Schedule

Spenser Genesy is Group Director of Food & Beverage at tvg, where he leads food and beverage strategy across the company’s growing portfolio of live music venues and hospitality concepts.

His work spans new venue development, concepting, openings, operations, commercial strategy, and brand partnerships. His focus is making food, beverage, and hospitality a meaningful part of the venue experience, while giving each venue its own identity and sense of place.

Prior to joining tvg, Spenser built his career in hospitality, working across restaurants and bars before spending more than five years with Soho House, where he led beverage operations across the West Coast. His move into live music has brought that hospitality background into a new setting, applying the same care and attention given to food, beverage, and hospitality in great restaurants and bars to the live music experience.

Chad Gregory is currently the Senior Vice President of Operational Excellence for Legends Global. With 24 years of leadership experience in the hospitality industry, Chad provides high-level operational oversight and strategic support, ensuring best-in-class execution. His extensive background in food and beverage operations, coupled with his strategic leadership approach, has contributed to the success of numerous large-scale venues and entertainment destinations. 

Before joining the team, Chad served as Corporate Vice President of Food & Beverage at United Parks and Resorts, where he oversaw more than $400 million in combined F&B revenue across 12 parks. In this role, he was responsible for driving operational efficiencies, enhancing guest experiences, and leading large teams across multiple locations. Prior to that, he spent 13 years with Levy as Regional Vice President, managing over $250 million in F&B revenue across 21 professional league stadiums, arenas, zoos, collegiate facilities, athletic facilities, and amphitheaters. His ability to optimize operations and implement innovative strategies has made a lasting impact across the industry. 

Chad holds an Associate of Arts in General Education from Pima Community College, earned in 2001. 

Populous Senior Principal and Americas Regional Board Member, Adam Stover stands at the forefront of innovation in the firm’s interior design, women’s professional sports and professional arena markets. Over the past two decades, Adam has been instrumental in shaping design work spanning hospitality, public spaces, brand and sponsorship activation, and custom furniture and product design. A visionary leader and trusted advisor, Adam has left an indelible mark across all six major professional sports leagues, leading landmark interior design projects that fuse fan experience with revenue generating innovation.

Sarah Pittman has been a music journalist with concert trade publication Pollstar for more than 15 years. She was promoted to senior editor in 2021 and helps oversee production of the weekly magazine. Her work focuses on the live industry, from profiling festival executives to cover features on up-and-coming artists. Pittman’s moderating experience includes a fireside chat about women in the live festival space during 2022’s Women In Music Summit, as well as two panels at NIVA’s 2025 conference. She is passionate about telling other people’s stories, especially highlighting women making moves in the music business.

Courtney Carter drives strategic revenue growth for MLS’ Seattle Sounders FC and NWSL’s Seattle Reign FC. She led the Megan Rapinoe jersey retirement R15E campaign, securing Google Pixel’s first club-specific deal and a media partnership with Goal.com. Courtney specializes in creating innovative sponsorships, memorable fan experiences, and content that leverages venues to drive engagement and commercial success.

With a deep expertise in blending culture and commerce, she builds partnerships that turn cultural moments into profitable ventures through storytelling and impactful experiences. Most recently, she helped lead the Seattle Soccer Celebration, a first-of-its-kind floating stage and pitch on Elliott Bay honoring Seattle’s culture and community throughout FIFA World Cup 2026, and secured key 2025 Seattle Reign FC partnerships with Trupanion, Paula’s Choice, and CVS. Before her current role, Courtney founded Carter Media Group, representing cultural icons like Selema Masekela, Liza Koshy, and Ghetto Gastro, producing intellectual property, television, film, and product businesses.

Her earlier experience includes marketing and sales roles at ESPN, Soccer United Marketing (SUM)/Major League Soccer, and Madison Square Garden. As the global commercial lead on several high-profile projects, she contributed to significant revenue growth and successful collaborations in sports.

Christen Greene (she/they) is a live entertainment executive with more than 20 years of experience across artist management, global touring, festivals and venue operations. She spent more than a decade leading Onto Entertainment, where among others the roster included multi-platinum, GRAMMY-nominated artists The Lumineers and acclaimed poet, performer and activist Andrea Gibson.

Along the way she led more than 20 world tours, from clubs and theatres to sold-out arenas and major international festivals. Greene is also the founder and executive producer of South Sound Block Party, an independent destination music festival in Olympia, Wa which recently wrapped its fifth and final year.

