Paciolan has promoted longtime executive Deana Barnes to the position of Chief Operating Officer, the company announced this week. Barnes, who has been with the company since 2003, had previously served as the company’s Senior Vice President of Client Engagement.
“Deana is an authentic leader and an inspirational executive who has helped Paciolan and our client community to achieve incredible results,” says Kim Damron, President and CEO of Paciolan. “Her leadership and ability to realize success is matched only by her passion for live sports and entertainment.”
As COO, Barnes will continue to lead client-facing teams, including partnerships, ecommerce operations, customer services and professional services, with the end goal of those teams helping clients sell more tickets for their events.
The press release announcing the move is included below:
Paciolan Promotes Deana Barnes to Chief Operating Officer
IRVINE, Calif. (May 5, 2022) – Paciolan, the leading provider of ticketing, fundraising, and marketing solutions for college athletics and live entertainment venues, is proud to announce the promotion of Deana Barnes to Chief Operating Officer (COO). In this role, Barnes will continue to lead key client-facing teams within the business, including the client partners, ecommerce operations, customer services, and professional services to help clients sell more tickets and enrich fan relationships.
“Deana is an authentic leader and an inspirational executive who has helped Paciolan and our client community to achieve incredible results. Her leadership and ability to realize success is matched only by her passion for live sports and entertainment.”
Kim Damron,
President and CEO of Paciolan
Barnes has been a key catalyst for the growth of many initiatives during her tenure at Paciolan. For example, she recently helped lead rapid mobile ticketing adoption within the Paciolan community. Through her team’s programs and initiatives, and fueled by technology, the Paciolan community moved from a single mobile-first ticketing client pre-pandemic to over 145 clients embracing a mobile-first strategy. This initiative helped enhance the fan experience while also unlocking data and other insights to understand fan behavior better.
Under Barnes’ leadership, Paciolan has set a high standard of excellence within the live entertainment industry. During the recent customer satisfaction survey this year, Paciolan earned the highest net promoter score (NPS) in its history. The score is considered excellent in its category and is indicative of the level of services and solutions that Paciolan provides its clients.
Barnes is a role model for female executives within live entertainment with a strong passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). She is an active leader on the DE&I Council at parent company LEARFIELD, which provides education, awareness, and opportunities within the business. Barnes also serves on the Regional Board for TEAM IMPACT, LEARFIELD’s philanthropic partner and non-profit that matches children facing serious and chronic illnesses with college sports teams. Her example and leadership have helped contribute to a Paciolan employee-base comprised of 69% minority or female staff.
As a former division one student-athlete, Barnes learned the power of hard work and diligence through collegiate competition at the University of San Francisco, which helped pave the way for success in her career. Now Barnes’ work and leadership impact over 160 college athletics institutions and 500 live entertainment organizations.
Barnes started her career at Paciolan as a business analyst in 2003 and quickly rose through the ranks at Paciolan assuming numerous positions and increased responsibility throughout her career. Most recently, Barnes held the title of Sr. Vice President of Client Engagement. Before joining Paciolan, she held roles at Autobytel and Verizon.
