About OVG Facilities

Unprecedented Resources…Unprecedented Results

Experience and Approach

OVG Facilities, a division of the Oak View Group, is a full-service venue management and event programming company built on the foundation of truly putting our clients first. Founded in 2015 by Irving Azoff, Tim Leiweke, with Madison Square Garden Entertainment, OVG Facilities has one simple goal—to provide venues customized services that produce results. Our services are unrivaled and designed to deliver unprecedented results.

Our approach to operating and booking venues is unapparelled. Maintaining a focus on booking and creating premium content that promises to deliver a unique guest experience is what drives our team. The depth of our resources, industry experience and relationships are unmatched throughout the industry. Our team looks forward to capitalizing on our resources to help clients achieve their goals and obtain unparalleled results.

Meet Our Team

What People are Saying

OVG Facilities has also been instrumental in helping with the $7.1 million renovation of the Two Rivers Convention Center. Their guidance and involvement has ensured that those dollars were spent effectively on areas that will enhance the venue and further increase its economic impact on Downtown.

Brandon Stam

Executive Director, Downtown Grand Junction, Grand Junction, CO

OVG, as the University of Miami – Watsco Center facility management company, has been a wonderful partner in the management of all aspects of our facility. The University has been particularly pleased with OVG’s creativity, network skills, and industry knowledge are constantly being exhibited by the diverse number of events held at the Watsco Center.

Humberto Speziani

Assistant Vice President for Business Services, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL

Robert Morris University engaged OVG as manager of the UPMC Events Center nine months before construction of the multipurpose arena and conference center was completed, and OVG’s expertise was invaluable in helping the university outfit the building Facilities to host concerts, sports, and other entertainment events.

Jonathon Potts

Vice President, Public Relations and Marketing, Robert Morris University, Moon, PA

Entering into an agreement with Oak View Group Facilities was clearly the right decision for us. Oak View Group Facilities has a clear vision for enriching our event schedule with a diverse lineup that truly creates something for everyone at Rupp Arena.

Bill Owen

President of Lexington Center Corp., Owners of Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY

Our Team

OVG Facilities has a team of successful and knowledgeable industry veterans that have a myriad of experience in the entertainment industry.

Meet our Team:

Peter Luukko

Chairman

Hank Abate

President

Douglas Higgons

Senior VP

Tom Paquette

Senior VP

Shura Garnett

Senior VP
Convention Centers

Sims Hinds

Senior VP
Business Dev

Chris Asouzu

Vice President
Finance

Marissa Dionne

Senior Director
Marketing

Monique Brycki

Senior Director
Facilities Dev

Matt Lashoff

Director
Facilities Dev

Our Services

Our Venue Services

Management

We provide each venue with customized strategies and solutions to maximize its success to fit their mission and goals.

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Booking

Our team will not just advise how to be more successful at programming events; we will secure and create events for our clients.

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Consulting

We can strategically design a business model and provide guidance in every area of venue management and event programming

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Why OVG Our Team Services Venues News Contact

Peter Luukko

Chairman

Peter Luukko is Chairman of OVG Facilities, and also serves as Co-Chairman of OVG’s Arena Alliance. Luukko is instrumental in overseeing growth for the company by acquiring new facilities, managing relationships with promoters, artists, and managers, and consulting with developers, city officials and team owners.

Additionally, he is Executive Chairman of the Florida Panthers Hockey Club and Sunrise Sports and Entertainment. Under Luukko’s leadership, the franchise experienced several accomplishments including hosting the 2015 National Hockey League Draft and a significant increase in ticket and corporate partnership revenue. Luukko’s management also resulted in an increase in bookings of a variety of prominent shows at the team’s home venue, the BB&T Center.

Luukko previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Comcast-Spectacor, L.P. for more than 25 years, overseeing the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, while serving as a member of the National Hockey League Board of Governors. He oversaw Comcast-Spectacor’s facility-management business, Global Spectrum (now Spectra) which ran more than 125 sports arenas, stadiums, and convention centers. He was also responsible for the expansion of Comcast-Spectacor’s broad range of businesses including its food and beverage, ticketing, and sponsorship sales divisions.

