Sports to Business

Shannon "The Cannon" Hudson, founder and CEO of 9Round Franchising, LLC, is a former IKF Light Middleweight Kickboxing Champion of the World. After over  70 bouts in the ring, Shannon could not find a place where the average person could be exposed to the "Top Secret" training of some of the best fighters in the world. That is where his vision for 9Round began. He knew that if he could take the gruelling workouts he did in the ring, and create a non-intimidating, convenient circuit workout format, then the average person could enjoy the benefits of boxing and kickboxing only available to professional athletes. Shannon and his wife, Heather, opened their first 9Round studio in 2008 in Greenville, SC. Since then, the brand has grown to more than 600 locations across 41 states and 18 countries, plus many more in various stages of development – all delivering on the promise of making members stronger in 30 minutes, physically and mentally.

In this episode, we discuss:

Carla Rosenberg is Senior Vice President of Charity & Events Management for global sports marketing agency SPORTFIVE and is part of the leadership team. Based in Dallas, Carla runs the Charity and Events Management practice and offers additional event and production capabilities alongside Rooftop2 Productions, the agency’s New York-based experiential marketing and production division. Carla’s team also provides philanthropic expertise to many of SPORTFIVE’S more than 250 athlete clients looking to build or enhance their charitable activities.   

Prior to joining SPORTFIVE, Carla founded Matchpoint Agency and served as Chief Visionary Officer, working with athletes, professional sports teams and nonprofit clients to achieve their philanthropic goals. In May 2018, Matchpoint Agency joined Lagardère Plus, the global partnership marketing agency of Lagardère Sports and Entertainment, which was rebranded to SPORTFIVE in May. Carla’s first entrée into the agency setting was as Sports Marketing Director for SCA Promotions. Before that, she spent eight seasons in the professional sports industry.   

Carla began her career working for the President of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club and later served as Senior Director of Community Marketing for the Dallas Stars Hockey Club and Executive Director of the Dallas Stars Foundation. These experiences, along with her natural business acumen, introduced her to new people, big ideas and winning strategies that helped inspire the evolution of Matchpoint. While helping athletes manage their Foundations and having her finger on the pulse of the professional sports landscape and philanthropic scene, her ability to maximize revenue opportunities and execute championship-level charity events has earned her notoriety as a game changer in the industry. From professional tennis tournaments to galas, she and her team have planned and executed some of the nation’s highest-profile events.   

In 2019, Carla was selected as a recipient of Sports Business Journal’s Game Changers Awards, which honors a select group of women who are having a major impact in transforming the sports business industry. Carla currently serves as President on the board of Dallas Influencers Sport & Entertainment (DISE) and sits on the Board of Directors for PwC SMU Athletic Forum, Nancy Lieberman Charities, and The Sandlot Children’s Charity. She is on The University of Dallas MBA Advisory Board and The Dallas Stars Hockey Hall of Fame Nomination Committee. She volunteered her time as a former Board of Trustee member for ten years with The National Multiple Sclerosis Society.   

Born and raised in South Africa, Carla holds a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she played four years of tennis on an NCAA Division-I Athletic Scholarship. She graduated with highest honors, as well as Academic All-American and All-Big Ten accolades. She also achieved her Master of Business Administration in Marketing/Sports & Entertainment Management from the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas.   

In this episode, we discuss: 

- Carla's love of tennis and her journey through NCAA as a D1 athlete 

- How Carla began her business journey in sports marketing while completing her MBA 

- Why saying yes to the hard things has the biggest results 

- How Carla started her own agency, and why saying "no" to certain projects allowed Matchpoint to scale 

- Story behind Matchpoint acquisition, and key takeaways for current business leaders 

- How Carla leveraged the pandemic to rethink and come out stronger

Sean McCall is the Managing Vice President at Pariveda Solutions.  With 25+ years of experience across various roles within consulting, Sean has deep experience in human performance, small teams, and purpose-driven leadership. An elite athlete as well, Sean draws on his experience as a player, captain, coach, and architect to help organizations create clarity in purpose, the connection amongst team members, forward-looking vision, member autonomy, active retention, and brave spaces to accelerate the development potential of the team. Sean is a well-respected speaker and visionary who can inspire teams to greatness.  

Sean played various youth sports before committing to swimming full time in high school and college, representing his teams at the highest levels possible (state, NCAA, respectively). Following a decorated swimming career, Sean went on to play a nearly 30-year Ultimate Frisbee career as a former semipro athlete being selected to three USA National Teams, captaining twice, earning three World Championships and achieving over 30 “caps” for international game appearances.  

