As Encore’s president of the Casino division for over 30 years, Bill couples innovation with sound management skills to provide Encore with an energetic and effective management style.

Bill graduated with honors from the University of California at Berkeley in the field of finance and marketing. Since then, he has held senior management positions with the Trump Organization, Knotts Berry Farm, Aztar Gaming Corporation, and with the Tropicana and Harrah’s Hotel properties.

As chief executive officer at Encore Productions for over 30 years, Phil brings strength, vision and years of experience to the Encore line up. His major in cinematography and theater arts at Ohio State University initially led him into feature film and commercial production; however, after he moved to Las Vegas, he shifted his focus to convention and trade show production.

Phil has since overseen Encore’s rapid growth, as well as producing hundreds of shows for a wide range of clients including IBM, Sony, and General Motors. Phil’s technical and production expertise are widely recognized and highly regarded throughout the industry. He is often asked to speak at conventions and gatherings related to event and presentation technology.

Nick Chakiris joined Encore in April 2015 as Corporate Controller and was promoted to Chief Accounting Officer in October 2018.  In this role, he manages the corporate accounting, tax, internal audit, treasury and shared services functions. Chakiris brings over 20 years of experience in variety of accounting and finance roles, including significant experience in leading external reporting functions at public companies, managing timely and effective external audits and streamlining accounting close processes.

Prior to joining Encore, Chakiris had held various progressive roles in the Media and Hospitality industries. Most recently, he was the Corporate Assistant Controller at Tribune Media Company where he helped lead Tribune’s reintroduction to the public markets as well as the accounting and finance integration for its $2.7B acquisition of Local TV. Chakiris began his career in public accounting in the audit division of Arthur Andersen in Chicago.

He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and earned his BBA in Accounting from Loyola University Chicago.

Chakiris resides in Gurnee with his wife and two children and enjoys golfing, travelling and attending Cubs games as a long-time season ticket holder.

Craig Hill was named as Senior VP, US Venue Operations for Encore in September 2020. Prior to this role, Hill served as SVP, Venues (East Coast), from 2018-2020, and SVP, Venues (Northeast Division), from 2012-2017. He is responsible for leading all aspects related to Event Technology Operations, resulting in successful meetings and events throughout the US.

Hill began his career in Event Technology in 1999 with Swank Audio Visuals, starting as Regional Manager for the Washington D.C. area. He was promoted to Divisional VP for the Eastern Division in 2006. Prior to joining Swank, he worked for the ServiceMaster Company, LLP, and Pitney Bowes in various leadership roles.

Hill earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C.

Outside of work, Hill and his family support an endowment for lung cancer research created in honor of his sister through the University of Pittsburgh. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife Tracy, son Bailey, and two basset hounds. He enjoys working outside, continually trying to perfect his backyard. Hill also has a strong allegiance to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins.

Tara Higgins is a global business leader and 25-year event industry veteran. Having started her career on the corporate side at DaimlerChrysler, she moved to the agency side after four years, then onto business consulting and a co-founder of a start-up. Tara joined Encore in October 2019 as President of Hargrove, and SVP Commercial.

As SVP Commercial, she is leading the strategy and commercial vision as Encore continues to evolve into the most engaged and effective event company for its customers across all event types.

Tara has managed and led multiple successful event businesses that offered results-driven events, experiences and campaigns across all event mediums (in-person, virtual and hybrid) for many of the world’s most recognizable brands. This included tech startups and companies in hypergrowth mode such as Alibaba, Salesforce, Rodan+Fields and Tesla to long-standing Fortune 500 global organizations such as Cisco, Oracle, Nissan, Chrysler and Gartner.

With much time spent within corporate organizations covering portfolio planning, contract negotiations, value-based selling, event pricing strategies and ROI modeling, Tara understands how direct customers look at overall event budgets. This has allowed for more innovation and larger returns across complete event portfolios.

Before joining Encore, Tara co-founded Rival Nation, a first in mass-market sports fan platform start-ups. Prior to that, she spent 18 years in international general management and leadership at George P. Johnson, with her last four years as Executive Vice President, Global Operations.

Tara also has her Global Executive MBA in International Business from Georgetown.

Mike Stengel was named Encore’s Senior Vice President, Strategic Partnerships and Venue Relations in September 2020. He leads Encore’s focus on developing relationships with hotel chains, hospitality ownership groups and management companies. This team also concentrates on business development with individual event venues, such as hotels, conference and convention centers, and stadiums.

Stengel joined Swank Audio Visuals in 1995 as Manager of Hotel Services in St. Louis, and served as its Regional Manager, Divisional Manager and Vice President of Operations before the integration of Swank and Encore. He was appointed Senior Vice President at Encore in 2013 and led Encore’s revenue management and process improvement groups, which included enhancement of the brand through the development of the Encore Customer Experience (CX) and Service Excellence (SX) departments.