Under Luukko’s leadership, Comcast-Spectacor helped Philadelphia garner national attention and awareness by attracting several high-profile events to the city of Philadelphia, including the 2000 Republican National Convention, the 2000 NCAA Women’s Final Four, the 2001 NCAA Men’s East Regionals, the 2001 and 2002 X-Games, the 2002 NBA All-Star Weekend, the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Gymnastics, the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships, the 2014 NCAA Frozen Four, and several other sports and entertainment events.

As President of the Flyers, he played an instrumental role in his club participating in two Winter Classics (2010 and 2012), while also hosting the 2014 NHL Draft. A recognized leader in the facility management industry, Luukko was the 2000 recipient of the City of Hope’s Tri-State Labor Award. He also received the 2002 prestigious Harold J. Vander Zwaag Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Sports Management Program of the University of Massachusetts for his accomplishments in the field of sports management. He received the 2013 Police Athletic League PAL Award for his contributions to the Philadelphia community.

In 2013, Luukko and Comcast-Spectacor Chairman, Ed Snider, ranked 43rd on Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal’s prestigious list of the Top 50 Most Influential Leaders in Sports Business. They were also two-time winners of Venues Today’s Hall of Headlines. He also was named one of Billboard Magazine’s Power 100 (2012 and 2013).

Luukko, 60, serves as an active member of the Board of Directors of Pointstreak Sports Technologies Inc., a Toronto company that develops sports-related software, including 50/50 raffle technology, increasingly used at sports facilities across North America. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Philly Sports Holdings, an Exton, PA based holding company that operates Sports Vault and Strategic Sports Marketing. Luukko is a hockey player, hockey coach, and hockey parent. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts. Luukko and his wife, Casey, have three children Nick, Dana, and Max.

Hank Abate

President, OVG Facilities

Hank Abate has over 30 years of experience covering all aspects of arena, theater, and stadium management. Prior to his role with OVG Facilities, Hank was the Executive Vice President of Venue Management for The Madison Square Garden Company having oversight of Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, The Beacon Theater, The Chicago Theater, and The Los Angeles Forum. He is the former Senior Vice President of Global Spectrum (now Spectra Venue Management) and for MSG.

While with Global Spectrum, Abate played a key role in merging the operations of Ovations Food Services and Global Spectrum Facilities Management, while overseeing more than 40 facilities with a focus on increasing event activity and driving bottom-line growth. Prior to that, he spent 20 years working for SMG Facility Management, where he held many key positions and had principal responsibility for SMG-managed arenas, stadiums and several convention centers.

Doug Higgons

Senior Vice President

Doug Higgons is a 25 plus year veteran of public assembly facility management with experience in administration, operations, marketing, booking, pre-opening services, and event operations for arenas, theaters, stadiums and conference centers throughout the United States. He has provided invaluable assistance in the design, construction, grand opening, renovation, operations, and transition phases of over 20 different arenas, stadiums, theaters, and conference centers. He has experience in numerous international events such as Olympic Games, Super Bowls, FIFA Cups, NCAA Championships, and stadium concerts.

In 2014, he founded Pinnacle Venue Services with Tom Paquette. Pinnacle provided customized solutions for venue owners and operators including full-service venue management and consulting services to maximize each venue’s success. In less than three years, Pinnacle experienced exceptional growth in securing full-service management contracts for eleven venues of various types including arenas, theaters, conference and convention centers, and an amphitheater. Pinnacle also created and developed an event and venue security management and consulting division quickly becoming the industry leader in venue security assessments and audits in addition to managing security operations for several of the sports industry’s premier leagues including the NBA, NHL, and MLB. Pinnacle provided security management services for marquis events including the NBA All-Star weekend and the NBA Finals.

In October 2017, the Oak View Group acquired Pinnacle Venue Services and launched Oak View Group Facilities — a full-service venue management and event programming company and a member of the Oak View Group family of companies. Additionally, as part of the acquisition, Pinnacle’s security management clients including the NBA and NHL joined the Oak View Group’s security company—Prevent Advisors.

Doug is the former General Manager of the Constant Convocation Center and SB Ballard Stadium at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. He spent close to 20 years working for Global Spectrum including the last 10 as a Regional Vice President overseeing 16 separate arenas, theaters, and conference centers for the Company, including nine universities. He led the oversight of the planning and execution of football game day experience at Old Dominion University for the inaugural return season in 2009. Throughout his career, Doug has worked with professional sports, amateur sports, and NCAA collegiate teams in sports such as football, basketball, hockey, arena football, figure skating, and speed skating.

