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Chris Tsakalakis is a Greek-American e-commerce executive, former president of StubHub and former general manager of eBay Tickets. A University of Pennsylvania graduate, he began his career in e-commerce in 1996 and joined eBay in 2003 as an executive of eBay Marketplaces. He was president of StubHub from 2007 to 2014, leading the company to become the world's largest ticket marketplace and a leading sports and entertainment sponsor with more than 90 partnerships internationally. Because of StubHub’s influence on the entertainment industry, Chris was named to the Sports Business Journal ’s 2011 and 2012 list of the 50 most influential people in the sports business, the Billboard 2012 and 2013 Power 100 lists and the 2010 and 2011 Huffington Post Sports Game Changer lists. Ticket News cites him as "one of the most influential executives in the ticketing industry."
Biography
Tsakalakis obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He worked as a consultant for Bain & Company for six years and began a career in e-commerce in 1996. He was a manager of two newly founded e-commerce start-ups before joining consulting firm Trefo, which dealt with new high-technology companies. Tsakalakis began working for eBay Marketplaces as an executive in 2003. He was the manager of the Advanced Solutions Group, which is involved with providing solutions to "advanced buyers and sellers and including eBay Stores, ProStores, Trading Platforms, Seller Marketing and Tools, the eBay Developers program and Shipping". During his time at eBay, the eBay Stores subscriber base grew from 50,000 to over 260,000. He was also involved in the establishment of eBay subsidiary ProStores, which deal with web storefront solutions.
Tsakalakis was appointed manager of StubHub in 2007 and played a key role in its growth and development, helping it grow into the largest ticket marketplace in the world. Soon after his appointment, in an interview with The Economist Tsakalakis stated that StubHub is enjoying "very, very stellar growth". In 2009 he spoke at the Ticket Summit in Las Vegas. Tsakalakis has contributed several articles to the Huffington Post blog. On July 12, 2010, Tsakalakis contributed an editorial in which he defended ticket resale. He argued that the secondary ticket market is "real capitalism at its finest", saying "Buying for one price and selling for a higher price is and has always been the American way." He argued suggested that "true fans" should not only be judged by who is willing to stand in line for hours or days for a ticket, but also by who is willing to pay more than face value for a ticket", concluding that "those that benefit the most from the ticket resale are the devoted fans". In a 2010 interview with Billboard, Tsakalakis said that "StubHub helped rebrand an often-vilified vocation by pushing ticket reselling out of the shadows and providing "a very clean and well-lit place for people to buy tickets, with consumer guarantees that we stand behind.". Tsakalakis left StubHub in November 2014, and was replaced by Scott Cutler.
Ticket News cites Tsakalakis as "one of the most influential executives in the ticketing industry." In 2011 and 2012 he was listed in Sports Business Journal ’s list of the 50 most influential people in the sports business, the Billboard Power 100 lists of most influential people in 2012 and 2013, and also the Huffington Post Sports Game Changer lists for 2010 and 2011.
Tsakalakis is a member of the Young Presidents Organization and serves on the board of the Bay Area division of the American Heart Association.