Nick Bucci, the President of TicketsNow’s EventInventory division which deals directly with brokers, has left the company, though his departure has not been formally announced.
Bucci’s name and biography were still on the TicketsNow website as of today, but his absence this week at the Ticketmaster/TicketsNow broker meeting was felt. His last day was this past Friday, May 9, and his future endeavors are unknown. He did not return a message seeking comment.
The departure follows the resignations of TicketsNow founder and former Chairman Mike Domek and former Chief Operating Officer Sridhar Murthy, both of whom left the company in March.
While Ticketmaster and TicketsNow have reached out to brokers to foster the relationship between the parties since Ticketmaster acquired TicketsNow, the companies have not convinced everyone that their intentions are in brokers’ best interests. Some brokers were still skeptical after the broker meeting this week in Las Vegas, despite lengthy presentations from CEOs Cheryl Rosner of TicketsNow and Sean Moriarty of Ticketmaster.
Bucci’s reputation was very solid, according to brokers. Though no announcement has been made about who might replace him, during the meeting this week in Las Vegas, there was speculation that Ralph Garreffa, senior director of Partnerships & Supply for EventInventory, may be among the leading candidates. Garreffa was among those who helped in putting together Tuesday’s broker meeting.
According to his bio, Bucci, who’s background includes extensive marketing experience, “assembled a team of 30 specialists dedicated to serving the needs of each individual EI client. Additionally, he has been instrumental in the development and launch of several innovative broker-focused software products aimed at simplifying the ticket sales process. The impressive software suite includes the EventInventory Web store plug-in; eiBox Office point-of-sale system; and eiMarketplace, a fully customized ticket information retrieval solution.” He joined the company in 2002, and supposedly was one of the executives who received a substantial bonus after the Ticketmaster acquisition.
TicketsNow did not respond to a message seeking comment.
“Nick was one of the most knowledgeable people in the industry and a fierce competitor. I’m surprised they couldn’t keep him,” said Don Vaccaro, CEO of TicketNetwork, parent company of TicketNews. “He was the heart and soul of TicketsNow’s relationship to the brokers.”
