Front Office Exchange

Welcome to Episode 9 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring Mike Birling, General Manager of the Durham Bulls.

Everyone knows the Durham Bulls - the Tampa Bay Rays' AAA affiliate in Durham, NC - thanks in large part to the movie "Bull Durham" starring Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, but they're also among the - if not the - preeminent minor league baseball teams when you consider their attendance, branding, merchandising, on-field performance, and much more. Leading that charge is Mike, who has been with the Bulls in some capacity since 1998 and GM since 2002.

When I worked for USA Baseball our offices were essentially directly beneath third base of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, so I was fortunate to get to know Mike and his family well, and to watch him help grow the Bulls into what they've become today. Mike's passion is unmatched, and he practices what he preaches when he says that you can't get out-worked if you want to succeed in minor league baseball. This work ethic - and he'll tell you that of his staff's as well - was recognized last year, when he was named the International League's Executive of the Year.

Big thanks both to Mike and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 8 of the Front Office Exchange podcast, featuring Natalie Best, Executive Vice President and Director of Client Service at French/West/Vaughan, one of the fastest growing PR agencies in the world.

I was excited to interview Natalie, as it's a bit of a departure from what I've done in the first few episodes. French/West/Vaughan has clients in the sports world - with Michael Vick and the Wrangler Network among its most notable - but it is a generalist firm at heart, so therefore Natalie doesn't work exclusively in sports business like some of our past guests. She did in her early career, however, working for the NBA's league offices in New York right out of school, before moving on to the "old" Charlotte Hornets in her home state of North Carolina. Natalie offers great perspective on how her career has evolved and what it's like to be married to someone who works in sports as well.

Big thanks both to Natalie and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 7 of the Front Office Exchange podcast, featuring Joe Favorito. Joe is a podcaster, professor, author and all-around media and marketing guru, and tens of thousands of sports business professionals subscribe to his Sports Marketing and PR Pros LinkedIn group and weekly e-newsletter.

I met Joe back in 2008 when he and I were charged with the small task of trying to publicize international baseball's push to return the sport to the Olympic Games. I was also running media and public relations for USA Baseball at the time, and while I thought I knew a thing or two about PR, Joe ran circles around me. Watching him work with the national press while also crafting our message was really impressive.

Joe hasn't always been a go-to strategic media consultant, however - he was a rising star in the sports PR game right out of school, and even as a young SID, it was clear that he understood the power of networking and building relationships. He quickly rose to become the youngest head of PR in the NBA with the 76ers, and that led to senior media roles with the USTA and the New York Knicks.

Joe has seen it all in sports marketing and PR at this point, and despite being busy with clients, he still finds time to pour back into the industry by pumping out his newsletter and by both teaching a class and leading the CUSP Podcast for the Columbia University Sports Management Program, where he is now in his 11th year on faculty.

Big thanks both to Joe and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and on Twitter at @jakefehling. This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 6 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring J.W. Cannon, Senior Project Lead for Sponsorship and Events for UPS in Atlanta, and cofounder of Twitter's #sbchat.

I was introduced to J.W. by a mutual friend in the industry, but I was familiar with him before that, through his very popular #sbchat conversation on Twitter. Every Sunday night at 9:30 PM eastern, he and co-founder Lou Imbriano lead an engaging back and forth with followers on the hottest topics in sports business. It's a must for anyone in the industry.

J.W. has led a diverse career between events, agencies and now one of the top companies in the world, UPS. He offered perspective on each of those corners of the sports business industry, while also giving advice on everything from how to pitch him, to how to get his attention if you're looking for a job right out of school.

J.W. was a blast to talk to. He is a super-engaging and down-to-earth executive who genuinely loves to give back to the sports business community. I think you'll really enjoy this episode.

Big thanks both to J.W. and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

This is Episode 5 of the Front Office Exchange podcast, featuring Brian Killingsworth, Chief Marketing Officer of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I was introduced to Brian through a mutual friend in the sports industry and we met over lunch a couple of months ago in Tampa. Carey Cox, a member of his marketing team both at the Bucs and from his days with the Tampa Bay Rays, joined us as well; she and I shared a similar early career back at UNC and the USOC. It was a great example of the tightly-knit the sports world.

Brian has a unique career spent across two major sports leagues, and he provided interesting perspective on the challenges of trying to market a team like the Rays - whose fight for a new stadium and attention in the St. Pete/Tampa area are well documented - and like the Rams, who formerly fought for relevancy in arguably the nation's best baseball town.

