NU Advisory Partners Assists NASCAR’s Homestead-Miami Speedway with President Search
August 7, 2024 – Executive search firm NU Advisory Partners has helped to recruit Guillermo Santa Cruz as president of NASCAR’s Homestead-Miami Speedway. “Guillermo’s vast experience in the competitive media market will help grow Homestead-Miami Speedway into its next phase as one of the preeminent motorsports facilities,” said Chip Wile, NASCAR’s senior vice president and chief track properties officer. “He has a diverse background in sales, production, and promotion in a key market for HMS and will offer unique opportunities for the team to expand the track’s influence.”
Mr. Santa Cruz’s resume is hugely diverse and highly decorated. From his start working for Univision and Telemundo to his recent position as IMG’s vice president, Latin America, Mexico and U.S. Hispanic where he managed everything from sales and client relations to a more intensive focus on sports and entertainment programs for the Latin American region. At NBC-Telemundo, Mr. Santa Cruz was part of the 2004 Sports Emmy Award-winning team covering the Olympics. He worked as a producer and received a “special citation” from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for coverage of the September 11, 2001 tragedy. He was also part of the Univision team that earned the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast for its coverage of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Olympics.
“My whole professional life has been here [in South Florida] but never in the ‘local’ sense, I’ve always worked more in national and international media,” Mr. Santa Cruz said. “This gives me the opportunity to work in a local market in the community where I grew up. I have a good feel for the market and the community because I’m part of that market and community. I have the advantage of growing up here and having a feel for different cultures. There is a real strength to South Florida in how diverse it is. I don’t have to learn that it comes built-in and that’s a big advantage for me.”
Homestead–Miami Speedway is a motor racing track located in Homestead, FL. The track, which has several configurations, has promoted several series of racing, including NASCAR, the IndyCar Series, the IMSA SportsCar Championship series, and the Championship Cup Series.
Last year, NU Advisory Partners was launched by former Russell Reynolds Associates recruiters Mar Hernandez, Libby Naumes, Meredith Rosenberg, and Nada Usina. The firm is focused on senior executive, operating, and board positions.
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Ms. Hernandez specializes in placing corporate officers (CHRO, CFO, general counsel), and also supporting boards, financial services, fintech, telecommunications, and hospitality organizations in different talent needs. Prior to co-founding NU, she was a senior member of the corporate officers, DE&I, and financial services practice at Russell Reynolds Associates, where she was also the co-head of the Hispanic board initiative. Before her 12 years in the search industry, she held senior sales and marketing roles with firms such as Amicorp, Mphasis-EDS, and TTech.
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Ms. Naumes specializes in placing go-to-market and commercial roles across the sports, media, entertainment, technology, consumer, retail, and marketplace industries. Prior to co-founding NU, she spent 11 years building the consumer digital practice of Russell Reynolds Associates while also serving as the co-lead of the global sports practice. Ms. Naumes was previously the director of marketing and communications for NASDAQ’s Global Corporate Solutions Group.
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Ms. Rosenberg is a market leading voice in the edTech sector. She brings more than 25 years of entrepreneurial and operating experience in the education sector. Prior to co-founding NU, she led the global edTech practice at Russell Reynolds Associates. She spent 10 years there working across the entire sector, advising larger public companies and VC and private equity portfolio companies, as well as nonprofits and higher education institutions. Previously, Ms. Rosenberg was a senior vice president at Fullbridge Inc., a workforce development and upskilling company, and helped to co-found Global Student Loan Corporation. She was a vice president at The Yankee Group, where she led the consumer communications practice, and a senior consultant in the telecommunications and media strategy practice of Braxton Associates/Deloitte Consulting.
Ms. Usina’s board, CEO and C-suite placement expertise spans technology, sports, media, entertainment, industrial, and numerous other industries. Prior to co-founding NU, she was a member of the executive committee of Russell Reynolds Associates, the global leader of its technology media, entertainment, and sports practices as well as a senior member of the CEO & board practice. Ms. Usina spent 13 years leading high-level executive searches and advising leading private equity and VC firms across their portfolio companies. She had an extensive career as an executive at digital media and software companies, including as a member of the senior team at Broadcast.com, as president of Nokia Canada, as president of Comcast Venture-backed XOS Technologies which she successfully sold to publicly held JumpTV and then merged the company with NeuLion where she remained as president. Earlier roles in sports included the Florida Sports Foundation, Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and Florida State University Athletics.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