Thayer Lavielle is the Managing Director of The Collective at THE·TEAM, a global platform she launched in 2019 to drive greater investment in women across sports, entertainment, and music. She leads a global, cross-functional team operating across eight regions, working with brands, leagues, teams, and governing bodies to translate industry-shaping research into actionable commercial tools—ranging from investment frameworks and go-to-market strategies to partnership models and fan engagement playbooks. Under her leadership, the team’s work has helped unlock almost $1B in new investment supporting women as athletes, creators, executives, and fans. Her work has been recognized across the industry, including honors as a 2026 TBJ Women in Business honoree, 2025 Adweek Most Powerful Women in Sports honoree, a 2024 WISE Greater Raleigh Woman of Inspiration, a 2023 Colgate University Trailblazer of Distinction, and a 2019 Sports Business Journal Game Changer.

Julie Rinaldi is a Principal and Senior Architect at Populous. With two decades of experience across North and South America, Australia, Asia and the Middle East, Julie brings a global perspective to the design of live entertainment venues and the evolving ways people experience them.

Her work spans concert halls, amphitheaters, arenas, stadiums and entertainment districts, with a focus on the entire experience, from arrival to the performance and everything that happens beyond the ticketed event. Her approach considers the diverse needs of audiences, artists and touring teams, recognizing that venues are not only places of performance, but environments that need to support a wide range of people, needs and experiences.

Julie works closely with operators, promoters, developers, artists, cities and communities to create venues that respond to changing expectations and provide more welcoming, intuitive and inclusive experiences for everyone who moves through them.

Adam Haskin is Senior Vice President Technology, Engineering & Security at Oak View Group. He leads enterprise infrastructure and information security strategy, engineering standards, and the long-range technology roadmap across the company’s venue portfolio.

Throughout his career he led technology delivery for several dozen stadium and arena projects, including SoFi Stadium, Allegiant Stadium, CFG Bank Arena, and Dickies Arena. With more than 18 years of experience spanning converged networks, fiber, data centers, and all venue technology systems, Adam brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to venue development and operations.

For over 25 years, Bryan Bedford has been transforming consumer, content and technology industries around the world. Throughout his career in the IT, services, sports, media, and retail technology, Bedford has launched & scaled industry-changing technologies and services in high growth businesses’ including mobile, content and customer experience focused areas. Bedford is also very active as an industry speaker discussing tech, media, retail, sports, the future of customer experience as often as he can. In his current position with Cisco Systems, a blue-chip technology firm, Bedford serves as Director of Consumer Industries (Retail, Hospitality, Sports, Media and Entertainment) and Business Solutions team within Cisco’s US Commercial sales organization.  Bedford’s team drives innovation, enablement, new offers and drives the programmatic line of business sales and scaling efforts for the sales organization.

Before joining the team at Cisco, Bedford served as XOS Digital’s Vice President of Sales & Business Development focused within the Sports & Media industries spearheading all facets of external business development for the firm including forging strategic “go-to-market” partnerships with major manufactures, technology companies and industry leaders including working with nearly every major professional and college sports program throughout North America. Bedford’s time at XOS Digital included record revenue growth, expansion of the sales/marketing force, net new product/solution launches and drive towards additional profitability.  Prior to joining XOS Digital, Bedford was groomed in the sports & media world and spent time working for three sports teams in various roles (Sales, Coaching, Marketing) over a 7-year period including time on staff at TCU (Texas Christian University), Southern Nazarene University, and for the Oklahoma RedHawks Baseball Club.

Bedford resides in Oklahoma City, OK and is married to his wife Desiree’ and has two daughters Tessa and Sadie.

Chris Cline is the senior vice president of product management at 24/7 Software, where he leads product strategy, innovation, and execution across the company’s platform.

He is focused on listening to customers, simplifying the user experience, and applying AI and emerging technologies to solve real operational challenges. Chris is passionate about creating intuitive solutions that help venue teams operate more efficiently, safely, and confidently. Before joining 24/7 Software, Chris held product and technology leadership roles at Grevvy, Limble CMMS, and KnowBe4.

During his six years at KnowBe4, he helped scale the company into a global, multi-product cybersecurity platform serving more than 70,000 customers through its initial public offering and subsequent private equity acquisition. Chris brings more than 20 years of experience building and scaling B2B software across cybersecurity, maintenance and operations, healthcare, and workflow automation

Kevin Devore is a Senior Principal and Technology Practice Director at ME Engineers, bringing 23 years of experience in technology design and integration. His expertise includes technology master planning, ICT infrastructure, high-density wireless (Wi-Fi), distributed antenna systems (DAS), electronic security, and the coordination of technology systems with building architecture. Kevin is committed to integrating advanced, innovative technology into sports and entertainment venues to enhance connectivity, security, operations, and the overall fan experience.

