1st – J.B. Mirza, AAU President
AAU’s 49th President, J.B. (Jo) Mirza, is nominated as an Emerging Sports Events Industry Leader. President Mirza has dedicated more than five decades of service to AAU at the local, national, and international levels. Elected in October 2022, his role is leading the entirety of the AAU organization’s volunteers, national staff, and event operators to provide quality participation event opportunities to continue to positively serve the AAU’s more than 720,000 members each year across the United States.
2nd – Chris O’Brien, Visit Panama City Beach
As Director of Sports Tourism for Visit Panama City Beach, Chris facilitates and develops sports events for Panama City Beach; from large scale softball, baseball and soccer events, to International events like the Visit Panama City Beach IRONMAN FL. Currently he books sport tourism events for the 13 field multipurpose Publix Sports Complex and PCB City venues. Chris is a member of the PCB Parks and Recreation Board and also teaches special event and tourism classes, as an adjunct professor for the Dedman School of Hospitality at Florida State University.
3rd – Andrew Dockrill, Dallas Sports Commission
While earning his degree at Oklahoma State University, Andrew first joined the Dallas Sports Commission as an Event Management Intern in 2015. After graduation, he spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs and Tailgate Guys and rejoined the Dallas Sports Commission in 2019 as an Event Manager. While being on the event services side of the DSC over the last few years, Andrew has been able to service a magnitude of events ranging from large to small, ensuring that each event is prepared effectively to ensure success for the client and the city of Dallas. In addition, he has also led the DSC in developing community programs such as the Dallas Regional Spelling Bee and the MexTour Reading Program. Recently, Andrew has transitioned into a sales role for the DSC, where he actively attracts and retains sporting events for the city of Dallas.
