CHICAGO (CelebrityAccess) STan Chia, former chief operating officer of onlie and mobile food ordering service Grubhub, has been named CEO of Vivid Seats, the independent ticketing company announced Oct. 25.
Chia will be based in Chicago. Vivid Seats co-founders Eric Vassilatos and Jerry Bednyak will transition daily operations to Mr. Chia and the leadership team. Both co-founders will remain actively involved as co-chairmen of the Vivid Seats board of directors and also as major investors, according to a statement.
“Stan’s experience driving incremental growth, strategic partnership development and innovative operations makes him an ideal fit to further advance Vivid Seats and the ticket purchasing experience,” Bednyak said. “I am confident that he’ll take the company to the next phase of its corporate evolution and look forward to working with him.”
“Vivid Seats is at an exciting time in its evolution where it has the scale and product tools to further accelerate growth and become the leading brand in the online ticket sales market — as well as build on its track record of innovation in the sector,” Vassilatos said. “I’m happy to make this transition knowing that Stan and the rest of the team will take the company to even greater heights.”
Chia helped grow Grubhub’s restaurant network to more than 95,000 restaurants in 1,700 cities nationwide, according to the announcement, and was the architect of the Grubhub Delivery Network. Prior to Grubhub, Chia led strategic businesses and organizations at Amazon, Cisco and General Electric.
“We want to thank Eric and Jerry for being great partners, and we look forward to continuing to work with them,” said Lawrence Fey, Managing Director at GTCR. “They have built an exceptional company that is now in a very strong market position. Stan will be an exciting addition to the company and team and we are excited to work with him as Vivid Seats continues to grow and develop its technology and tools in online ticketing.”
“I want to thank the founders and Vivid Seats’ shareholders for the opportunity to lead such an exceptional company of great people during a time of growth and innovation in the marketplace,” Chia said. “I’ve always had a passion for live events and technology, and I am excited to work with the Vivid Seats team to provide consumers the best experience in online ticketing.”
