Chamber Luncheon - Guest speaker Mike Plant

Description

Mike Plant Executive Vice President of Business Operations / Atlanta Braves
Mike Plant was named the Braves’ Executive Vice President of Business Operations in November of 2003. His responsibilities include overseeing stadium operations, security, finance, personnel, special events and the operations of the minor league clubs. He is currently the Braves Project Leader of the new $672M stadium and mixed use development in Cobb County. Prior to joining Turner Sports, Plant was President of Medalist Sports, a full-service sports marketing company he founded in 1988. Medalist Sports created and operated premier professional cycling events in the U.S. and China. In addition, Plant was the Associate Executive Director of the U.S. Cycling Federation in Colorado Springs, CO, from 1986-1988 and the Executive Director of the Canoe and Kayak Team from 1985-1986. Before becoming Executive Vice President of Turner Sports, Plant was President of The Goodwill Games and Vice President of Events for Turner Sports. He was responsible for the overall direction and management of The Goodwill Games, Ted Turner’s multi-sport international Olympic style event. Plant joined the Braves after having served as Executive Vice President of Turner Sports since February of 2002. In that position, he was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the division, a $500-million acquisition, promotion and production company that broadcast approximately 1,200 hours of sports programming on various Turner  etworks. upscale SunTrust Club. He also oversaw enhancements to Turner Field concessions, parking and traffic patterns. Plant also led the successful relocation of two Braves minor league teams to new stadiums in Pearl, Mississippi and Gwinnett County, Georgia. Plant was a member of the 1980 U.S Olympic Speedskating team in Lake Placid, NY, and a six-time member of the U.S. World Championship Speedskating teams. Since 1980, he has served on numerous committees for the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), the U.S. International Speedskating Association, and USA Cycling. In January 1989, after having served two, four-year terms as the U.S. Speedskating Athlete Representative on the USOC’s Athlete’s Advisory Council, he was elected to a four-year term as Chairman. Plant served on the Atlanta Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games (ACOG) Board of Directors and the Board of Trustees for the Salt Lake City Olympic Bid Committee for the 2002 Winter Games. Plant served an eight-year term on the USOC’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee (1984-1992) and as Chairman of the Athlete Performance Group (1992-1996), and worked on a number of other USOC Committees. During this period, Plant was elected to an 8-year term (2004-2012) on the Board of Directors of the restructured U.S. Olympic Committee – he was one of only 11 Americans to hold this seat. In 2009, Plant was elected the U.S. Olympic team’s Head of Delegation for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Internationally, Plant is currently serving his second term on the International Cycling Federation’s (UCI) Executive Committee. He first served on this committee from 1997-2004, and is current President of the CycloCross Commission and member of the Professional Cycling Commission. He and his wife, Mary, have two daughters, Erika and Maddie, and a son, Drew. Plant is the current President of U.S. Speedskating, and was President of USA Cycling, the National Governing Body for Olympic Cycling from 1995-2002. Since joining the Braves, Plant has implemented over $50M of improvements at Turner Field including the installation of the largest high-definition display in the world, and the