Lynn Wittenburg: Vice President of Marketing

Lynn Wittenburg joins the PBR as Vice President of Marketing and brings an extremely diverse background in event marketing and sales experience. Prior to joining the bull riding organization, she was the President of Texas Tornado Hockey Club. She has also held positions with Thomas Nelson Live Events as the VP of Marketing, Partnership Sales; Mandalay Sports as the VP of Sales & Marketing for Frisco RoughRiders Baseball; and Palace Sports & Entertainment as the Sr. Director of Sales for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa Bay Storm. She has also been employed by the Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Bulls, and Chicago White Sox. Wittenburg obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing with a minor in Journalism from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.

As VP of Marketing, Wittenburg will oversee the day to day activity of the PBR’s marketing department. Responsibilities include setting and directing marketing strategies across the PBR’s event business areas and forming structured partnerships with other marketing and promotional companies to drive and monetize the PBR brand.

Dave Cordovano: Senior Vice President of International Business

As the new Senior Vice President of International Business, Dave Cordovano will be responsible for all international initiatives for the PBR. He will directly manage the PBR offices in Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Mexico. He will also develop and oversee marketing plans, television contracts, sponsorship plans, and promoter relationships in each market.

Prior to taking his new position with the PBR, Cordovano held the title as Director of Marketing at Live Nation where he managed the live event marketing department. He has also held positions as the VP of Marketing for Motorsports Entertainment Group and as the Director of Marketing for International Promotions, Inc. Cordovano attended Arizona State University where he received a degree in Business.

Andy Thwaite: Vice President of Digital Media

Joining the PBR as the Vice President of Digital Media is Andy Thwaite. He will be responsible for the development and implementation of business plans that leverage PBR’s media assets in the digital domain. Thwaite will be overseeing projects that include PBR.tv, PBR MoBull, PBR Fantasy, and other exciting digital platforms. He will also help structure partnerships with digital contents companies and providers to drive and monetize the PBR brand.

Thwaite joins PBR from International Management Group (IMG), UK, where he led similar initiatives for major sports franchises throughout Europe. Thwaite attended the University of Portsmouth, Business School UK, where he earned is BA degree in Honours Business Studies.

Related Personnel Changes

Former VP of Marketing, Jeff Kent, will be relocating to the Pacific-Northwest and will take on responsibility as the first regional representative for the PBR. Kent will manage five to six of the Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS) events throughout the year. His duties will include managing local sponsorship sales, event marketing and promotion, event logistics, and general responsibility for the revenue success of each event. Establishing local and regional presence to better support the Built Ford Tough Series events is a major priority for the PBR and Kent’s experience and institutional knowledge made him the perfect candidate to be the first out of office marketing representative.

Jean Ryan-Schluter, former SVP of International & New Business, will be taking on a new role as Vice President of Partnership Marketing following her marriage and relocation to the New York area. Working on the East Coast, Ryan-Schluter will help with PBR’s corporate partnership objectives out of New York.

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About the PBR:
More than 100 million viewers tune in each year to the PBR on FOX, NBC, ESPN, VERSUS, and on a host of foreign networks across the globe. With approximately 400 hours of prime time programming annually, PBR ranks among the most prolific sports on air, in addition to attracting over one and one half million live event attendees each year with it multi-tiered event structure which includes the marquee Built Ford Tough Series presented by Wrangler, the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour, the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour, and the Discovery Tour, designed specifically for entry level contestants. The PBR is headquartered in Pueblo, Colo., with additional offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. The PBR prides itself in its 1,000 plus stock contractor relationships and over 1,200 PBR bull riders competing in more than 300 PBR sanctioned competitions in five countries.