Thornton Scheduled to Appear in APEX Career Speaker Series
1/19/2021 1:39:00 PM | APEX
The GS grad will Zoom with the softball team today.
STATESBORO – Dennette Thornton, the Director of Group Sales & Stadium Tours/Operations for Arthur M. Blank Sports & Entertainment (AMBSE), will give a Zoom lecture to the Georgia Southern softball team tonight as part of the APEX (Athletes Preparing for Employment Experiences) Career Speaker Series.
Thornton will talk about pursuing a career in business and corporate America. She oversees all aspects of group sales for the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, Atlanta United 2 and Tours for Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as well as the operations for tours and stadium experiences. She joined AMBSE in July of 2018, and during this short time, the Atlanta United Group Sales staff was recognized as the Group Sales Team of the year (2018 and 2019) by the MLS. Atlanta United won the MLS Cup, and the tours staff has successful launched a STEAM tour and completely revamped the operations side of the business as well as building out the Falcons' group sales department.
Before joining AMBSE, Dennette worked for the Atlanta Braves for 16 seasons. She served as the Sr. Manager of Group Sales & Hospitality for the Braves and played an instrumental part in creating the marketing and sales plan for the newly-designed suites and hospitality areas for SunTrust (Truist) Park before it opened in 2017.
Thornton holds a bachelor's degree in sport management from Georgia Southern University and serves on the Georgia Southern Alumni Association Board, Georgia Southern Young Alumni Board, Southern Women Alumni Board and the Eagle Football Alumni Association and was recently named to the Sport Management Advisory Board for the school. Dennette was also awarded the Young Alumnus of the Year Award from the Georgia Southern Alumni Association in 2011 and was a part of the inaugural 40 Under 40 Alumni class.
"We are very excited to have Dennette speak to our student-athletes and share her career journey," said Gleen Hart, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development. "Her experience in corporate America will be extremely helpful to our student-athletes as they begin their careers and prepare for life beyond sport."
The Career Speaker Series is an ongoing event throughout the academic year. Through a partnership with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, student-athletes from each athletics program choose a topic and date for their speaker, and the APEX program will coordinate a 45-minute meeting via Zoom with a professional in the chosen career through its Eagle Outreach Program. Speakers will talk about the process to obtain a career in their field and the necessary skill set required to excel.
Examples of careers discussed are Banking/Finance, Real Estate, Marketing/Sales, Criminal Justice, Entrepreneurship, Business/Corporate America, Accounting and Construction.
The Career Speaker series is another component of the APEX programming curriculum designed to help prepare Georgia Southern student athletes for the ultimate challenge after the playing careers- life.
Thornton will talk about pursuing a career in business and corporate America. She oversees all aspects of group sales for the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, Atlanta United 2 and Tours for Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as well as the operations for tours and stadium experiences. She joined AMBSE in July of 2018, and during this short time, the Atlanta United Group Sales staff was recognized as the Group Sales Team of the year (2018 and 2019) by the MLS. Atlanta United won the MLS Cup, and the tours staff has successful launched a STEAM tour and completely revamped the operations side of the business as well as building out the Falcons' group sales department.
Before joining AMBSE, Dennette worked for the Atlanta Braves for 16 seasons. She served as the Sr. Manager of Group Sales & Hospitality for the Braves and played an instrumental part in creating the marketing and sales plan for the newly-designed suites and hospitality areas for SunTrust (Truist) Park before it opened in 2017.
Thornton holds a bachelor's degree in sport management from Georgia Southern University and serves on the Georgia Southern Alumni Association Board, Georgia Southern Young Alumni Board, Southern Women Alumni Board and the Eagle Football Alumni Association and was recently named to the Sport Management Advisory Board for the school. Dennette was also awarded the Young Alumnus of the Year Award from the Georgia Southern Alumni Association in 2011 and was a part of the inaugural 40 Under 40 Alumni class.
"We are very excited to have Dennette speak to our student-athletes and share her career journey," said Gleen Hart, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Development. "Her experience in corporate America will be extremely helpful to our student-athletes as they begin their careers and prepare for life beyond sport."
The Career Speaker Series is an ongoing event throughout the academic year. Through a partnership with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, student-athletes from each athletics program choose a topic and date for their speaker, and the APEX program will coordinate a 45-minute meeting via Zoom with a professional in the chosen career through its Eagle Outreach Program. Speakers will talk about the process to obtain a career in their field and the necessary skill set required to excel.
Examples of careers discussed are Banking/Finance, Real Estate, Marketing/Sales, Criminal Justice, Entrepreneurship, Business/Corporate America, Accounting and Construction.
The Career Speaker series is another component of the APEX programming curriculum designed to help prepare Georgia Southern student athletes for the ultimate challenge after the playing careers- life.
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