76ers Name Tom Ward Senior VP of Corporate Partnerships

PHILADELPHIA, PA. – JUNE 20, 2012 –Philadelphia 76ers CEO and Co-Owner Adam Aron announced today that the team has named veteran sports industry executive Tom Ward as the team’s new Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships and Broadcasting, effective July 9, 2012. Ward was most recently the New Orleans Hornets Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships and Premium Seating.

“It’s another big step forward to have someone with Tom Ward’s expertise and decades of experience join the Philadelphia 76ers,” Aron said. “This is a promising time for our organization – both on- and off-the-court – and we have no doubt that Tom will be an invaluable liaison for our existing and prospective sponsors with the Sixers. We are equally confident that Tom will work seamlessly with our senior management team to accomplish our goals.”

“I am very excited about joining the Philadelphia 76ers and look forward to building a successful sponsorship department here from the ground up,” Ward said. “The Sixers have a dedicated ownership group led by Josh Harris and a marketplace with an incredible amount of potential, which makes this a great opportunity and one that I am looking forward to.”

During his four seasons with the Hornets, Ward was responsible for overseeing all sponsorship revenue streams across multiple platforms for the Hornets, during which time he generated a 75% increase in revenue.   Additionally, the Hornets were ranked among the top five teams in the NBA in five key league sponsorship categories over the past two seasons (new sponsor accounts sold, new sponsor categories sold, percentage of new sales increase year to date, new sales as a percentage of total sales and new sponsorship revenue).

Prior to joining the Hornets, Ward was the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the Washington Nationals, where he was responsible for overseeing all team and stadium revenue streams, including marketing, broadcasting, game operations, and sponsorship, ticket and suite sales. Among his many accomplishments and responsibilities with the team, Ward developed the business plan for the franchise’s inaugural season at Nationals Park and increased both season ticket and sponsorship sales in the first season at the new ballpark.

For two years prior to his arrival at Washington, Ward was the Executive Vice President of Business Operations and Chief Marketing Officer with the Charlotte Bobcats. Responsible for overseeing the team and arena revenue streams including all ticket sales, sponsorship sales, marketing, merchandising, and all business operations budgets. While there, Ward developed the Bobcats’ business plan, which spanned the 18-month time frame leading up to the inaugural season and spearheaded a two-step sponsorship sales campaign which resulted in the acquisition of 50 sponsors plus five founding partnerships.

Ward spent six years as the Executive Vice President of Business Operations for the Nashville Predators, where in less than seven months he orchestrated a season ticket sales and marketing campaign that resulted in 12,000 season tickets sold, securing the franchise for the city and setting a record for the number of season tickets sold by an NHL franchise in that period of time. He was also the lead negotiator and architect for the Nashville Arena naming rights agreement, which placed the Predators in the top 10% of NHL naming rights agreements. Additionally, he served on the six-member Marketing Advisory Board to NHL Enterprises, becoming one of the first board members to serve on both the NBA and NHL advisory boards.

  Ward started his career with the Washington Bullets before moving on to the Charlotte Hornets, where he managed all marketing and sales functions for the team including ticket sales, sponsorship sales, advertising plans and budgets, and sales forecasts as Vice President of Marketing.