Doug Richter

Founder/CEO of Meritage Entertainment

Doug Richter is the Founder/CEO of Meritage Entertainment, an experiential marketing agency based in Phoenix, and has been active in the entertainment marketing industry for 35 years. 

Doug is an industry-recognized advisor for brands, festivals and tours with a focus on live event strategies on both the brand side and the festival side. His award-winning agency curates relationships between entertainment properties, brands and talent that drive creative and financial success for all stakeholders.  

He has managed the sponsorship strategy for many national culinary and music festivals and producers including Flavor! Napa Valley, the USA Today Wine & Food Experience, The Bahamas Culinary & Arts Festival and festival producer Danny Wimmer Presents, working closely with many celebrity chefs and national music talent.  He has closed hundreds of sponsorship deals with a long list of blue-chip brands including Citi, Chase, Microsoft, Aetna, Infiniti, JetBlue, Macy’s, Humana, Heineken, Lexus and more.

Doug was previously Managing Director of Global Partnerships for the live events division of Time Inc. where his team was tasked with developing a national platform of new event properties for its iconic brands that included Entertainment Weekly, People and Sports Illustrated. 

Doug spent more than 10 years in the music industry, holding executive marketing roles at BMG Entertainment, Triad Artists and Wherehouse Music, where he was Director of Online Marketing for this $800M entertainment retailer. He spent three years as Tour Manager for soul icon world tour Barry White, including the sold-out Icon Is Love World Tour and was the Personal Manager for Motown legend Mary Wilson of The Supremes. He sits on the Advisory Board for FestForums, the leading industry conference for festival producers and is also on the Advisory Board of the Experiential Marketing Measurement Coalition (EMMC).