Tony Beram is President and CEO of Western States Ticket Service and Western States Ticket Service International, both based in Phoenix Arizona. Western States Ticket Service celebrated 31 years in business this year. Tony is a founding member of the NATB and is returning as a director after a several year hiatus.

Gary Adler is the Executive Director and Counsel for the National Association of Ticket Brokers (“NATB”). He has represented the NATB for 25 years, overseeing its operations and helping to establish the NATB. Mr. Adler is the Founder of Adler Law PLLC located in the Washington DC Metropolitan Area. In addition to representing the NATB, Mr. Adler advises numerous business entities and trade associations on a wide range of issues. His legal practice also focuses on civil litigation in trial and appellate courts. Mr. Adler also has represented professional athletes and sports management in negotiations, corporate matters, and litigation.

Tom Patania is President and CEO of Select-A-Ticket, a Ticket re-sale company located in New Jersey. He founded the company in 1978 while he was in High School in the Business program. After graduating from High School he opened his first retail store. In the years that followed Tom built the business by challenging the status quo and taking what was a hush business and bringing it front and center opening retail stores in 4 regional malls and an office in Florida. The business model proved itself to the point that a ticket re-seller had to put limits on tickets in order to service the lines at its stores.

Outside of work Tom enjoys volunteering his time to help others. He has a thirst for learning and is also a member and currently sits on the board of the Entrepreneurs Organization of New Jersey. One of his best experiences was having the opportunity to be invited to Necker Island and spend a week with Richard Branson. That experience left Tom wanting to inspire others and with a new leadership style.

Tom is a devoted father who lives in Pompton Lakes, NJ and has 2 children. His son Tommy is an attorney, and his daughter Lexi is finishing her Masters and just recently accepted a job in the engineering field.

Rick Schefter came out of the entertainment world (where he worked in backstage production) to join the ticket industry over 25 years ago. A native of Rochester NY, he is the founder and president of A Great Place to Sit in Boca Raton, FL, and serves as the Chair of NATB Gives Back (the NATB Charity Committee).

Jerome Cohen is the founder and owner of Best Tickets and co-founder of SeatSmart. Filled with a passion for live entertainment events at an early age, Jerome created Best Tickets in 1990 while attending the University of Texas in Austin.

Danny Sharaby grew up in New York founding Tickets Unlimited in Arizona in 1984 to help pay for his Law School studies at Arizona State University where he graduated with his Juris Doctor Degree in 1985. He has spent the last 35+ years taking care of his clients by providing them with the best tickets and experiences to Concerts, Sports, and Theatre Events worldwide.

Sharaby is an avid art and automobile collector and has been an active contributor of his time and resources to many civic, educational, and charitable institutions in Arizona and across the USA. Sharaby was recently appointed by Governor Doug Ducey to his second term on the Arizona Commission On The Arts and is a current board member of the Camelback East Village Planning Committee in Phoenix, serving since 2015.

Sharaby is married to his wife Jenna and has raised 3 daughters in Arizona, all of which he is extremely proud of.

Karl Roes is the CEO and Founder of Stage Front. Launched in 1984, Stage Front has evolved into an industry leader in ticket technology, pricing data, and strategy. Under Karls’s leadership, Stage Front has pivoted from resale giant to creator of industry-leading proprietary products. Its core business lines include consignment and distribution, Ticket-Logic (auto-pricing software), full-service pricing, upfront funding, consulting, and strategic partnerships. Recently, Stage Front has partnered with LaLiga North America, The International Champions Cup, the ECHL, and more. Karl is a founding member of the NATB, as well as active with their new membership committee.

Karl and his wife Nancy oversee their own charitable fund and support the NATB’s involvement with the Ronald McDonald house. He currently lives in Annapolis, MD, with Nancy, and their children Aidan and Quinn.
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Martin Spatt is the active Head of Sales for Empire Tickets, in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin worked in multiple forms of corporate hospitality for over 10 years before joining Empire Tickets in 2014. Even earlier, in the mid-1990s he acted as a local buyer for New York Knicks tickets and has been following the broad ticket market ever since.

