We all remember our first day on the job. For Jakub Jaroszewicz, it was memorable for a reason that had little to do with work.
“I’ve been with my wife, Melanie, for 18 years,” he says. “I met her on the first day of my professional career. She started two weeks before I did, and literally on the first day I met her, we were on a very fast track. We were engaged within four or five months and married a year later.”
Jakub (right) and his wife, Melanie, at an Arizona Coyotes home game.
Before starting his career, Jakub earned a degree in sport management from Slippery Rock University, though the road to graduation was not straightforward.
“I started in 2001, graduated in 2008, so that’s seven years. There was some community college in between, but I came to a crossroads at school where my professors were just like, ‘Maybe this is not for you.’ I said, ‘No, this is for me,’ so I retook a lot of my classes.”
Jakub’s determination was reinforced by his mother, who came to the United States from Poland as a single parent with two children. She is the person Jakub most admires.
“She worked all kinds of part-time jobs to get us through and always supported my choices.
Sports isn’t the natural move for anyone, especially coming from Poland. Working in sports is not something that everyone thinks of, but she always supported my dream.”
The degree that had once seemed uncertain would eventually lead to an honor he could scarcely have imagined. Jakub was recently inducted into his alma mater’s Sport Management Hall of Fame, an achievement he considers one of the highlights of his career.
“I would have never guessed [that would happen],” he says. “It’s truly such an honor and something I will treasure forever.”
Jakub’s professional journey began with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2008 (before they became the Arizona Coyotes ahead of the 2014-2015 season and moved to Utah in 2024). Hired as Ticket Operations Coordinator, he spent more than seven years with the organization and eventually became Ticket Operations Manager. Those early years gave him a crash course in the uncertainty that can surround professional sports.
“Working in the NHL, nobody gave Phoenix a shot at anything. We were the laughingstock. We were owned by the NHL for a little bit. There were all kinds of different things that, as a young professional, you never thought you would ever think of. But in the first four or five years of my professional career, I went through bankruptcy, an NHL lockout and being sold numerous times. In 2012, we went to the conference finals and unfortunately lost in game five. That whole playoff series was just so tremendous. [It was] exciting as a professional [and] as a fan.”
In 2015, Jakub brought that experience to the Atlanta Hawks. He has since risen to Senior Director of Ticket Operations, working with colleagues who have helped shape both his career and his approach to leadership.
“[My main mentor] is my boss, Gilda Carlysle. She took over the department about a year after I started here. We always laugh. We’ve sort of grown together, even though she’s been in the industry for 30 or 40 years. She’s a very open person, always willing to help and always trying to figure out how to mentor you. I started here as a manager, and I’m a senior director, so obviously she’s had a big impact on my career and my growth.”
Jakub at TD Garden for the Hawks versus the Celtics.
Jakub also credits Kyle Brunson, the Hawks’ Chief Ticketing Officer, with helping him learn to solve problems independently.
“Whenever you bring a challenge to him, he doesn’t just hand you the answer. Instead, he bounces questions back at you, pushing you to examine the issue from different angles until you arrive at the breakthrough yourself. That hands-on guidance builds real confidence, and you always know he is genuinely invested in seeing you succeed.”
Jakub has found another source of inspiration closer to home. His wife, Melanie, also works in sports, having held positions with the Phoenix Coyotes and Harlem Globetrotters before moving to Elevate, where she is a Vice President of Operations. He admires her ability to lead with both firmness and kindness.
“She’s such a unique personality, and such a distinctive mentor and person that people always look up to. You know how you can be very stern, get your message across, but still be very kind and nice; that’s literally her. So, I take a lot of notes from her on building relationships and on managing people. I manage two people, and she manages eight, so it’s definitely a diverse group that she has. I really admire her, and she definitely inspires me to be better.”
Jakub with his wife, Melanie, and their dogs Vinny and Coco.
As a leader himself, Jakub sees developing others as part of the job.
“I think a leader is someone who will guide you and help you through your career. They are not always giving you the answers, but guiding you through ups and downs, or helping you grow. As a leader, your responsibility is to grow the next generation, so it’s always important for me to reach out to the younger people in our industry and our department, to always be welcoming and answer any questions.”
Trust, he believes, is at the heart of that responsibility. But success in ticket operations also calls for precision, reliability and a willingness to work hard.
“I think trust builds relationships and builds the base of your friendship, either professionally or personally. I definitely think trust is very important … I also think detail-orientation is very important. In our industry, there are so many changes that occur that you really have to know what you’re doing. Then there is hard work. Hard work always pays. [We have] long and untraditional hours, so if you enjoy working in sports, you have to love it.”
And love it he does.
