Adam Saks gains more prominence at UltraStar

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Adam Saks had a busy week even by his standards.

The general manager of UltraStar Multi-tainment Center was promoted to chief operating officer of UltraStar Cinemas. He had just been elected to the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce board and then elected its vice president.

And UltraStar had just been given the chamber’s Waz Business of the Year award.

Saks said being named COO will allow UltraStar “to align corporate operations and maximize use of our properties. Ak-Chin is our No. 1 priority.”

Staying visible and prominent at the local UltraStar is a personal priority for him. The promotion will allow him to be even more involved in information and promotion and the direction of the company.

“I’ll be able to weigh in on other situations,” Saks said. “It will allow me to take my experiences and apply them to a broader range of situations.”

He said UltraStar CEO Alan Grossberg saw the change as Saks taking a leadership position to better support the Ak-Chin building. As COO he will have a role in spreading the multi-tainment model within the company.

The local UltraStar center includes a restaurant, bowling alleys, arcade and games center, food vendors and the movie theaters. The Ak-Chin Indian  Community's partnership with the Super Bowl Host Committee is bringing a Super-Size Party on Super Bowl Sunday to the Ultra-Star and utilizing all of its features. It's that kind of thing that keeps Saks so busy.

Two movie goers recently became Adam Saks fans rather unwittingly when he embraced company policy of responding to community wishes.

That involved the screening of “American Sniper.”

Jack and Peggy Podojil described an audience struck silent by the power of the film. Only after the closing credits did they slowly shuffle into the hall and lobby. “An awesome movie,” Jack Podojil said. “When you leave that theater nobody’s saying a word.”

Outside the theater doors they were greeted by an American flag and more information about the movie’s subject, Chris Kyle. The unexpected flag had a dramatic impact, too.

“We started asking, ‘Who put up the American flag?’” Podojil said. “We wanted to thank them.”

They were pointed in the direction of UltraStar employee Bud Ryan, a past commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars post, and Adam Saks.

“For an individual to take it upon himself to bring a flag, and the theater to let him do that, we thought that was amazing,” Peggy Podojil said.

“We felt this movie needed to be treated with the utmost respect and reverence,” Saks said. “We thought, ‘Hey, could we have something more symbolic?’”

The right kind of flag to display in the right way was right up Ryan’s alley.

“Bud’s an amazing man in his love for veterans,” Saks said.

Saks said it was about following the UltraStar tenets of being a neighborhood theater and responding to unique situations.

The Podojils compared it to the situation in San Diego, UltraStar’s headquarters, when 50 World War II veterans had asked other local theaters to make arrangements for them to see the WWII film “Unbroken” together.  The theaters’ response was negative.

“Alan Grossberg heard about that and said there was no greater service the theater could do,” Saks said. Grossberg invited the vets to the Mission Valley location for a free viewing and even brought in a band to play the national anthem.

Saks said the company seeks that kind of community partnership.

He said the story of Chris Kyle deserved particular notice, though Ryan’s display was done without fanfare or promotion. It was a service to the moviegoers.

That kind of service keeps Saks one of the busiest guys in Maricopa. Now with his new responsibilities, he’s even busier than ever.