Global Leadership

You have a story to tell, and we can help you tell it. Encore offers a commitment to excellence that is second to none. Our highly-trained professionals are passionate about delivering exceptional experiences. We are focused on every aspect of your event, from planning to execution, to help bring your vision to life.

Ben Erwin

President and CEO

Ben Erwin was named CEO of Encore in August 2020. This leadership role follows him becoming President in October 2018. He is responsible for driving the strategic direction of the Company and overseeing the execution of its business plan.

Erwin was hired as Encore’s Chief Financial Officer in February 2015 and was responsible for global accounting, treasury, financial planning and analysis, tax and product management. He has a proven track record of developing global corporate strategies, leading finance organizations, and building high-performance teams.

Prior to joining Encore, Erwin served as Chief Financial Officer for TestAmerica Laboratories, where he led all accounting, finance, treasury, information technology and legal functions. Prior to 2011, he served as SVP Corporate Development for Cornell Companies, where he managed corporate strategy, financial planning and analysis, public market capital transactions, and investor relations. He has also held various positions at Enron Corporation and Trilogy Software.

Erwin earned his bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from Wake Forest University. He is a member of the U.S. Travel CEO Roundtable and a board member for both PCMA and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA).

Outside of work, he is passionate about education and a board member for the YMCA Metro Chicago. He enjoys running, traveling, and following the Boston Red Sox. He lives in Chicago’s North Shore area with his wife and two daughters.

Becky Sheehan

Chief Financial Officer

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.

Cathy Schlosberg

Senior Vice President, Marketing

Cathy Schlosberg was named SVP, Marketing, of Encore in June 2019. She is responsible for global marketing, brand, customer experience, insights, communications and industry relations. 

Prior to joining Encore, Schlosberg spent 16 years with Aramark Corporation, most recently serving as VP of Global Insights and Innovation. She also held numerous executive-level marketing positions throughout her time with Aramark. Previously, Schlosberg held marketing leadership positions at Campbell Soup and Kraft General Foods.

Charlie Young

Chief Human Resources Officer

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, benefitspayroll, 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, travelingrenovating his home, and attending the athletic events of his kids, Charlie and GracieA car enthusiast, he also enjoys reading about the latest automotive innovations and has attended the Indianapolis 500 more than 15 times.

Tara Higgins

Senior Vice President, Commercial & President, Hargrove

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.

Whit Markowitz

Chief Legal Officer

Whit Markowitz joined PSAV 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 PSAV. 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.

Dustin Worley

Senior Vice President of International

With more than 16 years of experience across consulting, investment banking, private equity investing and operational leadership, Dustin Worley serves as Senior Vice President of International for Encore. In this capacity, Worley oversees Encore’s operations in Latin America, Canada, EMEA and ANZPAC.

Worley 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. Before joining Encore, Worley served as Vice President at Peak Rock Capital, a private equity firm in Austin, Texas.

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

Worley 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, Lindsey; son, Brady; and their dog, Henry.

Mike Stengel

Senior Vice President of International

With more than 16 years of experience across consulting, investment banking, private equity investing and operational leadership, Dustin Worley serves as Senior Vice President of International for Encore. In this capacity, Worley oversees Encore’s operations in Latin America, Canada, EMEA and ANZPAC.

Worley 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. Before joining Encore, Worley served as Vice President at Peak Rock Capital, a private equity firm in Austin, Texas.

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

Worley 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, Lindsey; son, Brady; and their dog, Henry.

Regional Leadership

Our leadership team of seasoned hospitality-focused experts define industry standards around the world.

Neal Tritton

Managing Director – Mexico

Neal Tritton was appointed Encore Mexico’s Managing Director in February 2020. His extensive experience and ability as a leader in various sectors played a key role into his appointment as the ideal executive to lead the company on the right path even in the most unstable moments like the COVID-19 crisis. 

Neal has more than 20 years of experience in the media sector.  Worked for Editorial Televisa holding various positions including General Manager of Peru, Neal also served as Principal of Kandeo and prior to joining PSAV served as CEO of Robb Report magazine for Mexico.   

Neal has a Bachelor´s degree in international relations from the Universidad Iberoamericana and his MBA, from a joint program between the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the Adolfo Ibáñez Santiago de Chile Business School.  

 As a leader motivated by the strength that all the members of the company demonstrate on a daily basis;  Neal praises the name of encore as a strategic guide in Mexico with great vision for expansion in Latin America.

