OVG Fortifies Its Position With Kaneko
• We are happy for our former Billboard colleague Aki Kaneko, who is joining Oak View Group‘s (OVG) Los Angeles-based Media & Conferences team as VP of Sales, effective Monday, June 25. Kaneko comes to OVG after nearly 20 years at Billboard, most recently as Executive Director of Entertainment for the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group. Kaneko will work alongside recently appointed VP of Operations Jon Guynn (another former Billboard/Airplay Monitor colleague) and report directly to OVG Media & Conferences President Ray Waddell.
At OVG, Kaneko will steer international advertising and sponsorship across all OVG media platforms and conferences, including Pollstar, Pollstar.com, Pollstar Daily Pulse, VenuesNow, VenuesNow.com, VenuesNow Pulse and SportTechie; and sponsorships sales for the PollstarLive! Conference & Awards, which marks its 30th anniversary in 2019, and the VenuesNow Conference, which notched its second edition June 19 & 20. Both of those conferences take place in Los Angeles, and the division is expected to grow its live event portfolio in the coming months. Earlier this month, OVG Media & Conferences programmed Midem’s successful Live Summit in Cannes.
Waddell said, “I’ve known and worked with Aki for many years and know him to be an executive of tremendous vision, integrity, and work ethic, with a deep, strategic understanding of the needs and opportunities within the live entertainment industry. With the leadership of Aki, Jon Guynn and Executive Editor Andy Gensler, we have built a formidable foundation for OVG’s Media & Conferences Division, providing a source of industry leading data, credible content, and vital communication across all platforms, worldwide.”
Kaneko remarked, “I’m thrilled to join the Oak View Group and its team of visionaries. Tim Leiweke, Irving Azoff, (OVG President of Business Development) Francesca Bodie and Ray Waddell are disrupting the sports and live entertainment world in innovative and creative ways. I’m going to bring that same forward-looking spirit to the media and conferences space.” OVG recently announced it would move Pollstar’s headquarters from Fresno to its Los Angeles base of operations.
