Sports Equity Podcast: Recent Episodes
Brett Weisbrot
We welcome special guests from Teams, Brands and Agencies to discuss the value that sports brings to business through current trends and best practices.
Lauren is a graduate from CU Boulder with diverse experience leading sales and business operations, currently the Director of Business Operations for Sports Thread.
David is a graduate from the sports management program at Ohio University with diverse experience contributing and managing in professional sports, now the Suite Sales Manager for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Denise is a graduate from the University of Arizona with an extensive background in sports and live events, now leading Sales and Service for Spinzo.
Caleb is a graduate from the University of Miami with an extensive background in sports and entertainment, now leading Ticket Sales and Service through Learfield IMG College for the University of Memphis.
Jed is a graduate of Washington State, had the opportunity to play with elite talent in the National Football League and is now building his own business as the Fullback of Finance, teaching financial planning to those on and off the field.
Brandon played collegiate football player and has since grown in the sports industry with extensive experience building team brands and developing sales talent, now building something special with piLYTIXSports.
Andrew has spent the last 11 years working around the sports industry both on the brand and agency side to now growing his own agency in Athelo Group.
Jim has spent the last eleven years working on the team side in the sports industry growing through through ticket sales with the Tampa Bay Lightning to now leading a sales and service department for the Indianapolis Colts.
Edward has spent the last 13 years working on team and property side in sports and entertainment, now part of an elite team building a new arena facility for the Clippers in Inglewood.
Brian is a graduate of Duke University, spending the last 18 years around the sports and live events industry, now building something special in Concierge Live.
Coach Terry has spent many years working in and around the sports industry mentoring talent, now building something special with Legacy Partners and coaching at Lourdes University.
Molly Wurdack-Folt is a Masters in Sports Administration graduate from Ohio University and has spent the last 15 years working in the sports industry. Molly is no leading Partnership Activation for Olympia Entertainment in Detroit and a founding member at Pro Sports Assembly.
Bill has spent the last 30 years in and around the sports business from marketing teams and events to working with investors in both the minors and the majors.
Shawn has spent the last 25 years in the sports industry, first playing in the National Hockey League, giving a heavy involvement in the charity space, to now growing on the business side as Chief Commercial Officer for the Florida Panthers.
Tracy has spent over 25 years in the sports industry, early on in media and publishing, now leading marketing on the Hobby side of Panini America.
Mark Gress is a masters graduate and has spent the last 20 years in and around the sports industry starting off in the NCAA Athletics, transitioning to the team side in the NFL, since has since grown on the placement side helping sports executives grow their careers, while also teaching students at his alma matter of Drexel University.
Doug Holtzman has spent over 20 years working in and around the sports industry, within the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA and agency side. Doug is now the Vice President of Business Development for Sportsdigita.
Greg has spent the last 11 plus years in the tech space building a performing analysis company for athletes, now Vice President and General Manager of Hudl, while also coaching high school football in Nebraska.
Wes Brown has spent the last 18 years both in the NCAA and NBA focused on Athletic Training and Sports Medicine, currently the Assistant Athletic Trainer for the Miami Heat.
Marcus is a Masters graduate in Sports Administration from the University of Miami and has spent the last 14 years growing within the industry.
Elisa Padilla is a Masters graduate in Marketing and has spent almost 30 years contributing with some of the most iconic brands in Disney, Nickelodeon, HBO, AT&T, Apple. Elisa has also spent time in the NBA, MLB and agency side of the sports industry with a diverse marketing and creative background, now distributing kick it by ep all over social highlighting women contributing in business.
Ted Glick has spent his career growing in the NBA, NHL and Professional Soccer. Ted is currently the Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service for Sacramento Republic FC.
Chad Cardinal has spent 15 years working in sports within the NBA, WNBA, MLS, NHL and NCAA. Chad is now a Vice President for the Fan Relationship Management Centers within the Aspire Group who support Ticket Marketing, Sales and Service for their partners while also leveraging his MBA from Pepperdine to teach at their Graziadio Business School.
Bill Goldstein has spent countless years working in and around the sports industry, now an author of “Skip the Funeral” and podcast host of “Not that you asked”.
Dustin has spent over 10 years working in sports, starting at his alma matter Texas Tech in ticketing to growing through Premium and Partnerships in the NBA, NHL and NCAA, now the Chief Revenue Officer for New Mexico United.
C. Brett Harrell has spent over 20 years working in sports through nascar and the agency side of the business to now building something special in Block Creative Agency and UREPZ, leading the effort to empower economic opportunity for influencers, student-athletes, sports organizations.
Sener Korkusuz has spent the last 20 years building organizations with now putting a major focus into the new American 7s Football League.