David founded ABI in 1990 to implement accounting, payroll and HRIS systems and quickly grew tired of the finger pointing that followed every system problem. His fix was to bring the missing pieces in-house: networking, hardware design, support. Clients stopped hearing “that’s the other vendor’s issue.”

That instinct produced ABI MasterMind^® in 1998, now the workforce management system of choice for the public assembly industry. In three of every four major league North American professional sports venues, at least one company working the building already runs it including operations, food service, staffing, cleaning, security, often several at once. Beyond arenas and stadiums it’s in theatres, amphitheatres, performing arts and convention centers, festivals and motorsports, higher education: more than 1,000 venue operations and roughly two million event and non-event staff records.

Across 45 years in business, David has worked with organizations ranging from $1 million to $115 billion in size, at local, regional, national and international levels. There is no outside investment or debt. ABI still self-hosts on company-owned equipment in Class A data centers, and only offers clients exactly one tier of support: 24/7/365.

Ask him what the labor data looks like across a thousand buildings — he’ll probably have a story about yours.

Gary Hutchinson brings a wealth of experience in the sports and entertainment sectors. An accomplished professional, Gary has worked with a diverse range of rights holders, including high-profile organizations such as Sunderland AFC, where he served as a board executive, as well as The Football Association and Wembley Stadium. With an extensive network of promoter and agent relationships, he excels in end-to-end diary management for both music and non-music events. His comprehensive understanding of the market allows him to curate compelling event schedules that resonate with audiences while generating maximum returns for venues and stakeholders alike. Gary’s expertise lies not only in concert booking services but also in creating robust commercial partnerships that optimize revenue streams.

Over the past decade, Gary has applied his sales, booking, and operations acumen to a variety of high-profile clients. Notable collaborations include Liverpool FC, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Sunderland AFC, Coventry Stadium and Arena, and Aston Villa FC, as well as international venues such as Etihad Arena and Zayed Sports City Stadium. In these roles, he focused on unlocking non match day revenues, enhancing event profitability, and strategically positioning venues to attract a wider array of entertainment options, from concerts to larger-scale events. Gary’s ability to think creatively and strategically has been instrumental in securing some of the most sought-after acts and events in the industry, such as Beyonce, Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen, helping venues transform into vibrant cultural hubs.

In addition to his booking services, Gary has held several board-level roles, where he has supported economic growth and regeneration in his home region of North-East England. With a keen eye for identifying and nurturing talent, Gary continues to make significant contributions to the landscape of sports and entertainment, ensuring that each event he oversees leaves a lasting impact on audiences and communities alike.

Wesley Elizabeth Cullen is an international live events and venue executive with 25+ years of experience launching businesses, developing venues and building partnerships in new and growing markets.

As Managing Director for Latin America at Oak View Group, she developed and now leads the company’s regional growth across sports, live entertainment and venue services. She launched OVG’s Hospitality division in Mexico, growing the business across 12+ venues and more than $120M in revenue, serving major festivals, Formula 1 and some of the region’s leading stadiums and entertainment venues. Her work also includes supporting the development of Central America’s first modern arena in Guatemala and, most recently, helping launch OVG Hospitality in Spain.

A fluent Spanish speaker with experience spanning venue development and operations, touring, hospitality, premium experiences and brand strategy, Wesley specializes in opening new markets and connecting global expertise with local opportunities.

Laura Chiplin is Major Stadium Events & UEFA EURO 2028 Director at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, responsible for the strategy, commercial development and delivery of the Stadium’s major non-football events programme, as well as leading the venue’s preparations for UEFA EURO 2028. Since joining Tottenham Hotspur in 2018, Laura has played a central role in establishing Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as one of the world’s leading multi-use sports and entertainment venues. She leads the strategy and commercial development of the Stadium’s major events programme, focused on attracting world-class content, growing the scale and diversity of the events calendar, and maximising the Stadium’s potential as a year-round destination for sport and entertainment.

The Stadium has hosted some of the biggest names in music, including Beyoncé, BTS, Lady Gaga, Imagine Dragons, Bad Bunny, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott and Stray Kids. This includes Beyoncé’s landmark residencies at the Stadium, with five sold-out Renaissance World Tour shows in 2023 followed by six Cowboy Carter Tour shows in 2025. Alongside music, Laura’s portfolio includes major international sporting events. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has become an established destination for world-class boxing, hosting events featuring Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Chris Eubank Jr., as well as elite rugby including Saracens’ annual Showdown and the EPCR Champions Cup and Challenge Cup Finals.

