Co-Editors: Dr. Kimberly Mahoney, CVP & Prof. Gil Fried THE FACILITY DOCTORS Topic: Commit to Finding Those Hidden Talent Pools of Diversified Candidates Authors:
Adonis “Sporty” Jeralds, CVE Clinical Instructor, Department of Sport & Entertainment Management at the University of South Carolina
Once in Montreal, it was awesome to meet venue managers from around the world. I knew after two weeks of my internship that I wanted to be
a venue manager, and the international meeting provided the opportunity to learn the business, as well as connect with other venue managers. One memory was the uproar when one concert industry session panelist said that tickets for the upcoming Michael Jackson world tour would be $30. The good old days. I received an invitation to an informal gathering in a hotel room. Upon entering the room, I was excited to see this was a gathering of African-Amer-
ican venue managers. Victor Cohen and I were the new kids on the block. It was great to meet experienced managers who embraced us and who could help us with industry questions. There were 20 people in the room that day. That number represented every African-American venue manager who attended the conference that year. I remember leaving that gathering very excited that in the years to come there would be many more African-American venue managers. Over the
years, we have continued to have gatherings of African-American venue managers during VenueConnect. The purpose has always been the same: to connect African-American venue managers who have shared experiences and provide assistance and support if necessary. Unfortunately, over the years are many African-Americans in mid-level jobs, but many do not make it to VenueConnect. My dream is that these individuals will be elevated to higher levels of management in venues and have opportunities to attend. I believe it is not enough to identify a challenge, but to help provide some answers and solutions to those challenges. So how can we increase the number of African-American venue managers as well as diversify the management ranks in general in our venues?
There must be a commitment to diversity
- paign entitled, “Each One, Reach One.” The vision was for each CFE (now CVE) to identify, recruit, and mentor someone in the industry to become a CFE.
24-year-old African-American young man with no experience under his wings and made a decent venue manager out of him. I may not have hopes that they could be a venue manager one day. It all starts with the initial commitment.
Kimberly Mahoney, Ph.D., CVP, is assistant professor in the College of Business Sport Management De- partment, and Gil Fried, J.D., is professor - chair in the College of Business Sport Management Department, both at the University of New Haven.
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