Global business development veteran joins Cirque du Soleil to help drive business growth and new opportunities
Nickole brings more than 20 years of extensive experience leading both business development, as well as business and operating units. A seasoned sports and entertainment industry executive with the heart and passion of a thoughtful entrepreneur, she has led multimillion global partnerships with several key Fortune 500 companies throughout her career and built a vast and strong network of connections with the entertainment industry. Prior to joining Cirque, she worked for AEG Worldwide where she headed the Global Portfolio division and oversaw the business development for AEG’s collection of global properties. As such, she engineered first-in-class partnerships for AEG’s top music festivals (namely Coachella and Stagecoach), naming rights of world class facilities (such as Crypto.com Arena and LA Live), and for storied sports franchises (with LA Kings and LA Galaxy). Previously, she held various roles at Topgolf where she built the national partnerships team and at IMG where she oversaw all business development for IMG Golf.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the dynamic and talented team at Cirque du Soleil during such an exciting time of growth and transformation,” said Nickole Tara. “Working closely with the leadership team, I look forward to strengthening our go-to-market strategy and bringing value creation opportunities to ensure consistent growth across the company.”
This is the first executive appointment for CGO at Cirque du Soleil, illustrating the company’s commitment to, and investment in, business development and partnership strategy to propel the long-term growth of the organization.
“I am very happy to count on Nickole’s solid experience in the sports and entertainment industry and extensive network as we look to create unique and meaningful brand engagement opportunities to achieve our growth ambitions,” added Stéphane Lefebvre, President and Chief Executive Office of Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. “Nickole’s significant business development expertise and transformational leadership skills are a wonderful addition to our leadership team and will be key to help execute our business strategy and enhance our position as a leader and partner of choice in the industry.”