Rob Cornilles has spent the last 30 years working in the sports industry, starting on the team side in the NBA, working at SRO Partners, to then developing one of the first sports training companies in Game Face. Rob is also an author of the #1 International Bestseller: The Sales Game Changer: How to Become the Salesperson People Love and Host of Game Face Execs Podcast.
Brandon Wimbush has played at the highest level of Division 1 football with both Notre Dame and UCF, now building a professional career in a new venture called MOGL.
Shawn Wooden is a graduate of Notre Dame, spent 9 years playing Safety in the National Football league to now leading the Sports Division at Associated Financial Consultants.
Pete Soto has spent the last 28 years building team brands, engaging fans and producing amazing content within the MLB, NHL, MLS and NFL. During his time in the industry, Pete has won 3 championships and he is now the Vice President of Fan Experience and Bolt Productions for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Dan Kaufmann has spent the past 15 plus years growing in the sports industry with a diverse background in the business. Now for more than a decade, focusing heavy on the partnerships side of the business.
Some call her Coach, some Dr. J, but Jen has spent the past 20 plus years, coaching, training and developing people both in life and sport with an authentic leadership approach and a trailblazer in professional football.
Danyel Surrency Jones is the President of Power To Give Foundation & Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of POWERHANDZ, a global athletic training and rehabilitation product tech company that creates innovative athletic, fitness training and rehab products that increase overall human performance.
Danyel spent nearly 2 decades in corporate America working in various sales & marketing, operations, executive positions within fortune 500 medical tech companies. But while her corporate bosses asked her to temper her creativity, POWERHANDZ has given Surrency Jones the freedom to use her MBA & Wharton marketing training combined with natural grit as an entrepreneur to push her big ideas forward.
Since its launched, POWERHANDZ has grown their first product, a patented weighted anti-grip basketball glove, into training and rehabilitation tech for five sports and created 10 more products with 4 patents. Their products are sold in more than 86 countries and used by the NBA, NFL, MLB, WBO and other professional sports organization and thousands of youth.
The creative business strategist has led POWERHANDZ to e-commerce giants like Amazon, Walmart and Target, Academy Sports. She’s also created the Power to Give Foundation, a non-profit that provides athletic and academic programs to youth athletes in underserved communities. The foundation has partnered with the NFL, NBA, Boys & Girls Club, and other notable organizations.
Our guest Marty has spent the last twenty plus years working in sports, predominantly in the NHL and MLB, now the Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Marcus has been in the sports industry for over 20 years with a diverse background spending time in all five top professional sports leagues, the WNBA to now for the previous 3 and a half years leading NCAA sales and service programs for universities under Learfield IMG College Ticket Solutions.
David has spent 13 years working in the sports and entertainment industry currently the Director of Premium Sales and Entertainment for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Daily’s Place Amphitheatre.
Chad has spent over 20 years working in and around the sports industry, starting in minor league hockey growing through different leagues and teams, to pivot and give back helping candidates on the search side of the business.
Casey has spent the last twenty years working in and around the sports industry and the advertising world, currently working in partnerships with the 2020 Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat.
John has spent almost 15 years building something special in Hudl, a technology company that supports both coaches and athletes.
Diana has spent almost 15 years in the executive search field helping talent and organizations within the sports, entertainment and media industry find a great match.
Named to the Sports Business Journal 2020 "Game Changers: Women in Sports Business"
Tim has spent over 15 years in the sports industry, with a diverse background in minor league hockey, the NCAA and currently leading the leading Premium and Ticket Revenue for the inaugural year of NFL Football in Las Vegas with the Raiders.
Jared has spent over 13 years in professional sports on the team side within the NHL, MLB, NFL and now back to hockey leading Partnerships and Premium for the Arizona Coyotes.
Steve has spent over 25 years working in and around the sports industry, spending his early years in New York and then making South Florida his home. For the last six years, Steve has led sales and marketing for The Falls Club.
Mackie has spent the last twenty years working within collegiate and professional sports space, currently with the University of Miami, contributing to the growth of the sales and service department.
Bob has spent close to 20 years in sports, spending time growing in radio and on the team side with the Miami Dolphins and Brooklyn Nets to now over the past 5 years building SponsorUnited, mapping the entire sponsorship ecosystem.
Adam, like most of us started playing sports at a young age parlaying that into playing soccer for Northwestern University, then after leaving college took on diverse opportunities and getting his MBA at NYU, to now being a teacher, an author and an industry leading expert with a technology company, Block Six Analytics. Today we welcome Adam Grossman to the program.
Jason has spent over 20 years working in and around Sports, focused on marketing and communications, now for over ten years with Panini growing the brand exponentially.
