Lyte Names Wendi Sturgis President On Heels Of Headlines And Significant Company Growth Including Major Festival And Talent Agency Partnerships

Lyte -- the reservations technology platform reimagining ecommerce for artists, fans and live events -- has announced fresh updates to its executive team in the midst of significant growth over the past 5 months. The news includes Lyte’s Wendi Sturgis being named President, and Krystle Jackson joining the executive team as Chief of Staff to CEO Ant Taylor. These elevations follow major Lyte news and partnerships, including with Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful music festival for single-day ticket reservations, its first booking agency partnership with Mint Talent Group and an additional $5 million in Series B funding (bringing the total to $38 million).

President Wendi Sturgis joined Lyte as Chief Revenue Officer earlier this year. As President, Sturgis will scale all business operations. She’ll be responsible for hiring and expanding Lyte’s team, building up all operations, and driving marketing strategy for the company. Sturgis joined the Lyte team from Yext Europe -- where she was CEO and led its development into a publicly traded powerhouse within a market duopoly of Google and Facebook. She previously held executive roles at Right Media and Yahoo!, where she helped scale innovative technology to drive supply and demand for the benefit of consumers and all marketplace participants. Sturgis also brings her digital, ecommerce, data and technology expertise to broader industries such as The Container Store and Kustomer (recently sold to Facebook) as a board member. 

Chief of Staff to CEO Krystle Jackson joined Lyte in 2020 and quickly emerged as a leader who exemplified high emotional intelligence within the company around executive operations, community and Lyte’s philanthropic work. As Chief of Staff to CEO, Jackson will level up the executive team by amplifying communication and alignment, connecting the dots between contrasting parts of the organization, while anticipating the CEO's needs and ensuring the CEO is carrying out the strategic objectives to grow the company in a way that is aligned with Lyte's vision and principles. An effective implementer, Jackson helps to drive business priorities from conception to completion.

Lawrence Peryer, who was named Chief Strategy Officer earlier this year, will also sharpen his role to focus on Corporate Development. As an innovator and developer of new business models since the earliest days of the commercial internet, Peryer will focus on bringing new products and verticals to market, strategic alliances and partnerships, fundraising and mergers and acquisitions. 

“Wendi is a high impact player and a force multiplier for our business,” said Ant Taylor, CEO of Lyte. “We have hit a stage in our evolution where our company is our product and Wendi’s track record of making things scale significantly increases our chances of a great outcome.” Taylor continued, “Additionally, we have crossed a threshold where we can envision strategic investments and acquisitions and there is no better thought leader and deal maker to lead those initiatives than Lawrence. Lastly, in navigating COVID, completing a major financing, and building this world class leadership team, Krystle emerged as a natural leader, ready to take on more. Her EQ is off the charts; she is the glue. Nothing inspires me more than homegrown talent, and Krystle is a shining example of how Lyte is a place you can join and watch your career accelerate.” 

Lyte most recently made headlines for its partnership with Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful to host reservations for single-day tickets to the three-day festival. This partnership showcases Lyte’s novel solution to ticketing problems and is at the vanguard of the return of live events, with a focus on fans and protecting them from the secondary ticket sales market. This news follows its partnership with artist booking agency Mint Talent Group. As reported by Rolling Stone, artists on Mint’s roster are implementing Lyte’s reservations system to intelligently launch tours in, and out of, the pandemic and it further illustrates just how irresistible Lyte’s technology is. 

About Lyte:

Lyte is a reservations technology platform that has reimagined event ticketing for artists, venues and fans. In an industry where the standard is “no refunds,” and concert-goers have to compete with robots and brokers for the tickets they want, Lyte's mission is to fill every seat with real tickets at fair prices and make the entire experience delightful and simple. 

Lyte’s technology has delivered millions of dollars in savings by enabling fans to reserve, return and exchange tickets through its proprietary risk-free reservations system that top live entertainment brands are also now using to confront the uncertainty created by the pandemic. Lyte’s industry-friendly solutions have been utilized by Coachella, major tours with the likes of Mumford & Sons and Wilco, and recently featured in Rolling Stone and Billboard.    

Follow Lyte: 

Website: lyte.com

Twitter: twitter.com/lyteup

Instagram: instagram.com/lyte

Facebook: facebook.com/lyteup

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/lyte

Digital press kit: shorefire.com/roster/lyte