Champion Exposition Services

Champion Exposition Services Executive Team:

Mark Palm, Executive Vice President & Senior Vice President, Sales
Mark Palm is Executive Vice President of Champion Exposition Services. In his current position, Mr. Palm directly oversees every Champion employee who has a role in the management and production of events. As one of the co-founders of Champion, Mr. Palm’s background in the industry is extensive. He started his career in 1978 at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. He worked his way from Front Desk Manager to Convention Service Manager. In 1986, Mr. Palm left the Sheraton Boston to form Champion Exposition Services. Mark has been involved in every aspect of Champion’s growth; his inherent knowledge of the industry, our company and a profound understanding of what truly makes our clients happy is an invaluable asset.

Steve McNally, Executive Vice President
Steve McNally is Executive Vice President for Champion Exposition Services. Mr. McNally brings more than 30 years of experience in the industry to his position. Prior to joining Champion in 1996, Mr. McNally worked for GES Exposition Services in a variety of positions from 1977 to 1996 including National Senior Account Manager. He is a member of ESCA, IAEE and PCMA. He is also an avid car, boat and motorcycle enthusiast.

John Koval, Senior Vice President, Account Management
John Koval currently is the Senior Vice President of Account Management for Champion Exposition Services and is responsible for leading the company’s account management team. Mr. Koval joined Champion in 1997 from GES where he was a senior account executive. Prior to working for GES, Mr. Koval also held positions as General Manager for Andrews-Bartlett Exposition Services’ Atlanta operation and worked for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority in the late ‘80s, where he was part of the reopening team. He currently is an active member of PCMA and holds a business degree from Assumption College. When not spending time with his wife and son, he enjoys playing golf.

Blythe Hess, Senior Vice President, Product Development & Exhibitor Relations
Blythe Hess is Senior Vice President of Exhibitor Relations & Products Development. Ms. Hess is a veteran industry executive with 19 years of experience. Prior to Champion, Blythe was with a tradeshow specific Logistics company and held positions as Manager of Exhibitor/Client Services, Director of National Accounts, and EVP of Event Sales. In 2008, Blythe joined Champion as VP of Logistics and successfully launched Champion Shipping Systems (CSS). CSS is a first-rate Logistics company and is managed by an elite team of industry professionals. In this role, Hess oversees the following divisions: Exhibitor Relations, Product Development, Floor Management, Exhibit Publications, Custom Exhibits, Exhibit Transportation and Electrical Services. She brings to this role broad knowledge of exhibitor & show organizer sales, show-site operations and executive experience.

Ron Brown, Senior Vice President, Operations
Mr. Brown brings more than 25 years of industry experience to his position as the Senior Vice President of Operations for Champion Exposition Services. Prior to his current position, he held a variety of positions within the organization including Chief Operating Officer for the Western Region. From 2000 to 2008, Mr. Brown was the General Manager for Southern California and previously held the title of Director of Operations for Southern California. Mr. Brown was instrumental in establishing Champion’s Southern California presence, opening up our first offices in the region. Mr. Brown holds a variety of professional memberships including IAEE, the Exhibitor Services & Contractors Association and the Trade Show Contractors Association of Southern California. He is also a committee member of SCTS Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee. When not working, Mr. Brown enjoys water sports and spending time with his wife and son.

Wheelhouse Solutions Executive Team:

Bob Priest-Heck, Chief Executive Officer
Bob Priest-Heck is the CEO of Wheelhouse Solutions. A leader in the industry, Mr. Priest-Heck has recently been selected to join the 2010 Board of Directors for the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR). Before joining Wheelhouse Solutions, Mr. Priest-Heck consulted with United Business Media, identifying and completing global acquisitions, particularly of events and online businesses, as well as Google and other leading brands. Prior to that position, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of MediaLive International Inc., working with such renowned media brands as Interop, Business Communications Review Magazine, COMDEX, Seybold Seminars and Publishing, VoiceCon, Web 2.0. He also identified, acquired and help build the leading enterprise event management software company Wingate Web. He led the turnaround of MediaLive (also known as the Key3Media Group), guiding the company to a profitable transition from a public to a private enterprise. He also held executive and management positions at Ziff-Davis and Hyatt Hotels Corporation.

