FRONT OFFICE Pete Guelli
HISTORY
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FRONT OFFICE
Executive Vice President and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Pete Guelli is in his fifth season with Bobcats Sports & Entertainment after being named Executive Vice President and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer in April 2009. Guelli, who is responsible for all revenue generation, marketing and communications functions for the organization, oversees the ticket sales and services, box office operations, corporate partnerships, marketing and advertising, merchandising, broadcasting, public relations and community relations departments. He also serves as the president of the team’s charitable arm, the Cats Care Foundation. Guelli has more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience, including 11 years with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. He initially joined the Bills in July 1999 as Senior Manager of Rochester Operations and was promoted to Executive Director in 2003 and Vice President in 2006 before being named Senior Vice President of Business Ventures in 2008. While with the Bills, Guelli developed the business plan surrounding the relocation of the team’s training camp to Rochester in 2000 and spearheaded the development and execution of the team’s business model in Toronto, which included a joint venture with Rogers Communications to play eight games over five seasons in Toronto. In addition to overseeing the regionalization of the club’s business strategies, Guelli was also responsible for business-to-business sales operations, including sponsorships, advertising and luxury suites, as well as the sales of team-controlled inventory for television, radio and Internet. Guelli began his career with Giltspur Inc., a division of the fortune 500 Viad Corp. A native of Rochester and a graduate of SUNY Brockport, Guelli and his wife, Patty, reside in South Charlotte and have two sons, Gunner and Grayson.
Seth Bennett
Senior Vice President of Marketing, Entertainment & Interactive Media Seth Bennett is in his eighth season with Bobcats Sports & Entertainment, where he serves as the organization’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Entertainment & Interactive Media. In this role, he is responsible for departments including marketing and advertising, event and game presentation, interactive media, creative services, communications, radio and television broadcasting and the team store. Since joining the Bobcats in September 2006, Bennett has overseen several major initiatives, such as the move from Time Warner Cable to Fox Sports for TV game broadcasts, a brand refresh in 2012 that included changing the team’s color scheme, the increased regionalization of the club’s preseason games and the revamping of the organization’s game day presentation to a more family friendly experience. In addition, he presided over the redesign of the team store, as well as the introduction of exclusive Jordan Brand Bobcats apparel into the store’s inventory. Bennett has more than 25 years of experience in a variety of areas across sports and entertainment. As owner and founding principal of The Event Authority, he produced over 400 live events for various college and high school athletic programs and entertainment entities. That list includes nine HBCU Football Classics, the Jordan Brand Classic high school basketball all-star game and the HoopTee Celebrity Golf Classic, as well as the corporate entertainment for the PGA Tour FBR Open in Phoenix. He also spent eight years working in intercollegiate athletics. Bennett serves on the Cats Care Foundation Advisory Board and the Board of Advisors for the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina. In his spare time, he is an avid golfer and volunteers his time in support of local youth sports programs.
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NBA
Bennett earned his bachelor’s degree in public relations in 1993 from North Carolina A&T State University, where he played football for the Aggies. He and his wife, Michelle, have one son, Seth Michael.
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2013-14 CHARLOTTE BOBCATS MEDIA GUIDE