Laura’s role also includes leading Tottenham Hotspur Stadium’s preparations for UEFA EURO 2028, which will see the Stadium host five matches, including a Round of 16 fixture. Her role focuses on ensuring the venue is fully prepared to deliver an seamless tournament experience for fans, teams and partners. Previously, Laura led the Club’s Visitor Attractions and Major Stadium Events business, overseeing Stadium Tours and The Dare Skywalk and spearheading the creation of F1 DRIVE – London, the world’s first in-stadium electric karting experience developed in collaboration with Formula 1®. She led the project from concept through to launch, with the F1 DRIVE concept subsequently expanding internationally to Las Vegas. With more than 15 years’ experience across major events, culture, visitor attractions and live entertainment, Laura previously held roles at leading London institutions including the V&A Museum and the Barbican. Her work has focused throughout on developing commercially successful experiences, building strategic partnerships and transforming venues into destinations that engage audiences beyond their core purpose

Juan Pablo García Castro, 54, is a distinguished Guatemalan real estate professional with more than 25 years of experience in the development and execution of major projects. He began his career at Corporación Multiinversiones, where he led more than 10 large-scale residential, office, and commercial developments, coordinating multidisciplinary teams from concept through execution and commercialization. In 2016, he founded FACTOR, a real estate advisory and development company that supports investors and developers throughout the entire project lifecycle, including feasibility studies, design, construction, and commercialization. Under his leadership, FACTOR has participated in more than 40 completed projects across multiple real estate segments. In 2024, Juan Pablo expanded his role as a developer, leading three residential projects and the development of Guatemala’s first major event arena, envisioned as a regional destination for concerts, entertainment, and sporting events. Recognized for his strategic vision, leadership, and commitment to innovation, Juan Pablo continues to contribute to Guatemala’s real estate industry through projects focused on quality, sustainable value, and positive community impact.

Oscar Aréliz has been a journalist for two decades, covering local and professional sports teams in Los Angeles before reporting on government and education. He joined Pollstar in 2022 and has covered the post-pandemic boom of the live industry as well as the growing influence of Latin music and LATAM markets. In addition to covering artists and the live business, Oscar is called upon to cover venues across the globe, especially those in the U.S. and Latin America.

Mark Donnelly is Executive Vice President, Development & Operations at Oak View Group International, where he leads the company’s international development initiatives, including the landmark Co-op Live arena in Manchester, which has rapidly established itself as a leading music arena. Joining OVG in February 2019 and growing OVG’s international business as Chief Operating Officer, Mark has brought nearly three decades of operational and financial leadership across the media, entertainment, and leisure sectors.

At OVG, Mark has led new arena projects in Cardiff and currently Dublin, whilst also consulting with international clients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Diriyah Gate Arena) and Italy (AS Roma Stadium).

Prior to OVG Mark has played a pivotal role in the delivery of several iconic venues, including The O2 in London, St George’s Park, and Wembley Stadium. As part of the AEG team, he was instrumental in the construction and successful launch of The O2 in 2007, later serving as its Managing Director.

Following his tenure at The O2, Mark spent a decade in senior roles across the sports industry, including at The Football Association, the Lawn Tennis Association, and Queens Park Rangers Football Club. His work spanned stadium and training ground operations, infrastructure development, and commercial and residential projects.

Mark began his career at KPMG, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant, before joining Ginger Media Group. There, he was part of the leadership team that, under Chris Evans, built and sold the business to Scottish Media Group.

Ashlee Stokely is Head of Stadium, Operations & Experience at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, where she oversees the full guest and operational experience, including event operations, facilities, guest services, security, and transportation.

Ashlee believes communication is the foundation of every successful event, and that a memorable experience takes every department working toward one goal. It’s a philosophy rooted in the organization’s culture of putting the collective ahead of any individual — high impact, low ego — and a shared mantra to always expect to be world class.

Before Nissan Stadium, Ashlee spent 6 years at Bridgestone Arena. She also spent 7 years in music television production and many years as a local radio personality, experience that keeps her deeply connected across the Nashville music industry.

As part of the co-leadership guiding the transition, Ashlee is counting down to the new Nissan Stadium opening in April 2027, working to make sure every guest has an unforgettable experience as the new stadium comes to life.

