Qudos Bank Arena announces new venue organisational structure and appointment of three new directors

Steve Hevern, General Manager of Qudos Bank Arena has announced an organisational restructure at the Sydney venue.

Effective from Monday (7th February) it includes the promotion of Michael Cox as Director of Operations and Damien Smith to the role of Director of Hospitality along with Karly Lake joining the team as Director of Finance and Business Services.

Cox commenced his career in 1999 at the venue when it was known as the Sydney SuperDome, working in in catering, then moving across to venue operations in 2000.

In 2005, he joined the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Corporation, in the position of Venue Operations Coordinator for the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, which hosted the weightlifting, badminton and boxing competitions as well as facilitating the main press centre and fleet depot for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

After a short stint as an Event Coordinator at the Quaycentre (Sydney Olympic Park Sports Centre), he returned to Qudos Bank Arena in 2008 as the Assistant Technical Manager before becoming the Arena’s Technical Manager in 2011, followed by a promotion to Technical Operations Manager in 2016, where he has overseen the delivery of the Arena’s technical, ticketing and merchandise operations for all events and functions.

Smith also commenced his career at the venue in 1999, also in the Catering Department, and played an integral part of in the successful delivery of the Arena’s Catering service for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Subsequently he has held several positions including Function and Corporate Coordinator, Assistant Catering Manager and Catering Operations Manager within the Department before being promoted to the role of Catering Manager in 2009, where he has overseen the delivery of the Arena’s Catering operation for all events and functions.

Both Cox and Smith are graduates of the Venue Management School and Leadership Institute.

Lake, the newest member of the Qudos Bank Arena team, brings over 15 years of experience working at Chugg Entertainment, Intheblack Consultancy, and most recently as Head of Finance and Director of Commercial Operations with Technical Direction Company (TDC).

With the wealth of experience and leadership skills she possesses places her in good stead to hit the ground running at the Arena in her areas of expertise and responsibility - finance, people and culture, ICT, administration and business services.

A statement from the venue advised “these new appointments emboldens an already formidable team, who are dedicated and well equipped to guide Qudos Bank Arena through the next phase of the journey for this world class Arena.”

Image (from left): Michael Cox, Damien Smith and Karly Lake. Credit: Qudos Bank Arena.