Two Nashville venues – the Brooklyn Bowl Nashville and Bridgestone Arena – were honored at the 2025 IEBA Honors & Awards ceremony, which was held on Tuesday (Oct.7) at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville. Comedian Dusty Slay hosted the ceremony, which capped a three-day IEBA conference. IEBA (International Entertainment Buyers Association) is the leading trade organization for live entertainment industry professionals.
“These awards are truly special because they are selected by those who know the work best—their peers,” IEBA executive director Brian Wagner said in a statement. “They celebrate the visionary minds and tireless leaders working out of the spotlight who, with every show, propel our industry forward.”
The event also honored the induction of two new members into the IEBA Hall of Fame: Nederlander Concerts CEO Alex Hodges and legendary concert promoter Chuck Morris. The Hall of Fame was established in 2010.
IEBA’s 56th annual conference will be again be held at the Grand Hyatt & The Pinnacle Nashville Oct. 4-6, 2026.
Here’s a complete list of 2025 nominees, with winners marked.
Club of the year
9:30 Club
Billy Bob’s Texas
WINNER: Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
City Winery New York City
First Avenue
Joe’s Live
The Sylvee
Casino of the year
Choctaw Casino & Resort – Durant
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Fallsview Casino Resort
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol
WINNER: Mohegan Sun
Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort
Thunder Valley Casino Resort
Yaamava’ Resort & Casino
Theater of the year
ACL Live
Altria Theater
Beacon Theatre
Charleston Music Hall
WINNER: Fox Theater Atlanta
The Paramount (Huntington, NY)
YouTube Theater
Arena of the year
WINNER: Bridgestone Arena
Climate Pledge Arena
Crypto.com Arena
Intuit Dome
Madison Square Garden
Moody Center
Target Center
Amphitheater of the year
Ascend Amphitheater
The Gorge
WINNER: The Greek Theatre
Koka Booth Amphitheatre
The Orion Amphitheater
Pine Knob Music Theatre
The Salt Shed
Fair/Expo of the year
The Big E
California Mid-State Fair
Iowa State Fair
Orange County Fair
State Fair of Texas
Wilson County/Tennessee State Fair
WINNER: Wisconsin State Fair
Festival of the year
WINNER: Austin City Limits Festival
BottleRock Napa Valley
Lollapalooza (Chicago)
Louder Than Life
Newport Folk Festival
Rock the Country
Stagecoach
Club buyer of the year
Jacki Becker, Mammoth Live
Bobby Clay, C3 Presents
Vickie Gordon, MassConcerts
Jen Hass, 9:30 Club
Colin Keegan, Live Nation
Jesse Sherman & Summer Wuestenberg, FPC Live
WINNER: Ed Warm, Joe’s Live
Casino buyer of the year
WINNER: Deana Baker, Choctaw Casino Resort – Durant
Billy Brill, DWP Talent Services
Drew Dixon, Yaamava’ Resort & Casino
Xavier Henry, Hard Rock International
Brandon Kaplan, C3 Presents
Joe Moallempour, DWP Talent Services
Special events/corporate buyer of the year
Degy Entertainment
Elevate Experiences
EVA
Kerr Entertainment Group
WINNER: Neste Live!
OnStage Talent Group
International buyer of the year
Kelly Berehulka, Club Regent Event Centre
Gerard Drouot Productions
WINNER: Susan Heymann, Frontier Touring
Emmanuel Patterson, F7 Entertainment
Judy Seale, Judy Seale International
Anna-Sophie Mertens, Live Nation
Steve Tilley, Kilimanjaro Live
Fair/Expo buyer of the year
WINNER: Andrew Fortin, Neste Live!
Eric Marcuse, Romeo Entertainment Group
Sara Novak, Triangle Talent
Pat Powelson, Jayson Entertainment Group
Justine Vergeer, Variety Attractions
Festival buyer of the year
WINNER: Amy Corbin, C3 Presents
Gil Cunningham, Neste Live!
Hannah Gold, Newport Festivals Foundation
Tom Hoppa, BottleRock Napa Valley
Lauren Stark, Summerfest
Del Williams, Danny Wimmer Presents
Venue executive of the year
Becky Colwell, Kia Forum/Intuit Dome
WINNER: Laurie Jacoby, BSE/Barclays Center
Rich MacKeigan, Legends Global/Van Andel Arena/DeVos Performance Hall
Michael Marion, Simmons Bank Arena
Jeff Nickler, Moody Center
Hallie Yavitch, AEG/Crypto.com Arena/Peacock Theater/L.A. Live
Young professional of the year
Ann Carlson, Mammoth Live
Trevor Chesler, Sphere
Carly Dibble, Romeo Entertainment Group
WINNER: Marcus Greenstein, Day After Day Productions
Victor Sanchez, Hard Rock/Seminole Gaming
Music & entertainment industry educator of the year
WINNER: Mike Garcia, University of Southern California
Gloria Green, Middle Tennessee State University
Philip Rothschild, Missouri State University
Ed Traversari, Point Park University
Jasmine Young, Howard University
Boutique agency agent of the year
Heath Baumhor, Reliant Talent
Sullivan Bigg, BTE
Ali Hedrick, ROAM
Bob Kinkead, The Kinkead Entertainment Agency
WINNER: Seth Shomes, Day After Day Productions
Adam Zagor, Universal Attractions Agency
Major agency agent of the year
WINNER: Kevin Kastrup, Wasserman Music
Adam Kornfeld, IAG
Braeden Rountree, WME
Mario Tirado, CAA
Elisa Vazzana, UTA
Promoter of the year
Pat Fielder, Mammoth Live
Darin Lashinsky, NS2
Colin Lewis, Live Nation
Jason Oschwald, Big Spring Entertainment
WINNER: Adam Weiser, AEG Presents
IEBA Hall of Fame Inductees
Alex Hodges
Chuck Morris