“I love game and event days,” he says. “I mostly work on the Hawks side, so 43 Hawks games [at home during the regular season]. I love that every day is so different. There’s not a single day that’s the same as the other one. I love working with different teams and people. I love helping people. I love resolving issues, so I think game days are definitely the high for anything, and then obviously when the team performs well, that’s actually a big boost to your confidence, and you want to do more. I can’t play basketball. I try. I’m not very good at it, but ticketing is my part of a championship-winning team, and I do my part for ticket operations on game nights to help our customers.”
The work behind a live event may go largely unnoticed by people in the seats, but Jakub sees a shared purpose among those who make those experiences possible. What does he love most about our industry?
“Every day and every person is so different, but we all have a common goal for our guests who come to our events. I think it’s just a very unique space. If I weren’t in the sports industry, I would never even think about who’s doing my tickets or who’s setting up the court. You don’t think about that as a fan, but it’s just so interesting how we might have different jobs: somebody might be working in sports, somebody might be in entertainment, somebody might be at a theater, but we’re all the same. We have the same goal. We have the same love for pleasing people and helping people to get their entertainment.”
That shared enthusiasm was on full display in Atlanta this summer, when the city hosted the FIFA World Cup. Jakub remembers the tournament as one of the best live event experiences of his life.
“The World Cup was here in Atlanta. There were nine matches, and I got to go to all of them except for one. It was unbelievable to experience the culture of different teams, different fan bases and be immersed in the excitement.”
Melanie and Jakub at the World Cup.
Of all the major events he’s experienced professionally, some of his most cherished memories come from being a fan. His favorite venue is State Farm Arena, but he still remembers going to Pittsburgh’s now-demolished Civic Arena with his brother growing up.
“Civic Arena was a very neat venue. It was built in the late 1950s and opened in the early 1960s. It had sections A through F, and at the top of the seating bowl, in section F, when you sat in the last row, you could actually touch the roof of the arena, because it looked like an igloo. I remember going to these games with my brother. There were a lot of obstructed-view seats, so you literally paid $20, maybe, or $15, and you sat in the last row. You couldn’t see half the ice, but the experience of going to those games as a kid and spending time with my brother, I would say that’s probably one of my favorite non-new venues.”
Jakub on the court at State Farm Arena.
Jakub’s love of hockey also comes with a lifelong admiration for one of Pittsburgh’s greatest sports heroes. That admiration led to an unforgettable encounter.
“[When I was] growing up, Mario Lemieux was a big player in Pittsburgh. He beat cancer, came back and played unbelievably [well]. Then he saved the Pittsburgh Penguins when he bought the team. About two years ago, I was on a flight from Pittsburgh to Atlanta, and he was on my flight. Working in sports, you don’t really geek out over celebrities because you see them all the time. It’s part of being in the sports and entertainment industry. But I geeked out when I saw Mario Lemieux sitting a row from me. We got up and a guy went in front of me, and then Mario and I were at the aisle. I don’t know what came over me. All I remember saying to him was, ‘Mario, go ahead. I’ll follow greatness.’ He sort of chuckled and went up the ramp. I thought I have to get a picture, so I got a picture. The first picture I took was literally of my face, so I took a couple other ones, and finally got a picture of us. Then my brother got me a frame of that quote, so it’s actually sitting on my desk right now.”
Jakub and Mario Lemieux.
For Jakub, INTIX offers more than the professional connections available through leagues and ticketing platforms: access to a broad community willing to share their experience and help one another.
“It’s a variety of professionals. You have your league meetings, you have your Ticketmaster meetings, but those are very segmented based on your league or platform. But at INTIX, you literally have everyone. I learn as much from a small theater in Oklahoma as I do from the New York Knicks or somebody like that.”
That diversity creates opportunities to exchange ideas, learn from colleagues across the industry and reconnect with people he has known throughout his career. Those relationships proved particularly valuable as the industry emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and ticketing professionals faced unfamiliar challenges.
“I’m big on relationships, including the relationships I have with former colleagues or new colleagues. INTIX is also a great way to throw ideas [around]. Coming out of COVID, there were a lot of conversations where you would reach out to someone through INTIX and say, ‘Hey, I heard you talking about this, can you explain how you did this?’ Or people that I have worked with over the years, who I’ve lost touch with, and we reconnect through INTIX.”
For Jakub, educational opportunities are another important part of INTIX. He values the weekly Wednesday Wisdom calls and the expertise that members share on a wide variety of subjects that directly impact the ticket office.
“We have had folks present on topics like the ADA. Betty Siegel is fabulous. Her knowledge of compliance [and accessibility] is phenomenal. Before our arena was renovated, I remember reaching out to ask, ‘Is this compliant?’ So, I think it’s wonderful in that sense.”