Higgons also served as the Deputy General Manager for the Utah Olympic Oval during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. In this role, Doug was responsible for the daily operations of the Olympic Oval. He was responsible for the transition of this venue to an Olympic venue and oversaw the venue operations for speed skating during the 2002 Olympic Games. He had daily interaction with members of the US Secret Service, FBI, US Military, and local law enforcement and co-authored the Emergency and Incident Response Plan for the venue, combining the needs of the athletes, guests, and staff; while keeping security as the primary concern. Doug was also involved in event services for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.

Doug is a 1992 graduate of the Sports Management program at the University of Massachusetts. He has served as an Adjunct Instructor at Old Dominion University and the University of New Hampshire co-teaching graduate and undergraduate level courses focusing on facility management.

Tom Paquette

Senior Vice President

Tom Paquette’s 25 plus years of expertise in managing sports and entertainment venues includes serving at a variety of venue types and sizes and hosting a myriad of events including NBA, NHL, NCAA basketball and hockey, arena and stadium concerts, national political conventions, ESPN X-Games, and music festivals. He has led arenas through construction, pre-opening, and opening phases as well as major renovation projects.

Paquette held the position of Vice President and General Manager of the AT&T Center for Spurs Sports & Entertainment, managing the arena during the 2013 NBA Finals, 2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and the annual San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. Additionally, he spent 10 years as General Manager of Colonial Life Arena at the University of South Carolina, guiding the arena through construction, opening, and the first nine years of operation. After opening in 2002, it quickly became one of the premier university arenas in the United States and one of the most successful arenas in the Southeast. Prior to moving to South Carolina, he served as the Director of Event Production at the Wells Fargo Center and Spectrum in Philadelphia, PA.

Paquette has also served as General Manager at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, MA, seeing it through construction, opening, and its first years of operation. Before his years in Massachusetts, he served as General Manager of the American Royal Center and Kemper Arena in Kansas City, MO. He began his venue management career as Assistant Arena Manager at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena. While at the University of South Carolina, he served as an Adjunct Instructor in the College of Hospitality, Retail, and Sports Management, teaching graduate and undergraduate level courses focusing on facility and event management.

Paquette earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA and is a graduate of the International Association of Venue Management’s (IAVM) School of Venue Management. He is an active member of the IAVM, serving on its initial Safety and Security Task Force, organized after the events of 9/11.

Shura Garnett

Senior Vice President, Convention Centers

Shura Garnett is Senior Vice President of Convention Centers for Oak View Group Facilities. Prior to her role with OVG, Garnett served as Senior Vice President of Convention Centers for Spectra Venue Management and Food Services & Hospitality. Her responsibilities included oversight of all Spectra Convention Centers and for the development and implementation of Spectra’s national sales initiatives for all convention centers.

With almost 30 years of industry experience, Garnett has held positions as Regional Vice President for Spectra, General Manager of the St. Charles Convention Center, Director, and CEO of the Midland Convention Center, and the Vice President of Visitor Development for the Midland Chamber of Commerce.

She has held Board positions for both Trade Show Executives Exposition Forecasting Board and the Center for Exhibition Industry Research Foundation. Formerly, Garnett was on the Board of Directors for the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce and elected to the Texas Department of Economic Development’s Tourism Advisory Committee. As part of her IAVM activities, she served as Chairman of the IAVM Convention Center Committee, member of the Industry Affairs Committee, member of the Board of Governors, Chair of the Board of Education, and Chair of the Diversification Committee. She was then elected 1st Vice President of IAVM and worked her way through the chairs to become the Chairman of the Board of the IAVM.

She is a current member of ASAE, IAEE, IAVM, MPI, and PCMA. She is the recipient of the 2008 St. Charles Zonta Yellow Rose Award, the 2008 recipient of Venue’s Today’s “Women of Influence” Award, the recipient of the 2005 IAVM Presidential Citation and most recently the 2014 recipient of the prestigious Charles A, McElravy Award, the 27th recipient since 1963. Facilities and Destinations has named her as an Elite Convention Center Executive for two years in a row.

Sims Hinds

Senior Vice President Development

Sims Hinds is Senior Vice President of Development for OVG Facilities. Prior to his time with OVG, Hinds spent his career working with organizations such as The Walt Disney Company, the PGA Tour, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Live Nation, and several others. He’s held senior positions at some of the industry’s most recognized companies, including Concerts West, SMG, AEG, the Carolina Hurricanes, and HKS World Events.

