WHO WE ARE
OUR CORPORATE TEAM
Mark Dyer
CEO/FOUNDER | mdyer@taymarventures.com
Mark Dyer started his career at Host Communications, under the tutelage of college sports business legend Jim Host. Years later, he was recruited to NASCAR by sports industry wunderkind George Pyne and he followed Pyne to IMG in 2009. Dyer played an important role as Pyne began acquiring companies in the collegiate space, and he renewed relationships with other entrepreneurial legends like Bill and Pat Battle and Ben Sutton as IMG acquired their companies.
Kim Parsons
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER | kparsons@taymarventures.com
Kim Parsons was a crucial member of the IMG College and IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions leadership team. As the Vice President of Business Ventures, she played a critical role in the division growth by leading several acquisitions, and helped form the IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions joint venture. She led the IMG College Seating division for several years managing more than 100 college, NFL and racing clients. Most recently, Parsons was Chief Financial Officer for sister companies, Seating Solutions and DreamSeat.
Joe Rickert
PRESIDENT | jrickert@taymarventures.com
Joe Rickert has over 10 years of sales and leadership experience in professional & collegiate sports. While serving as the Manager of Ticket Sales for the Atlanta Hawks, he oversaw staff sales training, development and growth, and pioneered an expanded Ticket Sales department. His work led to significant revenue growth and the promotion and placement of many of his team members throughout the industry. Prior to that, Rickert was a revenue leader in the Atlanta Hawks Group Sales department.
Alexis Campanella
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT: TICKET SALES | acampanella@taymarventures.com
Alexis was recruited to join the Taymar team from group sales at Mercedes Benz Stadium to lead ticket sales and strategy for our second client. Since joining the corporate team, Alexis oversees recruiting and development of multiple properties, ensuring our clients maximize their revenue potential. Alexis is also instrumental in our company development programs, such as ACCELERATE. Alexis and her husband, Sam, live in Opelika, Alabama, with their children, Taylor and Spencer.
BEN BOAZ
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT: TICKET SALES | bboaz@taymarventures.com
Ben attended University of Southern Indiana and got his start working in minor league hockey. From there, Ben was recruited from the Tampa Bay Bucs to assist Joe Rickert with starting the first Taymar team at the University of Kentucky. He worked his way to General Manager at UK and also joined the corporate team as a Vice President. He was ultimately promoted to Senior Vice President, and in this role, Ben oversees multiple properties, and enjoys working directly with property leaders to ensure they are finding new and creative ways to grow revenue for our clients. Ben and his wife, Maureen, live in Lexington.
Jon Cole
CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT: SPONSORSHIP/MULTIMEDIA | jcole@taymarventures.com
Jon is a veteran revenue generation and leadership professional with decades of experience in the collegiate multi -media rights industry. Jon began his career with Host Communications before ascending to the GM role at Auburn. He led the property for three different rights holders before becoming regional Vice President overseeing the partnerships and personnel at a variety of colleges and universities for IMG, and then Learfield.
Sharnai Hurlstone
CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT: BUSINESS AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT | shurlstone@taymarventures.com
Sharnai joined Taymar after spending time in the retail consulting and the financial recruiting world. She has grown up around sports and is a world class equestrian in her own right. She has a variety of roles at the company including colleague recruiting and leadership programs as well as business development. Sharnai holds a BBA from SMU and an MBA from Wake Forest.
craig cugno
CORPORATE VICE PRESIDENT | ccugno@taymarventures.com
Craig is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island who started his career working with minor league baseball and hockey. As an Account Executive, he specialized in Group Ticket Sales and went on to create/oversee the first outbound ticket sales department at his alma mater. After spending nearly five years at URI, Craig began working with UConn. When he is not leading his sales team, he enjoys spending time with family, friends, his wife, Sierra, and their dog, Sir Remington the 1st. Sports is his number one passion with his favorite teams being the Boston Red Sox, New Orleans Saints, and, of course, UConn Huskies.
JP MCCOOE
DIRECTOR OF RECRUITING & PERSONNEL | jpmccooe@taymarventures.com
JP McCooe serves as Taymar’s Director of Recruiting and Personnel and brings a wide‑ranging background across sports, higher education, and corporate environments. A proud Connecticut native and CCSU graduate, JP began his career as a Statistics Analyst with ESPN before moving into group sales roles in minor league baseball, hockey, and golf. His experience also includes positions in higher education, with Kraft‑Heinz, and in staffing, giving him a broad foundation in talent development before joining Taymar. JP is an avid fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Chicago Blackhawks, and NASCAR, and he lives in Connecticut with his wife, Nicole, and their daughters, Emerson and Lennon.
Henry wilmes
DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT | hwilmes@taymarventures.com
A Louisville native, Henry studied music business at Belmont University before shifting his focus to sports and gaining experience in Belmont’s Athletic Department. He later returned to Kentucky to pursue his MBA and joined Taymar as an intern, supporting the Lexington Sporting Club account. Henry has since advanced from intern to Account Executive, Senior AE, and now Director of Corporate Development, reflecting his strong work ethic and commitment to delivering results.
OUR FIELD LEADERSHIP TEAM
GM/VP - SAMFORD | LEAD: TICKET OPERATIONS | dmoore@taymarventures.com
David Moore
David is the general manager of ticket sales and operations at our Samford property. With ticket operations expertise from his time at Arkansas, Southern Illinois and Georgia Tech, he leads our schools with operations oversights – about a third of our properties. David lettered in football at the University of West Alabama and continued on to get his masters at Alabama.
GM/VP - LSU | mdouglas@taymarventures.com
MATTHEW DOUGLAS
Matthew leads one of our largest and most successful teams at LSU. He graduated from Oklahoma State University and began his career as a ticket sales student representative. After graduating, he worked in the Oklahoma State athletic department in their development office and ticket sales office. From there, he moved to Waco, Texas and worked at Baylor University as the Director of Ticket Sales & Annual Giving for three years.
GM/VP - WICHITA STATE | cchisholm@taymarventures.com
COLE CHISHOLM
Cole has worked in athletics for the past 13 years going back into college at Texas A&M. He has worked a number of revenue based roles at Minor League baseball, Baylor, Missouri, Arkansas State, and now Wichita State. He and his wife and love to travel, and in his free time he enjoys reading, spending time with friends and family, and watching sports.