Peter Ciaccia to Receive Leadership Award at NCS4 Conference

Peter Ciaccia, President, Events for New York Road Runners and Race Director of the TCS New York City Marathon will be presented with the Distinguished Leadership in Safety and Security Award during the 2018 National Sports Safety and Security Conference & Exhibition on July 9-12 in Louisville, KY.

The award is presented annually by the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) at The University of Southern Mississippi.

The Distinguished Leadership Award recognizes a professional in the field whose career includes multiple achievements and contributions with respect to sport safety and security. To warrant this prestigious honor, the recipient's service, commitment, ingenuity and integrity must have elevated the profession to new levels.

For 18 years, Ciaccia has worked for New York Road Runners (NYRR), which manages and produces the TCS New York City Marathon, the largest marathon in the world. Ciaccia's vision was to develop a best-in-class event management system incorporating the best principles of Incident Command System (ICS), crisis management, crisis communications and business continuity.

Using technology to create “air-traffic control” to track all runners on and off the course was an integral part of event planning. Over the past decade, he has committed significant resources to this effort and has created a nimble reactive system that has allowed NYRR to respond quickly to significant events affecting their races including adverse weather, bird flu, 5-alarm fires on the marathon course, multiple simultaneous system failures, race cancellations, suspicious packages, etc.

“Managing the largest marathon in the world is no short order,” said NCS4 Director Lou Marciani. “Peter's leadership skills were put to a test following 9/11. His strong leadership and extraordinary people skills brought New York Road Runners step-in-step with the local New York City first responder community to advance not only the safety and security of the TCS New York City Marathon but the entire marathon industry. Peter's vision of developing and implementing industry wide Marathon Safety and Security Best Practices has become a reality due to his distinguished leadership.”

The foundation of NYRR is its events, and Ciaccia's commitment to deliver the best possible experience to runners, fans, and communities has been his guiding principle over the years. He has been instrumental in the redesign and production of NYRR's events with a focus on raising the logistical integrity, increasing entertainment, and developing new approaches to enhance the overall race-week experience. During his tenure, the number of race finishers has grown 40%, including such events as the United Airlines NYC Half, the Popular Brooklyn Half, and the TCS New York City Marathon—which has become the most popular and largest marathon in the world.

“The collective efforts made by sports industry leaders around the world, led by the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security has provided a safer experience for participants and spectators for over a decade, and I am beyond honored to be recognized by my peers as this year's Distinguished Leadership in Safety and Security Award recipient,” said Ciaccia. “During my tenure at New York Road Runners, the safety, security and overall event experience of our race participants, from the elite athletes to our final finishers have topped our list of priorities, and I pride myself in our team's ability to deliver a positive experience to all who come out to run, walk, spectate and volunteer.”

Ciaccia, who previously held the titles of Chief Production Officer and Technical Director of the TCS New York City Marathon, oversees areas including Event Development, Broadcast and Video Production, Media Relations and Public Affairs, Professional Athletes, Volunteer and Community Engagement, Rising New York Road Runners Youth Events, and the Athletes with Disabilities programs. More information on Ciaccia is available at nyrr.org/about-us/management.

For more information about National Conference, visit www.ncs4.com/conference and for more information about the awards visit http://www.ncs4.com/aboutncs4/ncs4-recognition-awards.

About the 9^th Annual Conference:

The ninth annual National Sports Safety and Security Conference and Exhibition will take place on July 9-12, 2018 at the Downtown Marriott in Louisville, Kentucky. The theme this year is Enhancing Situational Awareness in the Sports Safety and Security Industry. The Conference will attract over 450 attendees and 60 exhibitors representing safety and security professionals in professional sport leagues, intercollegiate athletics, stadium and arena directors/managers, government agencies, private sports security firms, emergency responders, sport facility owners and operation managers.  For more conference and exhibition information, visit www.ncs4.com/conference.