Derrik Hester is the Technical Director Sr at Mountain America Stadium and Desert Financial Arena for ASU 365 Community Union, a unit of ASU Cultural Affairs. He leads production, venue technology, and technical operations across both venues, supporting university ceremonies, concerts, conferences, athletics, community programs, and other large-scale events.
His work sits at the intersection of live production, venue operations, and enterprise technology. He guides the planning, integration, operation, and lifecycle stewardship of audiovisual, broadcast, IPTV, LED display, audio, lighting, rigging, staging, networking, and production-control systems. Serving as a technical liaison among ASU Cultural Affairs, Sun Devil Athletics, Enterprise Technology, university leadership, consultants, integrators, and vendors, and other stakeholders, he brings operational knowledge into infrastructure modernization, systems integration, and capital-project planning. He approaches venues as sociotechnical systems in which people, technology, and organizational processes must work together to create reliable and meaningful experiences.
Derrik’s relationship with ASU began in 2008 as an undergraduate studying communication while working across Sun Devil Athletics, the School of Music and Undergraduate Student Government. He later earned a Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership from Florida Atlantic University and returned to ASU for graduate study in musical theatre performance. His interdisciplinary background in live production, technical theatre, performance, event management, and higher education informs both his technical leadership and his commitment to developing people.
Derrik views the venues and production program as a learning environment and hopes to expand opportunities for ASU students through mentorship, applied learning, and professional development. He believes technology is most successful when it quietly enables people to gather, communicate, and create meaningful shared experiences.