In this episode, we discuss: 

- How Sean stays young, both from a physical and mental standpoint 

- How the challenges that Sean faced as a kid shaped his future 

- How to not let metrics and data drive wrong behaviours in your organization 

- Why failure makes winning that much sweeter 

- How Sean deals with failure both as a parent and as a leader 

- Why the best advice for leaders is to be authentic and to not be afraid of being vulnerable 

- Why the experience in sports is regarded highly by employers 

- How Pariveda is redefining the consulting and implementation space

Paul Fioroni, a Mississauga native, is a former pro-hockey player and is currently the CEO of Matador Medical Management LLC. Matador currently works with the best air tech in the market- partnering with IVP, Aerobiotix, UV Angel and Kontrol Technologies who have brought the BioCloud to market. Paul is now working on launching his first 2 IP's with Matador which will revolutionize the personal and real-time air we live in.   

We discuss: 

- Paul's hockey beginnings that brought him to Texas 

- Paul's beginnings in sales, and what made him successful 

- How humans and lobsters share the same serotonin levels, and why these matter in business 

- How to compete with your teammates, but win together as one team 

- How Paul found opportunities during COVID, and insights into his mentality 

- Why sometimes a leader needs to give tough love when issues continue to persist 

- Paul's journey at Stryker, Spineart, and building his own company 

- Why sales are all about networking and relationships

Sam Sebastian is the President & CEO of Pelmorex Corp., the parent company of The Weather Network. Pelmorex is a market leader in operating multi-platform TV, Web and Mobile services in weather-related information categories under the leading brands; The Weather Network, MétéoMédia, eltiempo.es and Clima. The company also operates Canada’s National Alerting Aggregation and Dissemination System, Alert Ready.  

Before joining Pelmorex, Sam was the VP & Managing Director of Google Canada, from 2013 - 2017, where he was responsible for Google’s Canadian operations. He joined Google in 2006 in Chicago and held a variety of executive-level roles in the U.S. before moving to Canada. Prior to Google, he was a General Manager and Senior Vice-President at a large online classified business, Classified Ventures (cars.com, apartments.com), and started his career at Arthur Andersen as an accountant and consultant.  

Sam is a member of the Business Council of Canada and a Director on several Boards including Tennis Canada and Bridgit, a Kitchener-Waterloo internet start-up in the construction industry.  

Sam graduated from The Ohio State University and holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. At Ohio State, he played Division I NCAA tennis, where he was a two-time Captain, Big Ten Champion and Academic All American.  

We discuss: 

- Why Sam gets more done and is more confident when he has more going on (and why that works) 

- How Sam led Pelmorex during the Pandemic: two things he told the team when the Panemdic struck 

- Why a great strategy and a great team that works together towards the same goals allow you to become a powerhouse 

- Why being authentic is the most important trait for leadership today 

- Why you need to fail, and how a big failure allowed Sam to grow into his leadership roles 

- How leaders can encourage failure, and why it's important 

- Why we need to pay it forward, in order to win as an individual and as a collective team

Emily is a Vice President, Product Manager at Franklin Templeton, a global investment firm with ~$1.5 trillion under management. Prior to that she held various marketing roles at BlackRock, worked in investor relations at a small-cap medical technology company, and worked on a major political campaign. 

Emily has also built a successful freelance career in admissions consulting, where she coaches applicants targeting top-ranked MBA programs.   

Additionally, she is the author of the #1 Amazon Bestselling Book, No Drama First-Time Mama: A Practical Guide to Living Your Best Life as A New Mother, and an advocate for maternal mental health. 

Emily obtained an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and an MBA from the Haas School of Business, University of California – Berkeley. She was a two-year letter winner in swimming while at Princeton and is a five-time marathoner (New York x3, Boston, and Chicago).   

A proud Montana native, Emily now lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and two children.  

We discuss:          

- Emily's journey to Princeton and athletic career         

- How Emily is able to get 8 hours of sleep despite working full time, being a consultant, an author, a mom of two, and never misses a workout         

- The story behind Emily's bestselling book, and her message around prioritizing your health and wellbeing as a mom, is something that doesn't get enough focus      

- Why being efficient and doing a few things really well results in the biggest gains         

- How empathetic leadership is important, and caring about your people         

- How we assign our self worth to our work, and how Emily was able to move forward when she decided to leave the swimming team         

- Networking with others and why it's even more important when working remotely

Luke Mohamed is the Director, Partnership Sales for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Vandergrift, PA native joined the team in February 2020 and is responsible for generating new corporate partnerships. He also self-appointed himself somewhere on the emergency goalie depth chart.  