Fernando Masini

Vice President of Operations

Fernando was appointed Vice President of Operations in Mexico in January of 2019. He joined PSAV in 2005 starting in Cancún, where he performed different operative and executive functions. 

In April of 2010 he was given the charge of City Director in Mexico City, then, he took the resposability as Regional Director and in 2016, Operations Director. Fernando is always looking for excellence in service and to move forward the purpose of the company of connecting and inspiring people by promoting the internal development of the employees and the constant growing through honest and professional relationships with the customers.

Fernando was born and raised in Tucuman, Argentina. He got a degree in communications from University of the North Santo Tomas de Aquino. Before the beginning of his adventure in Mexico he worked for several media as a journalist, broadcaster and host of TV shows. Football is still his passion for which he is part of a football team in a non-professional league in Mexico. He loves to sing, write and enjoy time with his family. He is married to his wife Veronica and they have a son together, Emiliano who is proudly mexican. 

Salvador Salazar

Vice President of encore´s operations in Mexico

Salvador serves as Vice President of encore´s operations in Mexico, he brings out his more than 20 years of experience and leadership to the company.

He is responsible for revenue, supplier partnerships, integrated systems, sales, budgeting, expenditure management, and administration of all staff. Salvador also handles the creation and distribution channels, as well as the standardization of prices, closure of negotiations with corporate accounts, contract 
negotiation with venue partners, and the growth and development of the teams in Mexico.

Salvador, has a degree in Tourism Business Administration with a postgraduate degree in marketing from the Universidad Tecnológica de México AC, as well as a Diploma in Finance from the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM)

Cecilia Blancarte

Sales Director Hotels & Venues

Cecilia currently works as Sales Director of the Hotels and Venues segment, being his main goal to maintain the relationship with our hotelier partners, providing our Sales Managers with the needed tools and developing products and services keeping in mind his needs.

She has 10 years of experience as Sales Manager as part of the company in the main hotel chains.

During her time as Innovation Manager, she was able to launch new products that helped re-imagine  the customer experience in relation to the company’s products and services. Music has been a part of her life, playing the drums and traveling are her hobbies, her great source of energy are her son Dante and her husband Claudio. 

Rodrigo Losada

Specialty Services Director

Rodrigo started his career in the meetings industry on 1994. Passionate about sound, he began his career as a DJ becoming a Sound Engineer for live events and studio recordings. Over time Rodrigo spread his passion for lighting, video, set design and production in general, establishing his own event production and equipment rental company in Colombia.

Rodrigo has had the opportunity to travel around the world developing event production for different clients such as: AWS, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal, Motorola, JAFRA and more. 

In 2012 he decided to sell his company and move to Orlando, FL. He went back to college to study Show Production and Turing at Full Sail University graduating as the Valedictorian of his class in 2014. In that same year, he started working as a producer for PSAV Creative Team in Orlando and after almost a year he moved to Mexico to develop the creative department, today he is in charge of directing the creative team, marketing and digital services. 

He is passionate about musical theater, and during his free time he likes to workg out and going to the movies. 

Ulises Hernández

Integrated Solutions Director

As Directos of Integrated Solutions Ulises Hernandez is responsible for audiovisual installation projects in the commercial, corporate and hotel sectors.

Biography. Ulises Hernández is a Communications and Electronics Engineer graduated from Escuela Superior de Electrónica y Mecánica del IPN, he also has a MBA degree in Business Administration from Escuela Superior de Comercio y Administración del IPN. 

With a professional career in the systems integration sector of more than 15 years, he has served as installer, technical support and engineering, collaborating in a large number of projects in the residential, corporate and hotel sectors.

He joined encore in 2015, as Engineering Manager of the Integration area and since 2018 he took the responsibility of Integration Director

Mónica Mendez H.

Human Resource Senior Leader & Business Partner

Human Resource Senior Leader & Business Partner, bilingual English-Spanish and multicultural, with a solid background of over 28 years of experience in multinational and national companies, leaders on the industries of Audio & Video, Pharmaceuticals, Information Technology, Construction, Services as well as Consumer Goods.  She has been accountable within the LATAM region, specifically in Mexico, Panama and CostaRica. Proven track record of successfully designing and delivering impactful, strategic interventions in complex, dynamic organizations. Excellent experience as a Generalist HR.