Loren Supp is a Senior Principal and Head of Design, Western U.S. at Populous, where he leads design excellence across the firm’s Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland studios. In this role, he oversees design quality across the region while playing a hands-on role guiding major projects from concept through completion.

Supp brings more than two decades of experience leading complex, high-profile projects across a wide range of typologies, including sports and entertainment venues, professional training facilities, major airports and cultural destinations. His portfolio includes landmark projects such as Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and the Seattle Seahawks’ Virginia Mason Athletic Center.

He is recognized for combining big-picture design vision with disciplined project leadership, and for advancing the integration of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and parametric design, into architectural practice.

Abhijeet Patel is a Senior Solutions Architect at Amazon, where he leads technical partnerships to bring voice-first, task-completion experiences to life on Alexa+ across domains such as live event ticketing, travel, and local booking. His work centers on voice commerce, enabling customers to go from discovery and search to checkout through voice. With over two decades of experience bridging engineering and business strategy, he designs agentic AI experiences shaped by direct partner feedback. A hands-on technologist and team builder, he is passionate about the potential of large language models to change how people find and book real-world experiences. Before Amazon, he spent over a decade in financial services as a technical lead and engineer, modernizing enterprise systems to be cloud-native and AI-ready.

Stephen Chilton is an Arizona based concert promoter, and owner of The Rebel Lounge in Phoenix, producing events under the moniker Psyko Steve Presents. For over two decades, Psyko Steve Presents has developed new artists and continued supporting them as they grew into globally celebrated acts including Frank Turner, Geese, Bleachers, Mitski, and The Maine. In 2019, Psyko Steve Presents was named “Best Promoter” by the Phoenix New Times in their annual Best Of Phoenix issue.

In 2025, Adrian Fontes, Secretary of State of Arizona, proclaimed December 15, 2025 as officially “Psyko Steve Day in the State of Arizona” in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Psyko Steve Presents. Chilton opened The Rebel Lounge in Central Phoenix in 2015, with partner Chuckie Duff. The 300 capacity concert venue is in the building that once housed long-standing rock venue The Mason Jar. In 2024, Billboard Magazine recognized The Rebel Lounge as the “Best Venue Under 500-Capacity” in their Top Music Venues list, a recognition that places it alongside some of the world’s most iconic music venues.

As a small club The Rebel Lounge really specializes in emerging talent and developing acts, hosting early tours for acts like Chappell Roan, Charley Crockett, TV Girl, Alex G, and Men I Trust. Psyko Steve Presents over 700 concerts a year across Arizona and New Mexico. PSP produces festivals like 8123 Fest curated by the band The Maine, and the 2025 edition of M3F Festival, 2022’s ZONA Music Festival. PSP produces concerts in various venues of all sizes throughout Arizona, ranging from small clubs like their own space The Rebel Lounge, Valley Bar, and Crescent Ballroom, to venues like The Van Buren, Celebrity Theatre, Arizona Financial Theatre, and Mesa Amphitheater. In March 2020, Stephen Chilton co-founded the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), a trade association representing over 3000 of the best independent venues and promoters in all 50 states.

Chilton was one of the original five board members, and the organization’s first Vice President. Chilton helped create and lead he organization’s public campaign #SaveOurStages. The #SaveOurStages campaign directly led to Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) authoring and passing the Save Our Stages Act, a truly bi-partisan bill that created the $16.25 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grants (SVOG) crafted by the SBA to rescue venues and promoters nationwide during the Covid-19 pandemic. Chilton completed his time on the NIVA board in summer of 2023.

Sara Dean is an SVP at THE·TEAM, representing a diverse roster of acclaimed and emerging artists across pop, alternative, R&B and rock. Her clients include Aloe Blacc, Bruno Major, Joji, Lauren Sanderson, Madeline The Person, Maude Latour, Medium Build, Mollie Elizabeth, Neoni, Rio Romeo, Sarah Kinsley, The Temper Trap and Yellowcard.

Mike Hayes joined United Talent Agency in 2025 alongside his roster that includes The Go-Go’s, Belinda Carlisle, Matt Maltese, L7, KennyHoopla, Soft Play, Take That, The Army, The Navy, VILLANELLE, Manic Street Preachers, and iDKHOW. Hayes most recently served as the Senior Vice President of Global Music at IAG and was formerly with ICM Partners for nearly 17 years.

