Management Team

Jon Hughes, President - Since the late 1970’s, Jon Hughes has pioneered the organization of amateur athletic events, first in his home-base of Central Florida and today throughout the world. He has been recognized for his outstanding leadership and organizational achievements by the Florida Athletics Congress (USATF), the Pan American Junior Games, the Governor of Florida, and the Grand Bahama Promotions Board. Jon was one of the youngest inductees into the Florida Track & Field Hall of Fame; admitted in 1987 at the age of 29. Jon’s expertise has led him all over the world. As president of EMMI, he directs the overall marketing effort as well as operations and staff, and has positioned the organization to offer the best in technology, marketing and management skills.

Betsy Hughes, Betsy’s passion for running began at age 14. She competed on one of the first girl’s track team at Glenridge Junior High and ran quite successfully while attending Winter Park High School. She continues to run and has completed five marathons. She has put her running knowledge to work for 25 years, as she teaches the community about the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle through shoe clinics and customer interaction. With a B.S. in Communication from the University of Florida, she brings valuable skills in the area of marketing as well as event management. As well as being the creative mind behind the unique awards given in the 40+ events put on each year, she helped design and implement the registration process used for the races. In 1990 she and Jon established Event Marketing and Management International, one of the most successful road race companies in the industry. Together they are the heart and “sole” of the Central Florida running community.

Natalie Casey, Vice President Communications – A graduate of Florida Southern College (B.S. in Sports Management, 1986), has been with the company full time since 1987. She handles sponsorship procurement and fulfillment and event marketing for EMMI and the Track Foundation. Her expertise is utilized to build relationships, develop successful sales concepts and marketing campaigns that provide value for sponsors and create extraordinary experiences for our participants. Natalie lives in Winter Park with her husband Mark and has two children Kevin, 12 and Elizabeth 10, and enjoys church, travel learning new things and any outdoor activity that can be done with family and friends.

Tom Ward, Vice President Operations - Tom is EMMI's point person as it relates to overall event operations. He is the manager of our state of the art timing system, known as ChampionChip. Tom also does all course creation and measurement under USATF certification guidelines. As Technical Director of the Walt Disney World Marathon he is in charge of all staffing and course details which includes all coordination of security, transportation and volunteers. The logistical guru is EMMI's lead in coordinating the Inaugural Disneyland® Half Marathon scheduled for September 17, 2006. A Rollins College graduate, (B.A. in Psychology, 1982), Tom has been with EMMI for 19 years, and in his time as a runner has participated in more than 25 marathons, including the Boston Marathon (8 times).

Steve Lapierre, Director of Finance- A graduate of Notre Dame 82', Steve manages the day-to-day finances for EMMI and the Track Shack Foundation. He oversees the registration process for the Walt Disney World® Marathon Weekend (35,000+ participants), the Disneyland® Half Marathon Weekend (15,000 + participants) and the Walt Disney World® Inline Marathon Weekend (2,000 + participants). Steve joined the team 7 years ago, but has been active with the company for over 14 years. When he's not busy crunching numbers, you can find him enjoying time with his family, watching his alma mater battle on the gridiron or diamond, or hitting the little white ball around the local golf courses. GO Irish!

Dani Guillermo, Director of Operations. A graduate of Rollins College, (B.A. in English, 1994), he is a logistics genius and all-around nice guy. He prefers the title Operations Guru or simply The Guru. Dani originally came to EMMI in 1994 and rejoined the team in 2004. Dani is responsible for permitting, equipment, site layout, event day setup, staffing, etc., etc… He loves to travel and his lifelong ambition is to one day see Des Moines, Iowa.

Ann Perez, Executive Assistant, a graduate of the University of Central Florida with a B.A. in Liberal Studies, assists the CEO Jon Hughes. Ann serves as Webmaster for TrackShack.com maintaining over 100 pages which house up-to-date information regarding Track Shack retail store, Track Shack Foundation and Event Marketing & Management. Ann is member of the Track Shack Foundation MarathonFest Program and completed her first 1/2 Half Marathon this year with a time of 2:08. She enjoys taking classes in digital media and web design. Other interests include traveling, reading, running, and tennis.

Susan Zwer, Registration Manager. Susan has been a member of the day of race team for many years, working at registration at events, and in August 2005 became the registration manager for EMMI. She oversees the entire registration process – data entry, assigning race numbers, labeling packets, downloading online registrations, packet pickup, etc. Susan graduated from Florida State University with a B.A. in English and a Masters of Library Science. She loves to travel and is an avid reader. She has run two marathons, including the London Marathon, and enjoys power walking now.