FOUNDERS / DEVELOPERS:
SMA Founder, Philip Schwalb, shows NHL Hall of Famer, Pat LaFontaine, museum renderings.
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Philip Schwalb, Founder & CEO
Philip Schwalb is Founder & CEO of the Sports Museum of America and has been since the museum's inception.
In 2001, Mr. Schwalb first envisioned the opportunity for a national, collaborative museum of sports. Since that time he has overseen all aspects of the project, from concept phase to the securing of $100 million in public and private financing. -more-
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 Sameer Ahuja, Co-Founder & COO/CFO
Sameer has been an integral part of the development of the Sports Museum of America since 2003.
He has directed finance and business development activities for the company, most notably
the nearly $100 million of bond and equity financing that has been raised to fund the construction
and ramp-up of the attraction.
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| VENUE MANAGEMENT: |
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 John Urban, President & General Manager
Urban brings to SMA more than 20 years experience in the Entertainment, Events and Venue Operations Industry. Prior to joining the Sports Museum of America, he served as the Senior Vice President & General Manager at Radio City Music Hall from 1999 to 2006.
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 Jim Arnemann, Vice President, Venue Operations
A seasoned NYC facility management professional, Jim brings two decades of experience in managing daily operations, production, construction and capital improvements, maintenance, and cost control in high-demand, high-volume environments.
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 John Paul Basile, Vice President, Marketing & Sales
John Paul brings 15+ years of industry experience to the Sports Museum of America. In the 7 years prior to joining the company, John Paul was Vice President, Northeast for Feld Entertainment, the leading producer of live, touring family entertainment and the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Disney On Ice.
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 Marcy Davis, Vice President, Retail & Special Events
As Vice President, Retail & Special Events, Marcy brings more than 20 years of experience in retail buying and strategy, product design, branding, and merchandise development. For the past 7+ years, Marcy served as VP of Merchandising for Madison Square Garden
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 Laura Purcell, Curator
Laura Purcell brings more than a decade of experience in museum work and sports history to the Sports Museum of America. Previously, she has worked at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Mesa Southwest Museum, and Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field), and has had an internship with the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
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Sam Gordon, Manager, Venue Design
Sam plays an integral role in the development of the visitor/exhibit experience at the Sports Museum of America. Prior to joining SMA, he worked with Barnes & Noble and the American Museum of Natural History. Sam graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.A. in American History.
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Bess Brodsky, Strategic Partnerships
Heading up Strategic Partnerships and Sponsorship, Bess brings more than 20 years experience in Sponsorship and Partnership Marketing working in the Sports and Entertainment Industry. Bess is responsible for overseeing the outreach to sponsors and developing strategic partnerships for Founding Partners and other sponsors. Bess joins us from ESPN where she was a Senior Marketing consultant in the Co-marketing Group. Prior to that, Bess spent 8 years as VP, Sponsorship Marketing at Madison Square Garden/Radio City Entertainment, where she oversaw all sponsor activities and executed sponsor marketing programs.
Prior to MSG, Bess served as Director of Client Services for Soccer USA Partners, the sales and marketing arm of US Soccer. Bess began her career at ProServ, Inc. in the New York office. Bess is currently Vice President of the Board of Directors for WISE, Women in Sports and Events. Bess holds an undergraduate degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and a law degree from New England School of Law.
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Enjay Lowery, Director of Merchandising
Enjay is responsible for vendor sourcing and purchasing specialty products that relate to the museum experience for the SmA retail store. She will also oversee daily operations and handle special events in the 4,000 square foot retail space. Enjay has extensive work experience in retail and comes to SMA from the Reebok Flagship Store in New York City where she managed daily operations, training, hiring, and sales. She started her retail career at Abraham and Strauss as an Assistant Buyer, and began her management career at the Gap.
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Meredith Malaga, Manager of Office Operations
Meredith is responsible for handling the day-to-day operations of the SmA office and supports the President and General Manager and the Vice Presidents of Venue Operations, Retail, and Sales & Marketing. Meredith comes to SmA from owning and operating a paint-your-own-pottery and beading studio in CT for eight years. Prior to that, Meredith produced events, athlete appearances and sports merchandising programs with Wal-Mart, and coordinated special events and programs for Newsday. She has a BA in Philosophy from C.W. Post, Long Island University.
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Jayne Wise, Marketing Manager
Jayne joins SmA as our Marketing Manager, where she is primarily responsible for the managing and activating the marketing relationships with our 65+ partnerships with various single-sport halls of fame, governing bodies and other sports organizations. She comes to us directly from TSE Sports & Entertainment where she worked in the Marketing and Events departments. Jayne worked with a variety of Fortune 500 clients on corporate hospitality programs, sweepstakes, promotions, meetings & incentives at major sporting events including the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, Masters, and US Open among others. Jayne is a graduate of Brandeis University with a BA in Economics & Philosophy. At Brandeis, she was a Captain and member of the women's basketball team (team mascot: the "Judges").
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Charlotte Brooks, Special Assistant, Founders Office
Charlotte's primary area of responsibility is to coordinate the activities of the Executive Office, while providing administrative support to both the CEO and COO. She comes to SMA from the Office of the Chairman at Goldman Sachs where she supported the Chief Administrative Officer. Charlotte has also worked in the museum industry, and has developed exhibitions for entities as diverse as the U.S. Army and the Museum of the City of New York. Charlotte is a graduate of the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) and possesses a Master's degree in International History.
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Barbara Pflughaupt, Director of Communications
Barbara is one of the entertainment industry's most successful media relations and publicity professionals. She will be helping to establish the Sports Museum of America's short and long term public relations strategy and manage the development and activation of our public relations programs. Prior to co-founding P & F Communications in 1989, where she remains a principal, Barbara was SVP of England & Company in New York City. She has managed the national and New York regional publicity campaigns for close to 50 live touring productions, including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Barnum's Kaleidoscape, and Disney On Ice, as well as more than 30 motion pictures for Warner Bros., Disney/Touchstone, Tri-Star Pictures, United Artists, Paramount and Miramax Films. She has also conducted highly successful publicity campaigns for such clients as New Line Home Entertainment (from The Lord of the Rings Trilogy through Pan's Labyrinth and many others), AT&T, Mattel Toys, kajeet, Swivel Media, Arrow Shirts, Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream and Franchises, and MATHCOUNTS.
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