Arizona’s Fiesta Bowl adds 4 board members
Feb 20, 2014, 10:56 AM | Updated: 10:57 am
PHOENIX — The Fiesta Bowl Board of Directors has grown by four.
The Scottsdale-based group announced Thursday that Ray Artigue, Gonzalo de la Melena Jr., James Hatfield and Air Force Col. Bob Whitehouse had been elected to the nonprofit’s governing body.
“Their diverse talents will help the Fiesta Bowl at a critical time in our history, as we enter a new era in postseason college football,” board Chairman Brian Hall said in a statement.
The bowl lost its top executive, Robert Shelton, in January. Shelton resigned after two-plus years, but not before landing semifinal and championship college football games for the bowl under the new playoff format.
The bowl will host the 2016 championship game and a semifinal in 2017.
Artigue spent over a dozen years with the Phoenix Suns as a vice president of marketing communications while De la Melena is CEO of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Hatfield is CFO of Pinnacle West, which oversees Arizona Public Service. Hatfield was also a football official in the Big 12 and Western Athletic conferences. Whitehouse is vice commander, 944th Fighter Wing, U.S. Air Force Reserve, Luke Air Force Base. He has worked with the Fiesta Bowl since 2008.