Sports Business Daily: Executive Transactions

Snap promoted ANMOL MALHOTRA to Global Head of Content & Partnerships. Malhotra, a 2023 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree, has been working at Snap since 2015 across various sports partnerships roles, most recently as Global Head of Sports & Media Partnerships (Leaders).

The NCAA appointed University of Tennessee at Martin Vice Chancellor and Athletic Director KURT MCGUFFIN to the Division I FCS Oversight Committee and Marquette Vice President and Athletic Director MIKE BROEKER to the Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee.

Univ. of Minnesota AD MARK COYLE received a contract extension that was approved by the school’s Board of Regents at its June meeting on Thursday. Coyle, who just began his 11th season as Gophers AD, “received a two-year extension through June 30, 2032” (MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, 6/11).

U.S. Soccer has agreed to a “long term” contract extension with CEO and Secretary General J.T. BATSON, who has led the federation through a period of massive commercial and fundraising growth since joining in September 2022 (Alex Silverman, SBJ).

US Speedskating named KEITH BRYANT CEO, effective Aug. 1. Bryant succeeds TED MORRIS, who held the position for 13 years. Bryant has over 30 years of experience in the Olympic Movement and previously led USA Judo for 8.5 years (US Speedskating).

The United Premier Soccer League announced four senior exec hires with STEVE TELLO being named CEO. He is joined by NICK WEBSTER as EVP, DAVID OXFELD as head of sponsorship through his firm Nexus Agency and LINDSAY AMSTUTZ as founder and president of L.A. Sports Advisors, LLC (UPSL).

USA Surfing named GREG HULSIZER its new CEO, replacing BECKY FLEISCHAUER, who is “stepping aside for health reasons.” Hulsizer has more than 40 years of experience “leading and transforming organizations in the public and private sectors, with executive leadership positions across nine organizations...

The Chiefs promoted EVP/Arrowhead Operations and Events MATT KENNY to EVP & COO and VP/Stadium Operations and Facilities BRANDON HAMILTON to Project Exec/Facilities Development (Irving Mejia-Hilario, SBJ).

NWSL club Gotham FC have hired former Florida Panthers exec MARK ZARTHAR as team president. Zarthar, a 2025 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree, will oversee the club’s business operations, including revenue generation, marketing, operations, finance and HR functions. His arrival coincides with the departure...

The Lakers named YAO WILLIAMS II VP & Head of Global Partnerships. Williams most recently co-led global partnerships at Elevate Sports Ventures and has held roles with the Yankees, NBA, Premier League club Manchester City and Athletes First (Lakers).

Range Sports named JAKE DEXTER VP/Sports Content. Dexter joins from Paradigm, where he was a founding member of the Paradigm Sports Group. In the “newly created” role, he will “represent unscripted sports production companies and showrunners and collaborate with other divisions, like Range’s media r...

The NHL has hired SEAN EGGERT as its new SEVP & CMO and JULIE YUFE as EVP & Managing Director of International amid a major reorganization of its business staff. Eggert, a 2018 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree, has spent the past seven years at Under Armour, where he served as SVP/Global Sports Ma...

Little League International hired KRISTINA PARKER as vice president of human resources.

Nashville SC named Major League Rugby CRO LUCAS REID VP/Corporate Partnerships. Prior to Major League Rugby, Reid spent more than 10 years with the Stars, including serving as VP/Business Development. Excel Search & Advisory was retained by Nashville SC to lead the search for this role (Nashvill...

The Hawks extended GM ONSI SALEH while also promoting him to president of basketball operations. The move comes one year after the team promoted Saleh to GM from Assistant GM (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 5/27).

Veteran MLBPA agent NELSON MONTES DE OCA has joined Dallas-based baseball agency Ballengee Group. He will be based out of Tampa and report to Ballengee President of Baseball Operations SCOTT LONERGAN. Montes de Oca, who has nearly 15 years of industry experience, joins the agency after working at Kl...

Tennis Australia named NRL CEO ANDREW ABDO its new CEO. Abdo will succeed CRAIG TILEY, who earlier this year announced he would depart Tennis Australia to take up the position of USTA CEO (Tennis Australia). It is “expected that Abdo will fill the dual role of TA chief executive and Australian Open ...

Haslam Sports Group announced that TIM BEZBATCHENKO will be HSG President of Global Soccer. He will oversee all sporting elements for Columbus NWSL 2028, the Columbus Crew and HSG’s future investments in domestic and global soccer. Bezbatchenko has been the President of Black Knight Football since J...

Minnesota Sports & Entertainment named MICHELLE HAINES as MLV Minnesota Team President. Haines was most recently NWSL VP/Marketing. She was previously VP/Marketing & Ticketing for the Seattle Reign from 2022-24 (Minnesota Sports & Entertainment).

PopStroke has tapped former Lightning and PGA Tour CMO MATT COREY as its Chief Growth Officer. Corey was the CMO of the tour from 2019-22 and for the Lightning from 2022-25 (Josh Carpenter, SBJ).