AMB Sports and Entertainment Elevates Key Leaders

AMB Sports and Entertainment announces twelve leadership promotions, including four elevated within executive leadership and eight into officer positions. Latonda Henderson, currently AMBSE vice president, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has been promoted to vice president, chief DEI officer. Tameka Rish, serving as AMBSE vice president, events and game experience has been promoted to senior vice president, fan and associate experience. Karl Pierburg, currently vice president, chief technology officer for AMBSE has been elevated to senior vice president, chief technology officer, strategy and innovation. Kevin Strada, vice president, finance for the Atlanta Falcons has been named vice president, chief financial officer for the club.

New Officers:

• Justin Antonacci, senior director, finance for Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been promoted to vice president, chief financial officer.
• Andy Skorupski, senior director, finance for Atlanta United has been promoted to vice president, chief financial officer.
• Angela Franklin, senior director, finance for AMBSE has been elevated to vice president, financial planning and analysis.
• Suzi Alvarez, director, fan data, AMBSE has been promoted to vice president, revenue strategy and analytics.
• Shannon Joyner, senior director, marketing for the Atlanta Falcons has been elevated to vice president, marketing.
• Adam Fullerton, senior director, operations for Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been elevated to vice president, stadium operations.
• Dana Harple, senior director, corporate partnerships, AMBSE has been promoted to vice president, sponsorship activation.
• Kevin Pope, AMBSE senior director, IT infrastructure and event services has been elevated to vice president, IT infrastructure and operations.

“These promotions reflect the outstanding contributions of these leaders and the growth and success of our businesses,” says AMBSE CEO, Rich McKay. “Each has earned the trust and respect of our senior leadership team through their exceptional work and living our Core Values. These promotions will allow their expertise and leadership to have greater influence across our entire portfolio.”

Latonda Henderson began her career with the Blank Family of Businesses (BFOB) in 2017 with a focus on community activation, leading all brand efforts for the Home Depot Backyard. She successfully worked with surrounding communities and organizations to create an environment for arts and culture, health and wellness, and inspired learning. As part of the organization’s commitment to cultivating an inclusive environment, Henderson was named vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion in 2021, responsible for providing inclusive leadership and direction in the development and implementation of DEI initiatives as well as provide expertise and knowledge of best practices that will be tailored to the needs of the organization. In addition to oversight of the AMBSE DEI Council established in spring 2020, her role includes oversight of the Women’s Resource Group and the Black Associate Resource Group – voluntary, employee-led groups that foster a diverse and inclusive workplace aligned with the organization’s goals.

Tameka Rish has served in various roles across the AMBSE portfolio for nearly two decades. Most recently, she successfully led the operations and fan experience at Mercedes-Benz Stadium including major events, live events, and game presentation including Atlanta United and the Atlanta Falcons, whereby earning the coveted honor of being voted No. 1 overall gameday experience by the NFL’s Voice of the Fan survey. Prior to this position, she was the vice president of corporate partnerships, leading the team that develops and maintains corporate partnerships for Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Atlanta Falcons, and Atlanta United. Rish also serves on the Women’s Associate Resource Group for AMBSE. In her new role, Rish will retain oversight of game presentation and fan experience and help expand associate engagement in partnership with human resources and internal communications

Karl Pierburg, an 18-year veteran with AMBSE, began his career with the Atlanta Falcons as director of football systems where he built one of the league’s first and most comprehensive scouting and coaching data applications. Pierburg’s career transitioned to focus on enterprise technology for AMBSE where he focused on the identification and implementation of next generation technology to create competitive business advantages and improve the fan experience. Through that process, Pierburg created AMBSE’s emerging tech department. In his new position, Pierburg will oversee the strategy and innovation team as well as maintaining oversight of emerging technology, data, and analytics across the organization.

Kevin Strada, a 19-year veteran with the Atlanta Falcons started his career as a senior accountant. Throughout his tenure, Strada’s scope has broadened to include financial and accounting operations, internal and external reporting, and financial planning and analysis specifically for the Club and in partnership with AMB Sports and Entertainment. Strada will maintain oversight of the Falcons financial analysis and planning and IT services and will work with the finance teams across the businesses for organizational financial planning and development.

