Hartford Business Journal

May 27, 2019

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www.HartfordBusiness.com • May 27, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 3 Newsmakers EDITORIAL Greg Bordonaro | Editor, ext. 139, gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com Gregory Seay | News Editor, ext. 144, gseay@HartfordBusiness.com Matt Pilon | News Editor, ext. 143, mpilon@HartfordBusiness.com Sean Teehan | Staff Writer, ext 145, steehan@hartfordbusiness.com Joe Cooper | Web Editor, ext. 127, jcooper@HartfordBusiness.com Stephanie Meagher | Research Director Heide Martin | Research Assistant Steve Laschever | Photographer BUSINESS Christopher Santilli | Publisher, ext. 124, csantilli@HartfordBusiness.com Donna Collins | Associate Publisher, ext. 121, dcollins@HartfordBusiness.com Lauren Stroud | Events & Project Manager, ext. 137, lstroud@HartfordBusiness.com Christina Zuraw | Events Coordinator, ext. 134, czuraw@hartfordbusiness.com Shannon Vincelette | HBJ Office and Events Coordinator, ext. 122, svincelette@hartfordbusiness.com David Hartley | Sr. Accounts Manager, ext. 130, dhartley@HartfordBusiness.com Kristen P. Nickerson | Sr. Accounts Manager, ext. 133, knickerson@HartfordBusiness.com Raki Zwiebel | Credit and Collections Manager Valerie Clark | Accounting Assistant/Office Manager Jill Coran | Human Resources Manager PRODUCTION Christopher Wallace | Art Director, ext. 147, cwallace@HartfordBusiness.com Liz Saltzman | Creative Director, ext. 140, lsaltzman@HartfordBusiness.com Peter Stanton | CEO, pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com Joseph Zwiebel | President, ext. 132, jzwiebel@HartfordBusiness.com Mary Rogers | COO/CFO, mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com SUBSCRIPTIONS: Annual subscriptions are $84.95. To subscribe, visit HartfordBusiness.com, email hartfordbusiness@cambeywest.com, or call (845) 267-3008. ADVERTISING: For advertising information, please call (860) 236-9998.Please address all correspondence to: Hartford Business Journal, 15 Lewis Street, Suite 200, Hart ford CT 06103. NEWS DEPARTMENT: If you have a news item: Call us at (860) 236-9998, fax us at (860) 570-2493, or e-mail us at news@HartfordBusiness.com. Hartford Business Journal accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or materials and in general does not return them to the sender. Hartford Business Journal (ISSN 1083-5245) is published weekly, 49x per year - including two special issues in November and December — by new England Business Media, LLC, 15 Lewis Street, Suite 200, Hartford, CT 06103. Periodicals postage paid at Hartford, CT and at additional entry points. Tel: (860) 236-9998 • Fax (860) 570-2493 Copyright 2019. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Hartford Business Journal P.O. Box 330, Congers, NY 10920-9894 www.copyright.com HartfordBusiness.com (860) 236-9998 Nathan Grube | Tournament Director, Travelers Championship By Sean Teehan steehan@hartfordbusiness.com W ith big names like Phil Mickelson playing in this year's Travelers Championship, Tournament Director Nathan Grube is firing on all cylinders as the high-profile event's start date approaches. This is Grube's 15th year heading up Travel- ers Championship, a weeklong tournament that kicks off June 20, with a $7.2 million purse. Since Grube took over, the event has risen in prominence in the golf world. Grube gravitated toward organizing golf tournaments after his foray into playing the game professionally yielded a total of about $200 his first year out of college. He still plays golf occasionally, but is currently in the final stages of putting on an annual tournament that amounts to about 16 months of work. Even still, Grube thinks the tournament still has plenty of room for growth. "I don't think we have hit our full potential," Grube said. "With the Travelers Championship be- ing the only PGA TOUR event in New England this summer, I think we are poised to bring in new fans and show the region why this event is so unique." What kind of attendance uptick do you expect this year from Phil Mickelson playing? We have seen some solid attendance growth the last few years and we expect that to continue with Phil's commitment. He has a unique history with Connecticut golf fans and I expect there to be some pretty large crowds welcoming him back to the Travelers Championship. Now that you landed Mickelson, have you reached out to Tiger Woods to get him to play? What are the challenges in landing Tiger? We talk to every player each and every year about playing Travelers. We are fortunate that we have built strong relationships with them and have received their vote as the recipient of the Players Choice Award for the last two years. When players are saying positive things about our event, that resonates with other players who have not been here and that is the best thing we can ask for. We would love every player to ex- perience the Travelers Championship at some point, including Tiger. A players schedule is usually the determin- ing factor in where they play and we can't control that. We try to focus on what we can control and make the event the best it can be for whoever is in our field each year. The Travelers Cham- pionship has a lot of big names this year and has been attracting an increasing number of high- profile players over the past few years. How have you accomplished that? Andy Bessette, chief administrative officer at Travelers Cos., and I have spent a lot of time build- ing relationships with the players, their families, their caddies, agents, trainers … everyone. We talk to them about how we can make the event better and then we try to deliver on the things they want. When they see us making changes, I think that resonates with them and that translates into them being comfortable coming here. The players also love the crowds and energy that our event has. They comment on it all the time that they love playing in front of our crowds. Has there been any consideration of moving the date of the Travelers Championship so that it's not so close to the U.S. Open? We love our date. It has become a kick-off to summer and the fans and players have come to identify us in this spot. We have looked at other options over the years but given all the factors with the schedule, we like where we are. Nathan Grube PHOTO | HBJ FILE Ignite your employees' interest with a modern plan design. Learn more: Get "Does your re rement plan address these 6 essen al elements?" hhconsultants.com/ignite

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