Startup-stalwart:
Mark Zarthar
president, Fayetteville Woodpeckers
Fayetteville
Compared with selling Natural Light beer, promoting minor league baseball may be a snap. That’s the story for the leader of North Carolina’s newest professional team. His work for beer giant Anheuser-Busch InBev included a stint overseeing the Natural Light brand as it gained market share for the first time in a decade. More recently, he headed Anheuser-Busch’s global sports marketing, overseeing partnerships with FIFA, Wimbledon and others. Zarthar, who has an MBA from Northwestern University, helped develop the $40 million 5,252-seat Segra Stadium in downtown Fayetteville. In early August, the Woodpeckers’ average attendance of nearly 3,700 ranked fourth in the 10-team Carolina League.