Carmen Kesner is the Chief Operating Officer at Ticket Boat. Carmen has over 15 years of experience working with professional and collegiate sports teams and oversees our inventory and fulfillment teams, and the strategic direction of the overall organization. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree, Information Systems and Decision Sciences with a concentration in Internal Audit; and Master of Public Administration degree, with a concentration in Internal Audit, from Louisiana State University.

Carmen has an extensive background in Operations, Information Security, IT, and Internal Audit. Upon graduating in 2003, he worked for Protiviti Consulting in Houston, Texas. After transferring to Overland Park, Kansas with Protiviti, Carmen went to work for Deloitte in the Enterprise Risk Services practice. He then served as Internal Audit Manager at DST Systems, and Managed the CMS Program Office products for Argus Health Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary for DST Systems from 2008 to 2014. In 2014, Carmen took a position as Vice President, Director of Internal Audit at National Advisors Trust Company, and from 2016 through 2018 was the Head of Operations and Information Technology.

Carmen joined Ticket Boat in 2018 as the Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for ensuring the operational excellence with completeness and accuracy of processing transactions and monitoring of internal controls. He currently lives in Kansas City, and is married with three daughters.

Sean Leahy is the Director of Strategy and Operations at TicketeStore, where he’s worked since 2012. In his current role he oversees inventory management and acquisition in addition to client relations. He also serves on the NATB Charity, Ambassador, Communications and Membership committees.

A Chicago native, he earned a Journalism degree from the University of Missouri in 2011 and an MBA from DePaul University in 2019. Outside of working tickets, he enjoys distance running, golfing and building his World Series ticket stub collection.

Caroline Gibbs currently serves at Chief Purchasing Officer at TicketCity, a recognized leader in the sports and entertainment brokerage industry. With 20 years of industry experience, Caroline is charged with the full operational oversight, fulfillment and management of the inventory division, 360 Access at TicketCity. Caroline’s additional roles within the company include providing strategic management of national event operations and assisting in the development of new corporate partnership opportunities. In 2016, Caroline received the NATB Visionary Broker of the Year Award.

Prior to being named CPO, Caroline served as the Vice President of Sales & Customer Service at TicketCity for seven years. Under her direction, the company procured massive growth in sales, as well as setting the industry standard in the areas of client relations and customer service. In 2015, that Customer Service Team was recognized by the NATB at the World Ticket Conference as the pinnacle of Client Services, as TicketCity was awarded to the Elite Broker to Broker Award. Previously in her career, from 1998 – 2009, Caroline served as one of TicketCity’s top producing Sales Associates.

A native of Plano, Texas, Caroline studied Communications at the University of Texas in Austin, where she still resides with her husband, Corey and eleven-year-old sons, Will and Ben, while Victoria (15) lives in Hoover, Alabama.

Corey is a performance-driven, business executive offering 26 years of comprehensive experience across sports entertainment and corporate hospitality disciplines and serves as Founder & CEO of Elite Entertainment Experiences, a highly exclusive, membership-based entertainment experience and hospitality. Recognized for the ability to provide complete organizational oversight, exceed productivity and profitability goals, and identify and cultivate new revenue-producing markets and business opportunities, he is viewed by his peers as a visionary with a rigorous work ethic, dynamic entrepreneurial mind, and a belief in adhering to the highest level of ethical standards.

A past NATB President, Corey received the Visionary Broker of the Year in 2014 & 2021, the Jeff Branton Humanitarian Award in 2017, and the President’s Award in 2019. Some of his professional affiliations include serving on the University of Alabama Graduate Sport Business Management Board, the NY-NJ Super Bowl XLVIII Host Committee, StubHub Advisory Board of Directors, as well as a member in good standing at the New York Athletic Club.

A native of Eutaw, Alabama, Corey received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Psychology (1998) and a Master of Arts in Sport Business Management (2007) from the University of Alabama, while earning his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2019. He resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife Caroline and twin 12-year-old boys, Will and Ben, while daughter, Victoria (16) lives in Hoover, Alabama.