The Omaha Royals (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) announced the hiring of two new employees and the promotion of two others in the team’s front office.The Omaha Royals (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) announced the hiring of two new employees and the promotion of two others in the team’s front office.
Dave Endress joins the club as its Director of Ticketing. The Royals have added Diann Spataro as a Corporate Sales Executive. Paul Hammes has been promoted to Ticket Operations Manager, after serving as a Group Sales Executive in 2008. James Jensen, who was a Ticket Operations intern last season, has been elevated to Ticket Sales Executive.
Endress will mark his 18th season in professional baseball in 2009. The Centerville, Iowa native and University of Northern Iowa graduate joins the Royals from the Lake Elsinore Storm, the San Diego Padres Class-A affiliate in the California League. He spent the past four seasons as the team’s Director of Business Development.
From 2001-2004, Endress was the Director of Group Sales with the Birmingham Barons, the Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. In his last two seasons with that Southern League club – Endress’ sixth team in his pro baseball career – he worked with current Royals Vice President/General Manager Martie Cordaro.
Spataro is entering her fourth season in Minor League Baseball. For the past three seasons, she was a Corporate Partnerships Associate with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the Class-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, which plays in the Midwest League. A native of Highland, Indiana, Spataro began her career as a game-day employee with the Indianapolis Indians, the Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A club in the International League. She is a 2006 graduate of Indiana University with a degree in Sport Communications.
Hammes begins his third year with the Royals and his seventh season working in Minor League Baseball. He has previously worked for the St. Paul Saints, the Battle Creek Yankees and the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays. A native of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, he played two years of college baseball at Concordia St. Paul in Minnesota, before transferring to the University of Missouri. He graduated from Missouri in 2004 with a History degree.
Jensen enters his first season as a full-time employee. A native of Grand Island, Nebraska, Jensen is a 2008 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Kearney, where he majored in Sports Administration with a minor in Business Administration. While attending UNK, Jensen was a four-year member of the Lopers baseball team, which won its first-ever Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship in 2007.