Brian was kind enough to join me amidst the Bucs busy preseason schedule, where they have generated a ton of excitement around young players like Jameis Winston and Gerald McCoy. It's great to hear about the success he's having in his new role there, and I know he's thrilled to be back in Tampa.

Big thanks both to Brian and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 4 of the Front Office Exchange podcast where I speak with David Perkins, Chief Operating Officer for USA Baseball.

David was my first boss in a full-time role, and then after I moved away, got married and returned to North Carolina, he and USA Baseball CEO Paul Seiler hired me back. In my eight years with David, I learned a ton. I'm not sure if I've ever seen someone devour news and information like him, and as a podcast junkie, he was my first call when I started this podcast when it came to looking for advice.

Probably my most vivid memory from my time with "Perk" or "Perkins" - as he is almost universally known - is back in 2003 on my first week on the job, he called me just minutes after the final out was made in an Olympic qualifier that unfathomably left Team USA on the outside of the Athens Olympic Games looking in. Part of my job was going to be to help market USA Baseball as the new show in town of the Triangle-area of North Carolina, but the other part was to help market the organization overall and build on the momentum coming off a gold medal with Tommy Lasorda in Sydney. Needless to say, I was panicking. I remember David being calm, though, and saying, "Don't worry, we'll get through this." And although it wasn't easy, we did.

It's been amazing to watching USA Baseball's explosive growth in recent years, and I think you'll enjoy hearing from one of the industry's rare executives that have been with one organization his entire career.   Big thanks both to David and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 3 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring Danny Sink, Director of U.S. Open Championships for the U.S. Golf Association.

Danny and I go all the way back to the summer of 2001 at Pine Needles Golf Club in my hometown of Southern Pines for the U.S. Women's Open. I was an operations intern for Danny and his team at PCM - Pinehurst Championship Management - where I painted fence posts and rope-and-staked the entire golf course. It was my first real job in sports. Later, I worked alongside him at Winged Foot Golf Club in 2006 for the U.S. Open, where I was in corporate merchandising and he managed the entire event.

Running these events is not easy. It's often a thankless job, and the hours are impossibly long. You've got to be a special kind of leader to juggle vendors, volunteers and golf pros, and if you're able to do that while keeping a sense of humor - which Danny has - then you're in rare company.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to enter the sports industry, especially as it relates to events, and hearing Danny talk about how he - and others from the original PCM team have advanced their careers into upper management is a case study in how networking and "grinding," as he puts it, pays off.

Big thanks both to Danny and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

This is episode 2 of the Front Office Exchange podcast. In this episode I speak with Michael Beale, Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

I met Michael in 2001 as a Junior at UNC when he was already well on his way to becoming the rising star within the athletic department that he's become today. Somehow I made enough of an impression on him that he let me run the scoreboard for baseball games and invited me to play pick up hoops with him and some co-workers. Later, he provided me with invaluable advice as I was trying to figure out what direction to choose in sports after graduating. We have stayed in close contact since.

We talked about how the word "mentor" is thrown around and how those just entering the workforce are encouraged to go out and find them. He explained that really, mentors are built through long-lasting relationships, and that it's important to start building those early so that they can continue to grow over time. I've been fortunate enough to build such a relationship with Michael over the years, and I was thrilled to have him on to help kickoff this podcast.

Big thanks both to Michael and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to share them, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to the first episode of the Front Office Exchange, a podcast that takes a closer look at the careers of leading executives and rising stars in the sports business industry. Each week we'll talk to everyone from recent sports management degree recipients looking for a new job all the way up to major professional sports league commissioners.

Who am I and what makes me qualified to host this podcast? From 2002-2012, between USA Baseball, the USOC, the USGA and a few other stops along the way, I led international media operations and co-directed Olympic and major championship golf hospitality programs. I got to travel the world, make some amazing memories, and most importantly, I learned from some of the best and most influential leaders in sports business.

In 2012 I made a dramatic career change out of sports and media, and into executive search. It was a move that made sense for me professionally and personally, and it's a decision that many in the industry are faced with at some point in their career. Fast forward to today, and after four years with KFA Search placing senior-level executives in a variety of industries, I am leading our efforts to branch into sports. I am confident that both entry- and senior-level executives will gain valuable insight from each episode.

Please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [email protected] and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to share them, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Thank you for listening!