New U.S. Skiing Marketing Chief Named; CEO To Transition

"U.S. Skiing is a much stronger and more stable organization as a result of Tim's contribution," said Badami. "We're happy we can structure a relationship which will permit Tim to maintain a high level of involvement with U.S. Skiing, even as he assumes his new responsibilities with the Kings."

Burnette, who worked in AT&T's sports marketing/consumer communications arena for seven years, has been working closely with Leiweke for six weeks on U.S. Skiing programs. He will takeover all corporate sales responsibilities immediately. "I'm very excited to come to U.S. Skiing," said Burnette, a Wyoming native and active skier. "I've had a great opportunity to work on the sponsor's side at AT&T and I'm looking forward to putting that experience into developing programs for U.S. Skiing to bring to major corporate partners."

Burnette's experience at AT&T included working with the National Basketball Association, America's Cup, the Dream Team, U.S. Figure Skating and other major sports. He was in charge of both evaluation of partnerships and strategic development.

"I know from my experience as a corporate sponsor that companies are very attracted to the demographics of skiing," said Burnette. "It's one of the biggest of Olympic sports and should be an important component of any company's Olympic marketing strategy."

"This has been a very exciting and productive seven months," said Leiweke. "We've made some progress in assembling a strong staff and strong corporate partners. Todd (Burnette) brings an excellent background to the company to grow our sponsor base. We are nearly completed with a television package which will be a dramatic improvement over where we've been, which will provide some outstanding media value for our sponsors.

"This is a significant opportunity for me with the Kings," said Leiweke, "but I've become very close to skiing and have a great desire to continue my involvement through the U.S. Ski Team Foundation's Marketing Committee. I expect to remain very close to the program and to assist Todd, where necessary, in closing any deals."

Burnette will supervise a staff of two account executives, Susan Gaylord and Susan Buckley. He will be responsible for all corporate sales and television development. Burnette, who grew up in Riverton, Wyo. and skied at Jackson Hole, is a 1989 Georgetown marketing grad. He is not married.