Atlanta United announced today that it has hired Elena Cizmaric (above) and Heather Sautter as Director of Communications and Director of Corporate and Marketing Communications to lead strategic outreach efforts for the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium respectively.
The women join Anna Rodriguez, Vice President of Business Operations, and Sarah Kate Noftsinger, unknown development role, as early front office hires for the MLS side.
Why does this matter? Because it's pretty satisfying as a fan of a team building from (essentially) nothing that it already has a pretty diversified FO. Were these people hired because they are women? Of course not. They were hired because they are experienced and worthy of the roles and we are more than excited to have them onboard.
I probably didn't need to write this post but I wanted to.
Here's the rest of the Cizmaric, Sautter release:
Cizmaric joined AMB Group, LLC in 2014 as corporate communications director playing a lead role in strategic business communications responsibilities across the Arthur M. BlankFamily of Businesses with specific focus on the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium project. Cizmaric managed day-to-day activities around multiple high-profile announcements for Mercedes-Benz Stadium, including the stadium groundbreaking, naming rights and founding partner initiatives.
Sautter joins AMB Group from Atlanta-based Cooper Holdings where she headed public relations and communications, led social media strategy and supported brand marketing and events for key clients. Prior to that role she spent over a decade in various communications posts at Turner in Atlanta, leading the execution of strategic campaigns for original programming, premier events and collaboration with corporate communications at Turner and Time Warner on various initiatives.