But Jakub’s most memorable INTIX experience came at the 2024 conference in Las Vegas, held at Caesars Palace. It was his first real opportunity to experience the community in person.
“I didn’t realize that if we had a little chip on our badges that meant I was a first-timer. I was thinking, wow, everybody knows it’s my first time! It was really cool to get to talk to people and reconnect with others. All the speakers were really good too.”
The conference also created practical connections. Jakub remembers hearing Ticketmaster discuss ideas that would eventually become reality, and meeting vendors including Fevo and Spinzo. Some of those vendor introductions later developed into working relationships.
“It was great to connect because, at that point, we did not work with some of them, and now we do,” Jakub recalls. “So, that’s where the start of our relationship with some companies started. That’s always a positive.”
Jakub’s Hall of Fame induction also led to another memorable INTIX connection. Jason Varnish, a fellow member, was also nominated and inducted that evening.
“It was really cool to have two INTIX members inducted on the same night,” he recalls. “I went to school with Jason when he was a grad student and I was still an undergrad. I have really great memories going back 15, 16, 18 years with him, so it was great to reconnect through INTIX and through the Sport Management Hall of Fame.”
Another career milestone came when live events began returning after the COVID-19 shutdown. The Hawks were among the first teams to welcome fans back into the building, and the gradual increase in attendance brought new challenges for ticket operations.
“After the world shut down on March 14, 2020, we were pretty much off for a whole year. We started, I think, in January of 2021 with maybe 500 people in the venue, and then it kept on growing to 1,000, and then it went to 1,500. By the time playoffs came, we were at full capacity, but every day was so different. You had so many new rules, so many new policies that you could or couldn’t do. So, I would say even though COVID was just horrible, coming out of it was a very memorable moment because everybody stuck together.”
After 18 years in the industry, Jakub has learned that it’s easy to get caught up in the demands of the job and lose sight of the bigger picture. His advice to his younger self is to take a step back and appreciate the journey.
“I would say enjoy the moments. We work so hard. Days go by, weeks go by, months go by, years go by, and you look back [and think], wow, that really did happen ... And also, don’t sweat the little things. We worry so much, like in college or as a young professional, about the littlest things, and in the grand scheme of things, they don’t really matter. It feels like a big issue in the moment, but in a year, two years, three years, you will never remember that little thing you were stressing about. So, try not to think about the little stuff and look at the bigger picture.”
For Jakub, that bigger picture has always included family. His brother lives in Baltimore, while his parents have moved to Myrtle Beach, so getting everyone together takes some planning. But those occasions remain a source of happiness.
“That brings me joy, [as does] spending time with my wife. I think family [is important] over anything. Anytime we get together, it’s always great memories, great times, even though everybody’s busy, life’s busy, life gets in the way. Anytime we get to spend time together, it’s always a positive thing.”
At home, he and Melanie have two other family members who make sure life doesn’t get too serious: their dogs, Coco and Vinny.
“Our dogs bring us so much joy,” he says. “If you have a hard day, the dog doesn’t judge you; they just want you to be happy. They want to be fed, they want treats, whatever it might be. I love animals and our two dogs are just amazing.”
Jakub, Melanie, Coco and Vinny.
Away from work, music and sports remain part of his life. He’s a self-proclaimed Swiftie and also a longtime Bryan Adams fan.
“My first ever concert was Bryan Adams at the Civic Arena. I’ve seen him probably 10, 15 times over my lifetime. He’s a phenomenal performer, and he’s been around for ages and ages. It has been really cool to see his music grow from the 80s and 90s until now.”
He is also a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan, despite not knowing anything about football before coming to the United States. Fortunately, Melanie shares his allegiance. He laughs and says, “Thank God my wife is a Steelers fan, or I don’t think this [our marriage] would work out.”
The couple also enjoys traveling, especially exploring Europe by cruise ship. They have visited Greece, Turkey and Italy, with Spain and France next on the list. Morocco and other parts of Africa are also on his wish list. If work weren’t a consideration, he says, living on a beach would be appealing.
But Jakub is equally happy to be home in Atlanta, watching television or heading out with Melanie for a good steakhouse meal. Sometimes, stepping away from their busy routines for a few hours and enjoying a good dinner is all the reconnection they need.
And if he could have three wishes, what would they be?
“The first one would definitely be that I hope my family and friends live a long, healthy life. I would love to have as much money as possible to travel to different places, to get away from work and everyday stress. And then, hopefully, one day to actually win a championship. We’re in the sports industry and you really want to win that ring. I’ve been close twice, once with the Coyotes, once with the Hawks, but still don’t have that ring.”
You May Also Like
Want news like this delivered to your inbox weekly? Subscribe to the Access Weekly newsletter, your ticket to industry excellence.