Brittany Johnston is Director of Programming at tvg hospitality, overseeing booking and programming for The Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, Alabama, while helping shape booking strategy for new tvg venues nationwide. A core member of The Orion’s 2022 opening team, she helped build the venue’s identity and programming from the ground up. The Orion has since earned national recognition, ranking #10 worldwide among amphitheaters by tickets sold and #8 by gross ticket sales in Pollstar’s 2026 mid-year report.

Previously, Brittany worked at Wasserman Music (formerly Paradigm Talent Agency), gaining experience across all phases of the touring process. Her background on both the agency and venue sides gives her a well-rounded perspective on live music, combining strategic programming, strong industry relationships, and an understanding of what artists and audiences need for impactful live experiences.

As Chief Programming Officer & Head of Entertainment at HBSE, Sean Saadeh oversees entertainment booking across several of the country’s leading venues, including Newark’s Prudential Center, Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, and the soon-to-be-reopened Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Jersey City. Leveraging 25+ years of experience in entertainment hub cities like San Diego, Phoenix and the New York area, Sean has demonstrated drive to expand, improve, and diversify the industry across HBSE’s portfolio.

Since joining HBSE in 2015, Sean has cemented New Jersey’s status as a premier destination for top performers around the globe. At Newark’s Prudential Center, he continuously leads the venue to new heights in one of the most competitive entertainment markets in the world, helping the venue reach tenth on Pollstar’s annual list of 200 arenas worldwide.

Notable highlights from the past 18 months include UFC 316 in June 2025 and UFC 302 in June 2024, which marked the highest-grossing event ever held at Prudential Center, recording a gate of $7.3 million and generating $26.8 million in economic impact for the Newark metropolitan area. In March 2024, Zach Bryan also played two sold out shows at the arena, setting a new record for attendance. Sean also recently brought March Madness back to Newark, hosting the NCAA East Regional Final.

Sean is committed to booking a wide array of talent that best reflects the great fans and diverse communities of New Jersey. While having already established the arena as the North American Capital of K-Pop and Northeast Hub for Latin music, Sean is also focused on building Prudential Center’s profile as a must-play stop for all Hip-Hop and R&B tours, as well as its portfolio of country music, comedy, and family shows.

Alongside his duties at Prudential Center, Sean is responsible for identifying and executing unique live event opportunities at multiple other HBSE-owned properties, including the soon-to-be-reopened Loew’s Jersey Theater.

Beyond the tri-state area, Sean also has been growing HBSE’s entertainment footprint across the Northeast at Northwest Stadium, formerly FedExField, in Landover, Maryland — a massive step in scaling HBSE’s stadium-scale capabilities. Since joining on in February 2024, he has rapidly activated the venue with an impressive, record-breaking 2025 summer line-up. The slate of concerts was the most attended summer concert series in the venue’s history. These slate of events broke several other records, including:

• The most live events (7, tied with 2018)
• The most concerts in stadium history (6, previous record was 4)
• The most unique headliners (6, previous record was 3)

He advises on venue construction projects for the new stadium in Washington, DC for the Commanders and the new arena being built in Philadelphia for the Sixers while contributing to the renovations efforts at Prudential Center furthering his expertise to elevate these venues’ entertainment offerings.

Through record-breaking achievements and visionary leadership, he is transforming HBSE’s portfolio into one of the most dynamic and influential in the world, elevating HBSE as a dominant force in the global live entertainment industry.

Aaron Thomas drives Columbus’s entertainment identity, serving as the executive responsible for booking and national touring development across Nationwide Arena, the Schottenstein Center, Mershon Auditorium, and Ohio Stadium, positioning Columbus as a competitive, must‑play market for top artists and large‑scale productions. In addition to his venue‑side strategy, Aaron is deeply skilled in promoter and agency relationship management, maintaining strong industry partnerships that are essential to securing premium tours, negotiating routing opportunities, and ensuring Columbus is consistently in the conversation for major national runs.

His career is built on more than 15 years of venue management and live‑event production experience, beginning in audio engineering before advancing into production leadership for arena and stadium‑level concerts. He spent nearly a decade as Production Manager and later Director of Production at the Schottenstein Center, overseeing large touring shows, systems integration, labor relations, logistics, and high impact event execution including major concerts at Ohio Stadium.

Today, as Chief Entertainment Officer for CASE, Thomas leverages his deep industry networks, production expertise, and strong promoter/agency relationships to bring world‑class entertainment to Columbus. Alongside his professional work, he serves as a Board Member for Musically Fed, a nonprofit that redirects unused backstage catering to food‑insecure individuals-demonstrating his belief in using entertainment as a platform for community impact.