Meet Leap’s Team: Marketing & Analytics Leadership

Leap Event Technology is driven by the vision and expertise of the talented professionals who lead the way. In this article, we’re thrilled to introduce our three new marketing leaders — Mike Barbeau, Joe Hix, and Erik Hostetler — who are shaping the future of innovation at Leap. With diverse backgrounds and decades of combined experience in marketing, technology, and fan engagement strategy, these leaders are redefining what’s possible in the live events industry. In this three-part series, we’ll dive into their unique perspectives, their plans for driving growth, and how they’re leveraging cutting-edge solutions to elevate the customer experience. 

Part One: Meet Mike Barbeau

Since graduating from University of Colorado Boulder, Mike has built 25 years of marketing experience with brands like Adobe, NBA, Coachella, and AMEX. He’s even worked on Budweiser Super Bowl commercials and helped eBay when it was just a startup. Whether it’s branding, influencer marketing, or digital advertising, he is an innovative leader in the ever-changing marketing industry. We met with Mike to learn more about how all this experience translates into his role at Leap as SVP of Strategy in Marketing Solutions to elevate how Leap manages its clients’ marketing.

What does your strategic role encompass, and how do you define success in it?

I’m here to broaden the scope of marketing and analytics services that Leap can offer to clients. Whether that’s paid media, creative, technology projects or data services, we need to identify where our clients have needs, then build the teams, traits, and processes to deliver those services at a world class level. The short-term success will come in the form of more strategic conversations with our existing clients. The long-term success will be visible in the form of better fan engagement, more revenue for our clients, and deeper relationships within the industry as a trusted advisor around empowering the people and products that drive the world’s best events.

What are the most exciting opportunities you see right now in the live event technology industry for Leap?

This industry has some of the hungriest, most passionate people that are literally trying to put on events that make people’s jaws drop. That energy and drive has led to people building things at speed, which leads to opportunities for us to create structure and scale for repeatability and growth. Whether that’s orchestrating data, optimizing the use of technology to make things faster or less expensive, or finding new channels and ways to get messages to the right people, the opportunities are nearly as endless as the energy to collaborate and create with our clients.

Part Two: Meet Erik Hostetler

Erik is an award-winning creative executive with 25 years leading teams and delivering results for brands like Nike, Delta Air Lines, and Coca-Cola. He has pioneered Publicis Groupe’s “Makers Studio” and has been recognized by some of the leading award shows in the industry. Now, he’s bringing cutting-edge ideas into his role as SVP of Creative in Marketing Solutions at Leap. Here’s what he had to share about what he does and what his strategic vision for the company looks like.

What is your role at Leap Event Technology like? Walk us through what a week at your job might entail.

My role is to raise the standard of what we make, how it performs, and how consistently it shows up across channels. This means leveling up our marketing offerings and turning our intelligence, insight, and data into impactful, well-crafted creative output. That starts with identifying what more we can unlock for our clients through better messaging, media-ready ideas, as well as ways to connect creativity to data and technology. From there, I build the teams, processes, and craft required to deliver work at a world-class level.

In the short term, success shows up in better creative conversations – clearer briefs, stronger ideas, and work that earns confidence from clients. Over time, it shows up in results. Higher fan engagement, more revenue, and deeper partnerships built on trust in what Leap can accomplish for them.

What impact do you hope your creative leadership will have on the company’s identity and the events industry overall?

I want my creative leadership to sharpen the company’s creative identity around performance, taste, craft, and trust. When people see our work, they should immediately understand what Leap stands for: smart ideas and high-quality work that drives real outcomes.

Internally, the impact is clarity and confidence. Teams know the bar. They understand how the creative aspects connect to data, media, and technology, and they feel ownership of the product they put into the world. That raises production speed and consistency at the same time.

For the events industry, the impact is setting a higher creative standard. Creative should not be decoration or promotion. It should be a growth engine. It should be a well-crafted blend of art, science, and philosophy. Work should sell more tickets, deepen fan loyalty, and create moments people actually want to be part of. If we do this right, we help shift the industry toward building creative assets that are accountable, scalable, and built to perform.

Part Three: Meet Joe Hix

Since graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a background in computer science, marketing, and advertising, Joe Hix has built over 20 years of experience driving innovation and growth for some of the world’s most iconic brands. From the Dallas Cowboys and Verizon to Nike, Marriott, and Live Nation, Joe has a proven track record of delivering transformative solutions across marketing, technology, and operations. With expertise in customer data platforms, generative AI, and marketing technology, he continues to shape seamless multi-channel experiences for live events and global clients. We sat down with Joe to hear more about the vision he has for his role as SVP of Innovation in Marketing Solutions.

What are the primary responsibilities of your innovative role?

In my role leading innovation at Leap, I focus on elevating and expanding the company’s technology capabilities. My work ranges from advising clients on their marketing and revenue operations stacks to architecting a data-as-a-service platform and modernizing the way Leap approaches analytics to uncover deeper customer insights.

I’m driving the transformation of Leap’s execution stack, from traditional email and CRM programs to multi-channel ecosystems that span acquisition through retention. I’m also playing a key role in evolving creative production from static assets to highly personalized, dynamic experiences powered by data and technology.

Beyond that, I contribute heavily to Leap’s mobile solutions, help shape customer strategies, and partner closely with the new business teams to extend the reach of the company’s technical and service offerings.

How is Leap uniquely positioned to lead innovation in the live events industry?

What makes Leap truly special is the breadth of technology and solutions we bring to the table, covering the entire customer experience from end to end. Our capabilities span multi-channel marketing strategy and execution, ticketing platforms, mobile apps, experiential solutions, and more.

From a data perspective, we have visibility into the full customer journey from start to finish. That means we’re never guessing; we’re building insight-driven, customer-valued solutions that evolve continuously. This connected ecosystem allows us to create experiences that are smarter, more relevant, and always aligned with what customers actually want.