New leadership roles to drive Live Nation’s New Zealand expansion

Live Nation has announced the appointment of senior leadership roles for the New Zealand market with veteran entertainment executive Stuart Clumpas named as Chairman of Live Nation New Zealand with Rick Latham and Steve Wheadon appointed to the new roles of Head of Operations and Head of Production, respectively.

Continuing in his well established promotional role, Mark Kneebone has also been promoted to Head of Promotions, overseeing strategic event and talent development, as well as marketing.

The move follows the announcement of Live Nation’s controlling interest in Rhythm & Vines Festival, and puts the company in a position to continue to grow its footprint in the region.

Commenting on the appointments, Clumpas, a 40 year industry veteran, advised “I emigrated down under from Scotland 16 years ago supposedly to retire from the business, but I’m clearly not very good at that.

“Seriously though, I’m very positive about this new challenge. The New Zealand music business has grown in leaps and bounds over the past two decades, and this new role gives me the opportunity to make sure that Live Nation is at the forefront of ensuring that growth continues in the future.

“Whilst we will always be close geographically to our cousins in Australia, the demographics of the two countries have moved in different paths over the past 20 years, and it’s time to capitalise and build on that in a positive fashion for New Zealand.” 

Live Nation Australasia’s Chief Executive Roger Field, added “New Zealand is a valuable and vibrant entertainment market, and it’s time it is recognised for its importance and growth potential it the region. These appointments demonstrate our commitment to New Zealand, and our objective of bringing more events, to more people across the country.”

In addition to their expanded roles overseeing operational and production for all Live Nation events in New Zealand, Rick Latham and Steve Wheadon both retain full oversight of the operations and production teams at Spark Arena, which Live Nation bought into in 2015.

Image (from left): Stuart Clumpas Named Chairman, Mark Kneebone Named Head of Promotions, Rick Latham Named Head of Operations and Steve Wheadon Named Head of Production.

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