Hansen Appointed Sydney Entertainment Centre GM

U.S. venue management manager Chris Hansen has been appointed GM of the 12,400-capacity Sydney Entertainment Centre, with immediate effect.

Hansen reports to Michael Jacobsen, CEO of Arena Management which operates the SEC and Sydney's Capitol Theatre.

Hansen has held senior roles at Madison Square Gardens, Minnesota Sports & Entertainment, the Saint Paul Arena Company, and the Oslo Spektrum in Norway. He remains a director of Arena Network, an alliance of independent North American venues, which is unrelated to Sydney-based Arena Management.

"It's not every day you get someone of this calibre and experience," Jacobsen tells Billboard.biz. Jacobsen adds that both the SEC and Arena Management are about to announce “major plans” and Hansen “will play an important role in those."

Meanwhile, Arena Management's Bruce Mactaggart has added striped as group GM of marketing and development. He will continue in his current position as GM of Auckland's Vector Arena.