Justin Antonacci began his career with Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2018 where he developed the finance function for the stadium, overseeing multimillion dollar revenue streams across stadium sponsorship, ticketing, sales, events, and food and beverage. Antonacci became the primary finance liaison, providing financial analysis to senior leadership across all departments. He is responsible for in-depth analysis of financial accounting and reporting, and recommendations for all stadium events as well as IT systems. Antonacci retains oversight of all Mercedes-Benz Stadium financial analysis and planning and will continue working across departments and businesses for financial planning and development.

Andy Skorupski began his career with Atlanta United as part of the finance team in 2016 where he leads the Club’s financial planning and analysis processes. He has since served as the director of finance and the senior director of finance and administration working with Club leadership in setting financial goals for the organization. Skorupski retains oversight of Atlanta United’s financial analysis and planning, IT systems, and represents the club’s financial interests for enterprise financial planning and development.

Angela Franklin has supported the Blank Family of Businesses for more than 11 years as part of the finance team. She began her career with the Blank Family of Businesses as an accountant in the Arthur M. Blank Family Office and later transitioned to a role focused on financial planning and analysis with Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Her role has expanded to planning and analysis across AMB Sports and Entertainment, and she will work with senior leadership and all finance teams across the businesses for organizational financial planning and development.

Suzi Alvarez began her career in sports leading brand marketing and business operations for leading businesses and sports teams. Alvarez launched her career at AMBSE in 2021 as director, fan data where she leads business intelligence, consumer insights, lead generation and CRM. In her role, Alvarez became a trusted partner working across the organization offering insights and analysis for senior leadership to drive critical business decisions. In her elevated role, Alvarez will work with senior leadership to continue her focus on business strategy and analysis.

Shannon Joyner, an Atlanta native, has been with the Atlanta Falcons since 2018 leading all brand marketing efforts for the team. During his tenure, he has been instrumental in developing and executing integrated marketing plans successfully driving fan engagement, ticket sales and corporate partnership integration. Joyner leads integrated planning for major brand initiatives, including experiential, retail, and influencer marketing efforts. He works closely with the ticketing group to deliver a comprehensive year-round experience of exclusive benefits for Falcons’ members. In addition to his marketing role, Joyner serves as the Falcons DEI council chair. In his expanded role, Joyner will have increased oversight in corporate partnership and digital revenue generation and monetization.

Adam Fullerton has led the stadium operations team in delivering innovative solutions resulting in real operational efficiency for Mercedes-Benz Stadium since 2019 and has played a critical part in successfully achieving all sustainability objectives set for the stadium. Under his leadership, the stadium has been recognized as the first professional sports stadium in the world to receive TRUE Platinum certification for zero waste and the only sports and entertainment venue to achieve a LEED Zero certification, following the 2017 LEED Platinum certification achievement. Fullerton’s additional responsibilities include oversight of the operations and programming of the Home Depot Backyard, an 11-acre greenspace adjacent to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Dana Harple has been with the organization for nine years on the corporate partnerships team playing a critical role in building the relationships with the founding partners of Mercedes-Benz Stadium specifically, the naming rights partner, Mercedes-Benz as well as building the sponsorship foundation for Atlanta United. In her role, she oversaw impactful activations for each partner to drive value and awareness for each partner’s brand, including experiential events, radio, television, print and digital advertising, custom experiences, game day activations and hospitality. Harple’s role will include all oversight of the AMBSE corporate sponsorship activation team.

Kevin Pope has been with the organization for 14 years on the technology team, starting as a technical analyst with the Atlanta Falcons. During his tenure, Pope’s scope grew to oversight of IT infrastructure and event services where he supports the AMBSE enterprise. Under his leadership, MBS’s technology services have ranked No. 1 in the NFL’s Voice of the Fan Survey. Pope’s expanded role will include oversight of client services, collaborative solutions, and the device management team.