After three years of growth at Texas, I'm seeking a new opportunity to continue my career in sports and entertainment. I'm looking for an organization that wants to dominate its space and could benefit from having a gritty and creative revenue generator and leader.

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On my drive from State College, PA to Austin, TX, I listened live as Longhorn football fans threw roster cards on the field demonstrating their displeasure during their football team's loss to Maryland for the second year in a row. While winning is incredibly important at Texas, I was reminded, at that moment, that we couldn't rely on that happening to sell tickets, especially after an 8-7 season in 2017.

​Upon arrival, I immediately built a sales training program focused on packing the stands independent of team performance. We had a loyal sales & service team in place, but they needed training, coaching, and some self-belief that they could change the trajectory of the department. After that 8-7 season, our season ticket renewal rate rose from 87% to 92%, new season ticket sales jumped from 3,620 to 6,084, and group sales grew from 9,691 to over 33,000. We set the Texas Football single-game attendance record on September 15, 2018, when 103,508 people burst through the gates of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. We did all of this without the ability to hire one person or pay any performance incentives.

Beyond the gridiron, we grew sales in all six other ticketed sports. We set attendance records for volleyball, baseball & softball, and packed nearly 12,000 fans into the Frank Erwin Center for a women's basketball game. I became an expert in Salesforce, Google Analytics, Adobe Campaign, and other helpful software. We funneled followers on social media to our website and into automated marketing campaigns to be scored and called accordingly. We kept our sales team lean but outperformed most departments in the country by being resourceful, thinking strategically, and breaking down silos between departments.

At age 24, I was managing a sales team of 14 people and nearly $80 million in annual revenue. I quickly learned how challenging, but rewarding, managing people can be. I chirped "ask for the referral" or "that's a closed-ended question" while deskside with my teammates until a mentor of mine, and leader at Penn State, taught me that the more you love your team, the harder you can coach them.... but you must love them first. I learned how treating your teammates, vendors, and partners like family can result in long-term profitable relationships. That approach helped us win IMG Learfield's Group Sales Property of the Year in 2014 and 2015, and helped me earn Sales Trainer of the Year in 2016. Many of those teammates are now successful sports & business leaders across the country.

One year into my role as GM, we hired the company's first Manager of Data Analytics to build out a new department that leveraged math and science students to help us make data-driven decisions. We centralized reporting by building our own data warehouse, optimized pricing based on primary & secondary market data, and studied our call list efficiency so we could spend more time on our best leads. In one season, we learned how to capture the contact information of people thinking about buying tickets, in addition to past buyers, to create over 10,000 new information requests from our website and social media. Over three consecutive football seasons, we averaged 6,700 new season tickets, 28,778 group tickets, and a 91% season ticket renewal rate. On October 21, 2017 we broke the Penn State Football single game attendance record when 110,823 fans packed Beaver Stadium.

During my time in Happy Valley, we also set attendance records for Penn State Wrestling & Hockey, plus increased sales in most other sports. After three years of helping to lead Penn State out of the ripple effects of the Sandusky scandal, I was ready for a new challenge and I was curious if I could create the same success we had experienced at Penn State, without the backing of IMG College or Learfield Sports... so I packed my bags and moved to Austin, TX.

One of my co-workers from the Columbus Blue Jackets hired me at Syracuse University as an entry-level Account Executive. That reminded me of the importance of relationships and how small the sports industry is.

I was hired as a class of one and thrown into the fire against three other talented sales reps. I quickly realized I couldn't become the most talented sales rep right away, but what I could control was my effort. I decided to come in earlier and leave later so that I could make 10 more calls at the beginning of each day and 10 more calls at the end of each day.

After a few months, the extra effort led to the creation of four first-time group theme nights and over 1,000 tickets. As a team, we set the single-game attendance record for Syracuse Basketball of 35,012 on February 23, 2013 and were named IMG Learfield's Group Sales Property of the Year.

One and a half years into the job at Syracuse, I was promoted to Senior Account Executive and asked to move to Penn State. I was also awarded IMG Learfield's Salesperson of the Year.

The Columbus Blue Jackets hosted a ticket sales contest in my Ticket Sales class at Ohio University. The winner would receive an interview with the team. As the only Junior in a Senior-Only class, I thought to myself, how cool would it be to win this contest? So I leveraged some contacts and creativity to win the contest to earn an internship with the team.

The Blue Jackets' training program is incredibly well polished. I spent the first few weeks training and role playing, and re-training and re-role playing until I begged my boss for a chance to make some calls to real fans. Within a couple of weeks, I closed a few sales, each time nervously putting the phone back on its hook after the call and ringing the bell with my sweat dripped palms. I learned the importance of pushing myself to be uncomfortable, in an attempt to grow each and every day.

I studied Sport Management and Business at Ohio University in Athens, OH. Having grown-up in the Boston and New York metro areas, I started at OU not knowing anyone and left with a family of friends, many of whom still work in sports today. By working with the Southern Ohio Copperheads as Director of Ticket Sales & Operations, and as a Marketing Assistant in the Ohio University Athletic Department, I learned how important it is to obtain experience outside of the classroom. OU will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Applying for admission into the Ralph and Luci Schey Sales Centre was one of the best decisions I made in Athens. We dove deep into the B2B sales process and recorded mock sales calls and video pitches. I went from a shy student to a polished professional after two and a half years of training in the program and earned a Certificate in Professional Sales.