CREATING AN EXPERIENCE THAT EVERY GUEST CAN ENJOY…
Hunter’s journey with Circuit of The Americas started in 2013, where he joined the team as a facilities day laborer. He quickly transitioned to a role as Lead Event Coordinator and then started taking on safety and compliance responsibilities and serving as Command Manager for public events. He was promoted to Director of Safety & Security in 2021 and then elevated to the role of VP of Operations in 2023.

He challenges his staff to put themselves in the guest’s shoes and walk through their event plans as if they were the guest. He acknowledges that it’s easy to get lost in project management talking through things like wayfinding and crowd flow dynamics and if you don’t take the perspective of it as if you were the guest then it’s easy to miss simple things like moving a sign a little higher so that guests can easily see it.

While planning, he tries to make sure that ADA access is at the front and center of their plans so that every guest can fully enjoy the experience.

Communication is the most critical skill that Hunter has learned. If there isn’t good communication, that’s where things start to fall apart. Being sure that you are having honest and transparent conversations with everyone (both internal and external stakeholders) is paramount to success.

BEYOND THE EVENTS:
Hunter enjoys spending time with his wife and is thrilled to be having a baby girl arriving soon. Coming home to their dog, Finley, and two cats, Archie and Alfie, is a highlight of his day. He also loves hosting weekend cookouts during football season.

His favorite event day is F1 Sunday after ingress is complete and the opening ceremonies have begun. He loves the flyover moment after the National Anthem starts and the crowd goes quiet, and then engines start and racing begins. He views that moment as the culmination of everything they’ve worked towards.

His favorite part of the job is working with a really close team to put on large caliber events and finding solutions to extremely unique and specialized problems. He enjoys coming together with his team to figure out the problem and make it work.