New Florida Panthers President of Business Operations Mike White said that his “No. 1 priority is the fan,” drawing on his time from Disney to cite his vision, according to George Richards of FLORIDA HOCKEY NEWS. White, who has spent time as an executive at Disney’s parks and ESPN along with Zoox, said there are “a lot of things we want to bring to the fans here.” He added, “There’s really nothing like the guest experience at Disney, but here at the Panthers, we’re going to create really extraordinary fan experiences.” White will be in charge of all of the Panthers’ business entities “including the team, arena, IcePlex, IceDen, and the War Memorial.” He said at his introductory press conference Tuesday at Amerant Bank Arena that he “was ‘humbled to be here,’ and promised to be a ‘steward for the brand, the team, the community, and, especially the fans.’” White was introduced by two people he “spent a lot of time talking to over the past couple of months” in owner Vinnie Viola and GM Bill Zito. Although White mostly work on the business side, it was “key he and the hockey operations department gets along as well as they did” with Matt Caldwell — who left to join the T’Wolves and Lynx as CEO. White said that he and Zito “hit it off right away” (FLORIDA HOCKEY NEW, 4/1).
