AEG Ogden announces key appointments and team promotions

Harvey Lister Chairman and Chief Executive of venue managers AEG Ogden has announced a number of senior staff changes across the facilities it manages in Australia and New Zealand.

Advising that one of the most pleasing aspects about the most recent changes was the number internal promotions and movements, Lister explained “we have always and will continue to look to grow our own people and consider them first when new positions become available.

Among the changes are:

Following his extensive stadium and major event experience in various places around the world including Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena in London; the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales; both Suncorp Stadium and Qudos Bank Arena for AEG Ogden and Etihad Stadium (now Marvel Stadium) in Melbourne, Paul Sergeant returns to AEG Ogden to become Director - Special Projects Australasia ahead of a number of rising opportunities across the Asian region.

With AEG Ogden’s recent appointment to manage the Christchurch Convention Centre (Te Pae), the former General Manager of Cairns Convention Centre, Ross Steele was named manager of that venue.

While Martin Latter has stepped back from a fulltime role in kitchens, AEG Ogden has retained his broad culinary expertise as Group Director of Kitchens across the AEG Ogden Family of Facilities. His former role as Executive Chef at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre has been filled by highly awarded Brisbane restaurateur, David Pugh after working alongside Latter at the BCEC for the past 18 months.

24 year company veteran, Geoff Hanrahan has joined AEG Ogden head office as Director – International Projects with a specific focus of overseeing the operation of the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Hanrahan’s former deputy at the BCEC, Ian Chalmers who has spent the past two years as Director of Operations at Suncorp Stadium, returns as Director of Operations at the BCEC.

Chalmers’ replacement as Director of Operations at Suncorp Stadium is Michael Littlewood who joins AEG Ogden with extensive venue experience with Cirque du Soleil and most recently with major gaming and hotel experience in Macau.

In Sydney, Mathew Haynes has been appointed as Theatre Manager at the ICC Sydney, where he is responsible for live entertainment events in the Centre’s three main theatres.

Following AEG Ogden’s recent decision to accept an offer to acquire its interest in the Sydney Kings, former Club General Manager Jeff van Groningen has taken on a new role consulting on basketball and other indoor sports that will be introduced to the company’s new arenas including Dubai, Bangkok and others in Asia over the next 12 months.

Commenting on the appointments, Lister added “these promotions are living proof of our long held philosophy of developing quality venue executives within our organisation and providing them with career advancement opportunities in exciting markets across the globe.”