TicketIQ has announced today that it has appointed Skip Connors as their new CEO. Connors will succeed Jesse Lawrence, who will continue to lead sales and strategic industry partnerships. TicketIQ (http://www.TicketIQ.com) also recently closed their Series A round of venture-backed financing, led by Contour Ventures and Stonehenge Growth Equity Partners.

Mr. Connors has been a valued member of the TicketIQ team for the last 6 months as SVP of Partnerships. Throughout that time, he has implemented a strategic plan for university and professional team sales development and brought in several former athletes and sports executives as company advisors to continue driving the company’s market visibility and league relationships, including Charles Smith, former NBA player and New York Knick, and Kevin Flynn, former MISL player and former host of ESPN’s MLS Podcast Over the Ball. These complement existing advisors, including three-time Super Bowl Champion Daryl ‘Moose’ Johnston and ESPN Anchor John Buccigross.

“I look forward to driving the continued growth of TicketIQ, both through the consumer brand as well as our unique set of digital products and services to help rights holders compete in a rapidly evolving ticketing and distribution landscape” said Connors.

Prior to TicketIQ, Connors was President and CEO of Newstec, a technology company focused on the newspaper advertising software business, and subsequent to that was General Manager at Learfield Sports. While at Newstec, Connors grew the business to profitability and led the sale of the business to Quipp Systems and Illinois Tool Works (ITW: NYSE). At Learfield Sports, Connors was responsible for all facets of monetization for NCAA partners, including sponsorship, TV and radio rights, and ticketing.

“Skip brings a depth of executive experience and industry relationships to the company that will help TicketIQ scale the business going forward. Skip believes deeply in the TicketIQ model and is excited to help drive the overall growth of the business,” said Founder Jesse Lawrence.

Connors will continue the integration of TicketIQ’s purchase of secondary ticket platform SeatSmart (http://www.SeatSmart.com), working closely with newly-appointed COO Brett Cohen and CTO Aaron Pearson who lead the company’s product and development teams, respectively.

About TicketIQ

TicketIQ’s mission is to bring full transparency to the ticket market by connecting fans with the greatest number of supply sources on both the secondary and primary marketplace, including SeatSmart, the NFL, NHL and NBA Ticket Exchange as well as primary platforms like Telecharge, Ticketmaster, SeatGeek and Eventbrite. TicketIQ reaches users through it’s website a well as it’s 5-star app available in the Apple’s app store and on Google Play (http://www.TicketIQ.com/app).

TicketIQ works directly with over 50 professional rights holders to help drive digital marketing and distribution with the goal of helping teams, festivals and other events optimize margins across channels while also bringing unique and differentiated products directly to consumers.