Getting To Know Your Pollstar Live! Panelists: Amy Latimer of TD Garden & Delaware North

– Amy Latimer

Getting To Know Your Pollstar Live! Panelists

Amy Latimer, President of TD Garden and Chief Development Officer of Delaware North

Panel: “I Really Did Forget My Wallet: The Next Era In Cashless/Touchless”

Date/Time: Thursday, June 17 at 11:45 a.m.

Other Panelists: Stas Chijik, Co-Founder, CEO, BillfoldPOS; Michael Conley, SVP, Chief Information Officer, Cleveland Cavaliers; Brendan Lynch, Ticketmaster; Wayne Scarsella, EVP, Sports & Entertainment, Appetize
Moderator: Dr. K. Elizabeth Hawk, President, Ampersand Intelligence

Amy Latimer is President of TD Garden, one of the most active, highly regarded and successful sports and entertainment venues in North America. Latimer also works directly with Delaware North, the owner and operator of TD Garden, by overseeing its client and contract retention support and enabling base business growth.

Latimer was part of the inaugural executive team at the TD Garden and started as the Director of Marketing in 1995. Later, she launched the arena’s first e-business department, where she led a team dedicated to harnessing database marketing and website strategy. Latimer’s growth within the arena continued as she served for six seasons as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, responsible for developing and leading all sales and marketing strategies for the Boston Bruins and TD Garden. In 2012, Latimer was named president of the arena.

Under Latimer’s leadership, TD Garden has transformed. As arena president, she has led a $70 million, floor-to-ceiling renovation in 2015 and a multilevel, $100+ million, 50,000- square-foot expansion of the arena which opened to the public in 2019. Dubbed TD Garden’s Legendary Transformation, this project provided a completely enhanced fan experience, from new entrances, re-imagined premium products and amenities, state-of-the-art vertical transportation and several new bars, lounges and seating areas.

A recognized leader in the sports and arena industry, Latimer was named one of Sports Business Journal’s “Game Changers” in 2011, “WISE Woman of the Year” in 2015 and a “Boston Business Power Player” in 2017 by Boston Magazine. With Latimer at the helm, TD Garden has been consistently ranked among The Boston Globe’s “Top 100 Women-led businesses in Boston.” Additionally, she was appointed to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority’s board of directors, serves on the Massachusetts Large Venue Security Task Force, and named to the New England Advisory Council for the Boston Federal Reserve.

Thanks to her extensive experience and knowledge in the sports and arena industry, she continues to raise the profile for Boston’s premier sports and entertainment arena by attracting national and international events, including the 2015 NCAA Frozen Four, 2016 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball East Regional and the upcoming 2022 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Frozen Four.

Throughout her tenure at TD Garden, Latimer has overseen and participated in many of the arena’s charitable endeavors via Garden Neighborhood Charities, the arena’s philanthropic arm, and the Boston Bruins Foundation. Latimer currently serves as the Executive Director of Garden Neighborhood Charities in addition to serving on the MA State Advisory Board for The Salvation Army, the MIAA Educational Athletic Advisory Board, The Special Olympics of MA Advisory Board, and sits on the Board of Directors for Shooting Touch. She continues to play a key role in developing and hosting annual events, volunteer opportunities and financial support of community partners such as The Salvation Army, Action for Boston Community Development, Friends of Boston’s Homeless, Good Sports and The Special Olympics Massachusetts.

The native of Ellicott City, MD received her degree in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island, which she attended on a full basketball scholarship. Latimer also took political management courses at George Washington University and worked for Empower America while living in Washington, D.C. She currently resided in Topsfield, Massachusetts with her husband Jody and their three sons.

Latimer was honored as one of the 2021 Pollstar + VenuesNow Women Of Live, as well as a 2020 VenuesNow All-Star.

This year’s Pollstar Live! conference will revive live as the concert business is gearing up and the return to normalcy appears well under way. With some of the best talent and minds in the business gathering once more in Los Angeles June 15-17, you won’t want to miss the networking opportunities, insightful discussion and, of course, the Pollstar Awards honoring the best from the live entertainment world.

Pollstar Live! kicks off with Production Live!, the one-day companion conference that features insightful panels and discussions from industry professionals on all topics related to staging live events including lighting, video, staging and stage management, sound technique, concert production, video, regulations, security and more.

Click here for the Production Live! schedule and here for the Pollstar Live! schedule.

Register for Pollstar Live! here.

Your Professional Background:

Amy Latimer: Started out on the political science track, I was going to be a lawyer. I lived in D.C., and lived that life for a bit, but then found myself in a situation where an opportunity came to me to be a consultant on the opening of the “new” Boston Garden in 1995. I wasn’t nearly qualified for the role, but I raised my hand and stepped up, and, the rest as they say, is history. I’ve been in the company for 26 years in different roles and I continue to learn new things every day – and it never gets boring.

Proudest Moment In Your Career?

The 2011 Stanley Cup run. The entire lead up to winning the cup was so much work but so incredibly fun and exhilarating. And then, the win! Being IN Vancouver when it happened and knowing that our associates were watching it happen from a viewing party inside TD Garden back in Boston – it was the ultimate payoff. Being able to gift all our associates with a Stanley Cup Championship ring was incredible. Watching them open up those boxes under the championship banners of TD Garden after all the hard work they had done over not just that season but so many before… I couldn’t think of a better moment.

Why Everyone Must Go To This Panel?

So much has happened over the past year, there’s a lot of hot topics and content to cover. We’ve gone more than a year without live music! We are covering real issues and we’ve got some amazing speakers who, I’m sure, will have some different perspectives on things than I do. Should be a great conversation, I’m hoping to get some info from these guys as well.

The Story You Will Tell?

I’m looking forward to sharing how we worked with Amazon to establish our two new retail spaces using their Just Walk Out technology – the first of its kind in an arena setting.

The Story You Won’t Tell?

I’m an open book! I like to talk about the things other people don’t like to talk about. I share the mistakes and challenges, it is not all rainbows and unicorns! It’s how we learn. Let’s be honest, I usually base most of my talks about how, on paper, I wasn’t qualified for the job when I started in this business nearly 26 years ago…and how I had no idea how what I was doing. Turns out, the story you think you won’t tell is the best one.

What May Cause Tempers To Flare?

Favorite artist and/or concert.

The Question You Hope Is Asked?

What is the worse/best idea that has come out of living through a worldwide pandemic?

My answers:

Best outcome is the REAL mobile first environment! We were mostly in but not 100% glad the adoption and guest experience has improved.

The worse was the impact to so many people, the loss of loved ones, personal health, financial challenges, and lack of interaction.

The great equalizer: The mute option on virtual calls. Everyone has been on mute when they started talking. Everyone has also wanted it muted when it was not.