# July 2026 Staffing and Organizational Announcement – Part 2

**Source:** IFPA  
**Type:** article  
**Published:** 2026-07-22  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.ifpapinball.com/july-2026-staffing-and-organizational-announcement-part-2/

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## Analysis

IFPA announces Tommy Vernieri as a new team member. Vernieri is a tournament director and Georgia NACS State Representative who rediscovered pinball in 2019, progressed through local and regional competition, and will contribute to IFPA communications and administrative operations.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Tommy Vernieri rediscovered pinball in 2019 after playing as a child — _IFPA announcement in staffing bio_
- [HIGH] Tommy Vernieri became Georgia NACS State Representative in 2025-26 — _IFPA announcement in staffing bio_
- [HIGH] Tommy Vernieri ran Southern-Fried Gaming Expo tournaments for two years — _IFPA announcement in staffing bio_
- [HIGH] Tommy Vernieri started tournament directing in 2021 — _IFPA announcement in staffing bio_

### Notable Quotes

> "He hopes to help the IFPA by contributing to official communications with an eye towards clear reasoning. He'll also focus on administrative tasks to help keep the IFPA organized. He really loves spreadsheets."
> — **IFPA (official announcement)**
> _Describes Vernieri's intended role and contributions to the organization_

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Tommy Vernieri | person | New IFPA staff member; tournament director; Georgia NACS State Representative (2025-26); organized Southern-Fried Gaming Expo tournaments |
| IFPA | organization | International Flipper Pinball Association; employing Tommy Vernieri in new staff role |
| Southern-Fried Gaming Expo | event | Tournament event series in the Southeast that Tommy Vernieri directed for two years |
| [name withheld pending review] | organization | City where Tommy Vernieri competed in early local tournaments |
| [name withheld pending review] | organization | City where Tommy Vernieri moved in 2021 and started tournament directing |
| [name withheld pending review] | organization | State representative organization; Tommy Vernieri served as Georgia representative in 2025-26 |

### Signals

- **[personnel_signal]** IFPA announces new staff member Tommy Vernieri to handle communications and administrative tasks, indicating organizational growth or restructuring (confidence: high) — Official staffing announcement hiring Vernieri for communications and administrative roles
- **[community_signal]** Tommy Vernieri's progression from casual player (2019) to tournament director (2021) to state representative (2025-26) to IFPA staff reflects development of competitive pinball community leadership pipeline (confidence: high) — Career trajectory documented in official IFPA bio showing rapid progression through tournament and organizational roles

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## Transcript

The IFPA is proud to announce a new member to the team, Tommy Vernieri! Tommy Vernieri Tommy has fuzzy memories of playing pinball as a kid and didn’t rediscover pinball again until 2019. He rapidly went from playing in the break room after work; to competing in local tournaments in Charleston, SC; to traveling for monthly events around the Carolinas. He started tournament directing in 2021 after moving to Atlanta, GA; ran the Southern-Fried Gaming Expo tournaments for two years; and became the Georgia NACS State Representative in 2025-26. He hopes to help the IFPA by contributing to official communications with an eye towards clear reasoning. He’ll also focus on administrative tasks to help keep the IFPA organized. He really loves spreadsheets. We have updated our IFPA Staff page with these new bios.

_(Acquisition: web_scrape, Enrichment: v5)_

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*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-08-04 | Item ID: 2d7e4624-41e4-4f61-8127-85314eafeaed*