The Milwaukee Bucks have announced two new additions to their senior management business team and promotions of current management and staff members to three executive vice president positions and seven vice president roles.
Jamie Morningstar will serve the Bucks as Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service and joins the Bucks from Madison Square Garden where she was Vice President of Service and Retention. In her role at MSG, she managed the season ticket base for the NBA's N.Y. Knicks, NHL's N.Y. Rangers and WNBA's N.Y. Liberty, including the renewal and transition of 10,000 plus accounts and $250 million in revenue during the multi-year transformation of the Madison Square Garden arena.
Theodore Loehrke joined the Bucks in October 2012 and serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer. He joined the Bucks from the National Basketball Association in New York where he was Senior Vice President of Team Marketing and Business Operations. In his role at the NBA, he advised NBA and NBA Development League teams on all aspects of business operations including ticket sales, sponsorship development, customer retention, digital/social media, marketing, and business analytics
“The additions of Jamie and Ted are important to our organization as we continue to meet the challenges of professional sports revenue generation in the Milwaukee region and Wisconsin,” Bucks Executive Vice President Ron Walter said. “Both are talented, experienced individuals who have contributed positively to the NBA, individual teams and successful organizations. They fit well with our business team and share our goals.”
New executive vice presidents are Ron Walter, Executive Vice President, Business Administration; John F. Steinmiller, Executive Vice President, Business Operations; and Mike Burr, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer.
The Bucks also named the following vice presidents: Jim Woloszyk, Vice President, Finance and Accounting; Dan Smyczek, Vice President, Public Relations; David Snyder, Vice President, Corporate Partnerships; Skip Robinson, Vice President, Community Relations and Player Development; Michael Grahl, Vice President, Digital Platforms; and Dustin Godsey, Vice President, Marketing.
“Our new additions and today’s promotions are strong investments in the future success of our organization,” John F. Steinmiller said. “We have strengthened our business team with both new and existing talent.”
Most recently, Loehrke was account manager for seven NBA teams and had worked directly with 13 of the 30 franchises during his tenure with the league. He also led the account management team responsible for all 16 NBA D-League teams and managed the NBA’s Relationship Marketing function, responsible for providing customer insights and deploying digital marketing campaigns in support of league and team objectives. Loehrke also helped develop workshops and training sessions for teams and executives on a variety of topics across all three leagues.
Prior to joining the NBA in 2007, Loehrke managed an internal consulting and business analysis team at American Family Insurance Group in Madison, Wis., responsible for supporting the organization’s corporate marketing and sales functions. Before joining American Family, Loehrke worked at digital agency Organic, Inc. and Deloitte Consulting, both in San Francisco.
“We have outstanding opportunities to grow the business here in Milwaukee and help maintain our competitive position within the NBA, and I’m thrilled to be working with such a talented group of individuals to capture these opportunities across the organization,” Loehrke said.
Prior to her work at MSG, she was Director of Ticket Sales at the Oklahoma City Thunder where she helped manage the organization's transition from Seattle to Oklahoma City and built the team's season and group sales functions from scratch. Prior to the organization's move, Jamie was Manager of Inside Sales for both the Seattle SuperSonics and the Storm where her staff sold groups and packages for both the NBA and WNBA teams. Jamie began her sports career in Inside Sales with the Detroit Pistons, and subsequently earned roles of increasing breadth and responsibility in ticket sales and service across four NBA organizations.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to join the Bucks and work with such a talented and dedicated team,” Morningstar said. “Milwaukee is a great city with passionate sports fans, and we’re going to work hard to grow our ticket base while continuing to deliver the best service in sports.”