CLEVELAND - The National Association of Athletic Ticket Sales & Operations (NAATSO) is excited to announce its five (5) Diversity Initiative Stipend winners and five (5) Women in Ticketing Stipend winners. The initiatives will cover the cost of a NAATSO membership for the 2021-22 membership year, along with registration for the 2021 Virtual NAATSO Convention. This program aims to increase diversity and inclusion (ethnicity and gender) among the NAATSO membership.

"On behalf of the NAATSO Board, I want to congratulate this year's stipend winners," said NAATSO President Joe Rixon, associate athletics director for ticket operations at Seton Hall University. "As always, this was an extremely competitive process as we received applications from many qualified applicants, and I look forward to seeing their growth through their commitment to active participation in our Association."

The 2021 NAATSO Diversity Initiative Stipend recipients are:

• Brandon Cates, business coordinator, Howard University
• Jasper Fell, athletics ticket manager, UT Permian Basin
• Jeffrey Gutierrez, account executive - premium seating, UCF
• Chad Jones-Hicks, associate director - ticket operations, University of Missouri
• Candice Vaughn, associate GM, SMU - Learfield IMG College

The 2021 NAATSO Women in Ticketing Stipend recipients, presented by Eventellect are:

• Elisia Falcon, director of ticket operations and service, University of Alabama Birmingham
• Sara Goebig, assistant director of ticket operations, SMU
• Amanda Goodwin, athletics ticket manager, Columbia University
• Taylor Nystrom, director of ticket sales and operations, University of Minnesota Duluth
• Bridget Shanks, assistant AD for tickets and marketing, Virginia Military Institute

Renew your NAATSO membership today and register for #NAATSO21 at no additional cost. 

About NAATSO: NAATSO is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities; enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics; and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of athletics ticketing administrators. For more information about NAATSO, please visit www.naatso.com. NAATSO is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 56th year. For more information on NACDA and the 17 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.