Prior to the Penguins, Luke spent five years with Major League Soccer’s D.C. United. At D.C. United, he managed a sales team responsible for the Club’s non-ticket revenue streams, including the 2018 opening of their new stadium, Audi Field. During his tenure, the team grew from last in MLS partnership revenue to a Top 5 club.   

Luke spent the remainder of his time in the nation’s capital as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown, a member of DC SCORES’ Advisory Council, and reminding locals that the Penguins had won four more Stanley Cups than the Capitals.   

Before D.C. United, Luke had partnership roles with the Tampa Bay Sports Commission and IRONMAN Triathlon, and the DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon.     

Luke earned an MBA/MS in Sport & Entertainment Management from the University of South Florida in 2015 and his Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management and Accounting from The Robert Morris University in 2010.   

In this episode, we discuss:  

- The amazing story behind Luke's career in sports management 

- What he learned from Wayne Rooney at D.C. United 

- How putting in the work and taking on tough roles allowed Luke to land his dream job 

- What it's like to be in the same organization as Sidney Crosby 

- The amazing work that Luke and the Penguins are doing for the community 

- Why we need to strive for greatness, and why that's different than being good enough

Scott is the CEO of Ren's Pets, a former captain and football player for Simon Fraser University, and an experienced marketing and sales executive.   

In this episode, we discuss:

-  Scott's football days at Simon Fraser University, and how he battled back from a really bad knee injury 

- How those principles of hard work have carried through in his career 

- How the hard things Scott did prepared him for his executive career 

- Scott shares why every leader must understand their "WHY", and how to stay focused as an executive on what truly matters for you personally and your business 

- Ren's Pets story - how it grew from a few stores to 40+, and the leadership lessons behind the brand's success

Brian Vahaly is Chief Executive Officer, YouFit Gyms, the nationwide chain of affordable, personalized fitness clubs. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to his more than 10 years in the fitness industry as a successful private equity executive and former professional tennis player. Prior to YouFit, Vahaly was CFO for the boutique fitness group [solidcore], where he grew the business from ten studios to eighty in just over two years.   

He served as COO for venture capital firms, Venturehouse Group and NextGen Venture Partners, and began his finance career with McLean Capital, a private equity fund.   

A lifelong athlete, Vahaly was an internationally ranked professional tennis player, retiring in 2007, with wins over several top ten ranked players such as French Open champions Michael Chang and Juan Carlos Ferrero.    

He is currently the only gay player in history to ever come out on the ATP tour and serves on the board of directors for the United States Tennis Association. He earned his BS degree in Finance and Business Management from the University of Virginia, where he was a three-time All-American. Vahaly lives with his husband and two children in the Washington D.C. area.  

In this episode, we dive into: 

 - Brian's love for tennis, and how he managed school and tennis at the same time 

- Brian talks about how he handled failure as a player, and how he handles it now as a CEO  

- Brian discusses how playing in the Australian Open against Andre Agassi - the pressure - actually prepared him to take on business roles in uncertain and high-pressure environments  

- Why sleep is a great remedy to shaking off failures 

- How to focus in distracting environments and why Brian turns his phone away from time-to-time 

- Brian talks about being the only gay player in the history of the ATP tour, and the work that he is doing today in his business and with the US Tennis Association  

- How Brian manages his team, especially in the health and wellness space during the pandemic  

- Why it's important to surround yourself with great people - a recipe for success in Tennis and as a CEO

Quinton Porter, Vice President of North America for Pico - Get Personal, has been scaling startup tech companies and sales teams for 10 years since retiring from football. He played quarterback at Boston College where he completed his MBA, played 2 years in the NFL with the Houston Texans and Carolina Panthers, and 5 years in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. As a native of Portland, Maine, he has created a community initiative that maximizes the benefits of athletic training and wellness through a state-of-the-art indoor sports complex and programming in partnerships with the local university.   

Pico - Get Personal:  Pico's SaaS technology turns brands and sports teams from data renters intro data owners by identifying anonymous Digital audience members, progressively gathering actionable data, and leveraging it to efficiently drive their business objectives.   

In this episode, Quinton dives into:  

- His transition from football to executive within the tech space