Beginning in 2015, Stengel led the global Specialty Services group, which is comprised of specialized technical solution departments supported by industry expert groups inside Encore. These include rigging solutions, power distribution, digital services, internet services, creative services and simultaneous interpretation teams. He also began leading Encore’s businesses in Canada, Mexico and South America in 2017. Since 2018, Stengel has also led the venue services team in the Central United States. Throughout his tenure, he has led and participated in the post-acquisition integration efforts of the organization to ensure adoption and development of best practices through the enterprise.

Stengel has served on the Live Events Council Steering Team and has chaired the Membership Committee of InfoComm (now AVIXA). He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Management Companies Institute (AMCI), and the International Luxury Hotel Association (ILHA).

Stengel earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism with an emphasis in advertising and a minor in business management.

Outside of work, he serves on various local boards, including Marygrove to help with their mission of providing residence, hope and health to children in need. In his free time, Stengel enjoys scuba diving, snow skiing, traveling and attending his kids’ sporting events. He lives in St. Louis with his wife, daughter and son.

With more than 17 years of experience across consulting, investment banking, private equity investing and operational leadership, Dustin Worley serves as Senior Vice President of International. In this capacity, Dustin oversees Encore’s operations in Latin America, Canada, EMEA and APAC.

Dustin joined Encore in 2016 to lead the FP&A organization before transitioning into operations to lead the organization’s Center of Excellence Performance Improvement team in October 2017. He has been in his current role since September 2020. Prior to joining Encore, Dustin served as Vice President at Peak Rock Capital, a private equity firm in Austin, Texas.

Prior to Peak Rock, Dustin was a consultant with Bain and Company for three years, working across numerous industries out of the firm’s Chicago and Mumbai offices. Prior to Bain, Dustin worked in several professional service and principal investing organizations, including Stephens Inc., American Capital, and GTCR.

Dustin earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Vanderbilt University and his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Outside the office, he enjoys running, traveling with his family, and spending time with his wife, two kids and dog.

Whit Markowitz joined Encore in July 2000 as its Chief Legal Officer. He is responsible for the legal, compliance and risk management departments. His areas of emphasis include corporate governance, commercial transactions, corporate finance, labor and employment law.

Markowitz has worked in the hospitality and audiovisual industries since the mid-1990s, including serving as Assistant General Counsel for KSL Resorts before joining Encore. Prior to KSL Resorts, he worked in both the public and private sectors where he practiced general corporate law, real estate, and land use planning.

Markowitz earned his bachelor’s degree in business and finance from the University of Southern California and his J.D. from the University of Denver. He is a member of the California and Colorado State Bar Associations.

In his personal time, he is a commercial pilot, avid downhill skier and scuba diver.

Charlie Young joined Encore in June 2016 as its Chief Human Resources Officer. He is responsible for all areas of Human Resources, including recruiting, compensation, benefits, payroll, learning, talent, organizational development, and HR operations. 

Young brings a wealth of operational and HR experience to the Encore family. He has more than 20 years of progressive human resources experience, and for the eight years prior to joining Encore, served as CHRO for hhgregg. Prior to hhgregg, he held various operational and leadership roles in his 21 years at Sears, working as a District Manager and Store General Manager before entering the HR discipline as a Senior Labor Relations Manager. He served as Vice President of HR for Sears Retail, and ultimately became the number two HR leader serving in the capacity of Vice President of HR Retail Store Operations and Supply Chain. 

Young was born in Philadelphia and earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a specialty in accounting from Gettysburg College. 

Outside the office, he has volunteered time with the Salvation Army, the United Way, and supported a team outing to benefit Feed My Starving Children. In his spare time, he enjoys exercising, traveling, renovating his home, and attending the athletic events of his kids, Charlie and Gracie. A car enthusiast, he also enjoys reading about the latest automotive innovations and has attended the Indianapolis 500 more than 15 times.  

Becky Sheehan is a results oriented, collaborative leader with proven abilities to drive financial and operational excellence.  She has led all things finance, including treasury, investor relations, strategic planning, and capital markets transactions – including two initial public offerings through spin-off transactions. Becky has also led business transformation and sales enablement teams.

In January 2020, Becky joined Encore as Chief Financial Officer. In addition to all global finance and accounting areas, Becky leads revenue management, supply chain and procurement, product and the information technology and digital teams. Becky is also the executive sponsor of the Women of Encore, a network for the women across the organization to share ideas, support one another, and to deliver programs that contribute to their professional and personal development.

Before joining Encore, Becky spent the last three years as Chief Financial Officer at Cars.com. Becky was a key leader in the Company’s spin-off to become its own publicly traded company on June 1, 2017 (NYSE: CARS). Prior to that, she spent 10 years with FTD Companies, Inc., as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. During Becky’s tenure, FTD was a publicly traded company (NYSE: FTD), which was then acquired and later completed a spin-off transaction to again become a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: FTD). Becky was also an audit partner with Deloitte and Arthur Andersen.

Becky is a Board member for Skillshare, an online learning platform for creatives. She also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Holy Trinity High School in Chicago. Becky earned her bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Illinois State University. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, particularly in Hilton Head, S.C.