its impact on our lives and commerce. Under White’s leadership, Satisfi Labs has grown exponentially YOY by building strategic partnerships across key industries in sports, entertainment, tourism and retail. Prior to Satisfi Labs, Donny spent 15 years at Bloomberg in key roles including Head of Research & Strategy, Head of Product and Head of Sales for the Americas. Eventually making the jump into the start-up world, he was brought on as VP of Sales for Data Hug, a SaaS company that provided sales analytics and predictive forecasting, in order to set them up for acquisition. He holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BBA from Baruch College.

Since joining Turnkey Search in 2006, Diana Busino has conducted and overseen hundreds of executive level searches in sports and entertainment. Diana is the Managing Director of our professional sports and entertainment search practice and is responsible for day-to-day management of the internal team, including hiring, training and development. She also leads candidate recruitment, internal processes, system development and quality control on behalf of the firm. This includes all aspects of the executive recruiting process as well as staff development/coaching. Personally completed 250+ searches. Past experience at AAA Mid-Atlantic. Diana is a graduate of Union College, where she earned her Bachelor’s in Organizational Psychology.

Jim Van Stone is the president of business operations and chief commercial officer overseeing ticket sales and services, corporate partnerships, executive suites, marketing and retail business. Previously Van Stone was Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s chief revenue officer.

He joined the Capitals as vice president of ticket sales and service in 2007 before transitioning to his Monumental Sports & Entertainment role in 2010. Before joining the organization, Van Stone held senior positions with the Philadelphia 76ers and Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Coyotes.