Recently, Hinds has worked with the development of downtown High Point, NC, on a mixed-use district anchored by a multi-purpose stadium; a new arena in Virginia Beach, VA.; expansion and renovation of Rupp Arena Sports, Entertainment, and Arts District in Lexington, KY; and more.

Chris Asouzu

Vice President of Finance

Chris Asouzu is responsible for all financial reporting and reconciliation for the OVG Facilities’ venues. Asouzu works with administration staff and department heads to ensure full contract compliance. Chris is a 30 plus year account, finance, and management professional, with 12 years of direct industry experience. He is a former Regional Director of Finance for Global Spectrum (now Spectra) and former Accounting Manager and Treasury Services Manager for Knight-Ridder, Inc. in Columbia SC.

Asouzu is also a member of several organizations including a Board Member for Congaree Vista Guild Business District in Columbia, SC; Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity incorporated; Knight of Peter Clavier Court #380; Columbia Urban League Guild Committee, and a Board Member and Chairman of Budget and Finance Committee, South Carolina Midlands Authority for Conventions, Sports and Tourism Board.

Marissa Dionne

Senior Director of Marketing

Marissa Dionne is a 18-year veteran in the entertainment and venue management industry specializing in Marketing, Public Relations, Sponsorship, and Group Sales. Marissa’s career has been formed from a foundation in arena management and marketing and has grown to include convention center-related activities.

Throughout her career, she has worked alongside arena event promoters including Live Nation, AEG Live, Feld Entertainment, Harlem Globetrotters, among many others, while promoting and ensuring successful events at arenas throughout the country. Dionne has assisted with local sports franchises from the American Hockey League (AHL) and NBA Development League (D-League). Dionne spent eight years with Global Spectrum (now Spectra) supporting several marketing and sales professionals in other Global Spectrum-managed arenas and conventions centers across the U.S. and Canada. As Regional Director of Marketing, she kept monthly communication with each venue’s General Manager and Marketing Department members, coached and developed marketing skills, shared successful ideas and campaigns while assisted in the management of the corporate National Marketing Campaign.

In addition to her Regional role, she led an NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament local organizing committee in hosting a week-long tournament. Further, Dionne oversaw an extensive national marketing campaign for the Springfield, MA-based MassMutual Center, a 100,000 square-foot convention center, and 6,500-seat hybrid venue.

Monique Brycki

Senior Director of Facilities Development

Monique Brycki is Senior Director of Facilities Development for Oak View Group Facilities and brings with her more than a decade of experience in the sports and entertainment industry. Brycki is responsible for the development of Oak View Group Facilities’ new business initiatives with an emphasis in prospecting potential new venue management clients. She does this by taking a strategic approach in finding and developing new business opportunities. Brycki also has oversight in the development of the organization’s Request for Proposals process by analyzing and responding to RFPs and is responsible for all research associated with potential new accounts.

Prior to her role with Oak View Group, Brycki worked for Spectra Venue Management, Food Services & Hospitality, and Ticketing & Fan Engagement as Director of Strategic Business Development. In this position, she was responsible for vetting and developing new business opportunities for each respective service. She created and implemented a Business Plan for the department, which outlined the overall strategy for targeting new business opportunities. While serving in this capacity, Brycki was responsible for exceeding the department’s Key Performance Indicators which resulted in nearly $195,000 in Operating Cash Flow for the first fiscal year of operation. Brycki also served as Director of Business Development and Client Relations during her tenure with Spectra (formerly Global Spectrum), where she collaborated with regional and corporate staff to develop and write technical and management content for responses which were compliant with the RFP request.

Matt Lashoff

Director of Facilities Development

Matt Lashoff is OVG Facilities’ Director of Business Development and brings with him more than 15 years of experience in the sports and entertainment industry. Prior to his role with OVG Facilities, Lashoff led a 12-year professional hockey career which began in 2005 when he was drafted 22nd overall for the Boston Bruin’s 2006-07 season. Lashoff’s tenure with the National Hockey League (“NHL”) also included positions with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning. While playing professional ice hockey, Lashoff also was responsible for running a music production company in charge of booking and music publishing for artists and songwriters. In addition to Lashoff’s current role with OVG Facilities, he volunteers time with the St. Louis Blues Alumni Association and local St. Louis (MO) Youth Hockey Associations.