Did Cheryl Rosner resign on her own or was she asked?

By Anna Marie Kukec | Daily Herald ColumnistContact writer

Did Cheryl Rosner resign on her own or was she asked?

The chief executive officer of TicketsNow.com in Rolling Meadows has been on board for about 1½ years, including the sale of the company to Ticketmaster earlier this year.

Now, she's leaving, by Dec. 19, and hasn't said where she's going yet.

"It was entirely Cheryl's decision," said Jennifer Swanson, a company spokeswoman.

Current Chief Technology Officer Shawn Freeman will take over, but the CEO title has been eliminated, Swanson said.

Freeman's new title will be president of TicketsNow and senior vice president/resale for Ticketmaster North America.

In January, TicketsNow said it would be acquired by Ticketmaster for about $265 million. At that time, it had more than 200 employees at its Rolling Meadows headquarters and a Crystal Lake office. Rosner said then that they planned to "grow" the company.

By November, the economy tanked and TicketsNow.com announced it would lay off 62 workers while its parent company reorganizes.

Since Ticketmaster has call centers worldwide, it has opted to wind down the TicketsNow call center in Crystal Lake by late December. Another 26 employees were expected to be retained and placed in other positions, Swanson had said.

Ticketmaster also recently acquired the controlling interest in Front Line Management, an artist management company. The corporation has been renamed Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc.

Mike Domek, the founder of TicketsNow who left in April, started the company in 1999 out of his one-bedroom Crystal Lake apartment. When asked what he thought of the layoffs in November, Domek said "It's actually quite sad what is happening at TicketsNow."

"In my opinion the confidence in the CEO will just continue to erode until she figures out that TicketsNow was first and foremost a people company. Our people and our culture are what made the company successful," Domek had said via e-mail.

"This business is so unique and is highly dependent upon relationships - relationships that our customer care team has spent years developing with their clients. I don't think you can outsource relationships but that's just my opinion," the e-mail continued. "This was a large and strategic purchase for Ticketmaster and they are full of smart people. I have confidence they will get this figured out."