Socrates has spent over 20 years doing creative and design work for major sports team, publications and brands across the world. In the current climate, pivoting is crucial and this he has reinvented himself in the digital space helping countless organizations share their story.
Gregg has spent over 20 years in business marketing in the automotive industry with a heavy emphasis leveraging live music and sporting events to leverage new consumers and retaining current clients.
Lance Tyson has spent his career making everyone around him better, spending 15 years with Dale Carnegie to then going on to create Tyson Group in 2010.
Brian has spent over 15 years in sports working in the NHL, NBA and now the NCAA contributing to revenue and mentoring staff.
Brandon Steiner is a proud alumni of Syracuse University, who has spent the last 35 years building a sports empire with a well known name in the industry currently growing the CollectibleXchange and The Steiner Agency.
Nick has spent time around the PGA, NCAA, then creating a travel agency for sports fans in FanPlan. He has now created the Sports Biz Group agency and hosts the Sports Biz Pod.
Matt has spent many years both personally and professionaly around the sports and entertainment industry with an emphasis on the actual tickets in the business, early on selling capabilities with Worldwide Ticketcraft to now more recently creating his own company, Ticket Time Machine.
Christopher Spano has spent time working on the team side with the Orlando Magic, Boston Bruins, San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Buccaneers while also consulting from a league and third party perspective with the AHL and Stubhub. He is now currently leading Ticket Sales, Service and Analytics for Orlando City SC in MLS, NWSL Orlando Pride and USL Orlando City franchises.
Travis Apple has spent 13 years working in sports within the NBA, the NBA League Office, MLB and now leading the revenue charge for Event Dynamic. Travis is also hosting the 52 Weeks of Hustle Podcast and a now an author in HUSTLE YOUR WAY TO $UCCE$$ IN SPORTS SALES: Playbook to BEING ELITE in the Sports Business Industry.
Jason Miller, a graduated of the University of West Virginia majoring in Sports Management, has grown in the partnership world through college sports, Radio, and in the NFL. Over the past six years, Jason has challenged himself on the agency side representing clients with Premier Partnerships and now Excel Sports Management.
Robert Miller studied at Southern Miss, has spent over 15 years in sports with a diverse background in the NBA, NHL, NCAA, Racing and now the WNBA and shys away from telling how it is.
Michael Brown graduated from Kent State with a Bachelors in Sports Administration while also a Manager during those years on the Men’s Basketball team, then grew in the NBA, NFL and now with Legends growing new stadium properties at SoFi Stadium in LA and now for MLS in Columbus.
Episode 12: David Rubinstein spent time over a decade in MLB, NHL, NBA and then broadcast TV, to then parlay that experience into a making a major impact on countless individuals and organizations with one of of my favorite sales training programs “Sell like Hell.”
Episode 11: Brette Sadler is a graduate of the University of Miami, who entered professional sports with the expansion Florida Panthers, then spent time with Octagon and UFC activating big brands, to now leading global partnerships for MGM Resorts International. Brette also created a new chapter of WISE in Las Vegas.
Episode 10: We welcome Dustin Vicari to the podcast. Dustin has a degree in Sports Management from the University of Illinois and has spent over 15 years in the sports industry building team brands and new stadiums in the NHL, NFL and now in MLS Soccer.
Episode 9: Leigh Steinberg has represented talent for over 40 years across the entire sports industry with a record eight number 1 overall draft picks in the NFL Draft.
Episode 8: With over 15 years in player representation starting with Rosenhaus Sports, CSE and now building out Katz Brothers Sports with his brother Jason, today we have Michael Katz here to join us this episode.
Episode 7: Tiffany is a graduate from Johnson and Wales with a Bachelors in Sports Entertainment/Event Management and over 15 years of marketing experience.
Episode 6: Today we have Evan Gitomer who is about to hit his 20 year mark in the sports industry, now creating an agency called The Strategic Sports Group.
Episode 5: This episode we speak with RJ Martino. RJ has a 25 year plus sports background in ticketing and partnerships, from Minor Leagues to NFL to the College Football National Championship Game in Miami 2021.
Episode 4 with Marc Nudelberg, with dynamic background coaching for 10 years in NCAA Football with FSU, UF, Cincinnati, and Nevada and Lafayette College. Now President of On the Ball Ventures.
Episode 3: Co-founders of Making Waves Marketing, a women owned boutique agency
Didi Martz, who I had the pleasure of working directly with at the BB&T Center, has a heavy background in venue marketing, leveraging live sporting events to drive bodies to concerts and activating brands at live events.
Linda Richardson, with heavy retail and telecom marketing experience, spent time with Simon Malls and over 12 years with MetroPCS and T-Mobile growing the brands in Florida and leveraging team relationships to reinforce and create new affinities for wireless needs.