PORTLAND, Ore. – In preparation for their debut Major League Soccer season, the Portland Timbers today announced the addition of seven new employees as the club prepares for its ascension to North America’s top flight starting in 2011. The Timbers have added staff members in the marketing, ticket sales, accounting and partner services departments.
Brian Costello joins the Timbers front office as the director of digital media, and will oversee all digital and team website content. Costello’s resume includes time with the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), Oregon Public Broadcasting, and as a writer with the Portland Mercury. He also enjoyed an extensive stint in independent filmmaking with director Darren Aronofsky in New York. At PICA, he managed the organization’s public relations strategy and developed digital initiatives for blogs, e-news correspondence and social networking. Along with online soccer writing, Costello has also done commercial writing for several companies, including Nike, Target and Starbucks. He is a graduate of Lewis & Clark College in Portland.
Another addition is new ticket services coordinator KelseyHough. A recent graduate of the University of Oregon, Hough’s position focuses on servicing current and future Timbers MLS season ticket holders. Hough previously worked in the athletic department for the University of California-Berkeley, where she supervised all ticket operations for men’s and women’s soccer, men’s water polo, rugby, baseball and track and field. She also assisted with ticketing for Golden Bears football as well as men’s and women’s basketball.
Pat Rice joins the Timbers ticket sales staff as a group sales account executive. Rice will focus on building partnerships with soccer clubs and organizations in the greater-Portland area in relation to MLS ticket programs. From Spokane, Wash., he graduated from Western Washington University with a degree in marketing. Rice worked in WWU’s athletic department before spending three years in the tourism industry stationed around the world. Prior to joining the Timbers, he also worked for a sports website in London, which concentrated on soccer, and played for London-based amateur club Old Actonians.
Joining the accounting staff is new senior accountant David Renner. A Portland native and a graduate of Portland State University, Renner worked previously for Accountemps, Express Professionals, Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield and Vestas prior to joining the Timbers organization. Renner is an avid sports fan and is an active participant in Tae Kwon Do. In 2003, he won a silver medal in a national Tae Kwon Do competition. He and his family live in downtown Portland.
The Timbers’ Partner Services and Sponsorship department has hired new senior manager of partner services Kelly Salmieri. She worked for three years with Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers as a premium and season account coordinator. After graduating from UNLV with a degree in criminal justice, Salmieri completed her juris doctor from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, Calif., and practiced law for the past two years in Las Vegas.
Tyler West is another new addition to the partner services and sponsorship department and will serve as the manager of partner services. West worked for five years at Entercom Communications Corp. as an account executive and client service manager based in Portland. A native of Gig Harbor, Wash., he attended Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business and was the general manager of KSLC 90.3 FM – a local college radio station in McMinnville.
One of three new employees added to the ticketing department, Chris Wilson has been hired as the Timbers’ director of ticket services and will manage the department charged with building long-term relationships with season-ticket holders. He worked the last five years with MLS’ Columbus Crew, where he specialized in service efforts for all season ticket and group customers. He managed the Crew’s ticket sales staff that won the MLS Team Retention Award in 2009, topping 95 percent in renewals. At Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., Wilson earned a degree in history and was a two-time All-North Coast Athletic Conference selection in both soccer and track and field for the Quakers.
About MLS Portland Timbers
On March 20, 2009, Major League Soccer (MLS) awarded Portland the league’s 18th franchise to begin play in the top-flight professional soccer league starting in 2011. The Portland Timbers will mark their debut MLS season in 2011 in a significantly renovated PGE Park that will create one of the most unique and authentic soccer environments in the country. New stadium amenities will include better sightlines closer to the action, new premium seating on the east side of the field, a new club lounge and a new entry plaza and team store. The Timbers have been a beloved part of the Portland sports landscape since their early beginnings in the North American Soccer League in 1975, launching the era of “Soccer City USA” in the Rose City.