Jeff Hamon, Chief Financial Officer
Jeff Hamon is the Chief Financial Officer of Wheelhouse Solutions. Mr. Hamon was most recently Chief Financial Officer for Champion Exposition Services. Prior to that, Mr. Hamon was General Manager of the Colonnade Group, a division of Champion that produced outdoor sporting events. Before joining Champion, Mr. Hamon was a Principal with RCW Mirus, Inc., a middle-market M&A firm based in Boston. Prior to Mirus, Mr. Hamon was a founding shareholder in and Vice President of Business Development for AquaSource, Inc., a water and wastewater utility company that grew solely through acquisitions, to more than over $500 million in assets in four years. Mr. Hamon holds a BA from the College of the Holy Cross.

Gene Cobuzzi, Senior Vice President
Gene Cobuzzi currently serves as Senior Vice President of Wheelhouse Solutions. Before joining the company, Mr. Cobuzzi served as Chief Operating Officer of TBA Holdings, LLC, where he and his team went on to acquire TBA Entertainment Corporation in June, 2004 and PGI, Inc. in July of 2005. Prior to TBA, Mr. Cobuzzi had been with MediaLive International Inc. since January 2001 as Executive Vice President of Operations and Strategic Planning. Mr. Cobuzzi joined MediaLive International from MusicNet, a division of Real Networks, where he served as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to MusicNet, Mr. Cobuzzi served as Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Ticketmaster Group, Inc. Mr. Cobuzzi, a CPA, holds a BBA from Iona College.

Leslie Brand, Vice President of Marketing
Leslie Brand is the Vice President of Marketing of Wheelhouse Solutions. Ms. Brand has more than 20 years experience in marketing. Prior to joining the company, Ms. Brand was the Vice President of Corporate and Exhibitor Client Marketing for MediaLive International Inc., producer of Interop, COMDEX, VoiceCon, Web 2.0 and other technology events and then upon acquisition by United Business Media she continued to run Exhibitor Client Marketing prior to moving into the online product division of TechWeb and then onto TechInsights holding Vice President of Marketing and Community Development positions, respectively. Prior to MediaLive, Ms. Brand ran her own marketing consulting company, Preva Marketing. During this tenure she won a Beacon Award, from the Bay Area Business Marketing Association, September 2003. Ms. Brand also worked for start-up companies, Egreetings.com as Director of Customer Retention and Loyalty and CriticalArc Technologies as Director of Product Management for reporting tools used by the restaurant industry. Earlier in her career, Ms. Brand worked for renowned media companies Ziff-Davis and Hearst Magazines. Ms. Brand was the Co-Chairwoman of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Women in Business Roundtable in 2004.

Candy Gray, Vice President of Human Resources
Candy Gray currently serves as the Vice President of Human Resources for Wheelhouse Solutions. Ms. Gray brings more than15 years of human resource management experience in industries ranging from engineering to entertainment. Before joining the company, she was VP of Human Resources at AirPlay, where she was responsible for all aspects of human resources, payroll services and facilities management. From 2000 to 2006, Ms. Gray was Vice President of HR at MediaLive International, a producer of global technology trade shows and conferences. Prior to that, Ms. Gray spent a year implementing an integrated HR and payroll system at the seven venues comprising the House of Blues in Los Angeles. From 1995 to 2000, Ms. Gray was Director of HR at DreamWorks Animation, during which the company grew from 30 employees to more than 1,600 employees. She holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, Southern California Campus.

Jeff Chase, Foundation President
Jeff Chase is the Foundation President for Event Cause, the philanthropic arm of Wheelhouse Solutions. In this position, Mr. Chase oversees the daily operations of the foundation including the selection of new projects. Prior to leading Event Cause, Mr. Chase was the owner and founder of The Chase Group, a premiere boutique event production and logistics company. He has also held positions with Moore Displays and Andrews Bartlett Company. He joined Ziff-Davis Expositions in 1992 to be the show Operations Director for the Interop shows and grew with the company to oversee all operations and helped to produce over 40 shows each year such as, JavaOne, Seybold Seminars, Windows Solutions and Digital World.