Manager of VIP Ticket Services

Ravinia Festival Association • Highland Park, IL

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, VIP Ticket Services position is a key people-facing role that directly helps deliver the world class guest experience that Ravinia is famous for providing. This role is part of the Ticket Operations team within the broader Guest Experience department, and is a relationship-driven role centered on building connections with our supporters and making every guest feel personally welcomed and valued. You will look for opportunities to elevate interactions, going above and beyond to ensure their experience leaves a lasting impact. This role has an emphasis on working directly with Ravinia trustees, donors, members of the public, press, artists, staff and other users of the facility and is one of the most collaborative roles on the Ticket Operations team, supporting both internal and external special ticketing needs and working in partnership with the Development team. This partnership includes supervising the VIP Ticketing Team and leading the management and fulfillment of contributor requests and ticketed events, especially during the donor ticketing period and throughout the summer concert season. During the season, this position requires a flexible schedule in order to work evenings and weekends to ensure the VIP Team provides the highest possible quality of service.

Requirements

• Excellent time and project management skills
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• A motivated leader and self-starter
• Excellent customer service skills
• Detail-oriented
• Creative thinker capable of coming up with unconventional solutions
• Google Suite proficient
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required
• Minimum two years experience in ticket operations, preferably in non-profit music/arts

Nice To Haves

• Experience in donor relations or customer service preferred
• Experience working with AudienceView ticketing software is preferred

Responsibilities

• Ensure a positive guest experience for donors by engaging in face to face interactions during concerts as well as facilitating other methods of active communication
• Oversee the day-to-day communications of the VIP Ticketing Team
• Coordinate staff assignments at multiple entrance gates to greet guests and ensure a positive first impression for donors
• Represent Ravinia within the ticketing and entertainment industry as a model of customer service and innovation
• Proactively identify opportunities to go above and beyond and assist Development team to provide surprise and delights to our most important guests
• Represent the Ticket Operations team in handling special ticket and dining requests for VIP guests and Ravinia donors
• Track, manage and assign VIP Ticketing Team projects and tasks
• Delegate and complete data entry of high-level corporate and individual donor ticket and dining requests
• Assist with ticket fulfilment of Donor Ticket Requests
• Coordinate VIP donor seating preferences periodically for accuracy
• Fulfill comp ticket allotment for donors, patrons, and VIP guests
• Assist with manual data entry of requests
• Create tracking document of processed requests, total requests and statuses
• Delegate comp ticket changes throughout the season to the VIP Team
• Manage ticket donations to other non-profit organizations
• Support the VIP Ticketing Team of supervisors
• Initial point of contact for all Development ticketing needs
• Manage the fulfillment of the VIP donor waitlist and special ticketing requests from various departments
• Assist in handling ticket logistics for annual auxiliary board events, audience engagement events and other Development team special events
• Collaborate with Development to create contributor reports and provide analytical support using the BI within the AudienceView ticketing system
• Lead preseason Ticketing and Development training sessions
• Maintain and update best practice sheets and how-to documents for donor-related software
• When necessary, assist in evening box office operations
• Assist with donor welcome events and surprise-and-delights
• Work evenings and weekends leading up to and during the summer season according to the concert schedule
• Other duties as assigned

Benefits

• Excellent health and welfare benefits including comprehensive time off, generous retirement savings plans, learning and mentorship opportunities, access to various staff working groups, and a general admission season pass to Ravinia events.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees