Age: 35
Where I’m from: Okemos, Mich.
Where I call home: Lake Mary, Fla.
Position: Daytona Int'l Speedway Dir of Business Development
Focusing on right now: Maximizing all the corporate opportunities around the Daytona Rising project.
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Strahan is an avid golfer, and often spends free time
playing the game with his family |
Best advice: My parents were pretty influential in my life -- really in all aspects. The thing I look back to is just to work with integrity and certainly be very resourceful and persistent in my sales efforts. That’s something I’ve taken into every sales job I’ve had.
A must for a new hire: Strong values and integrity. I want to work with someone who has that persistent ability about them as well. Being persistent and resourceful in sales today is key to finding success.
Exec I admire the most: The guy I really look up to here is our President, JOIE CHITWOOD. I worked with him in Indianapolis and, fortunately, have the opportunity to do the same thing down here in Daytona. He's a tremendous leader who really does things the right way.
Best book I’ve read this year: "The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan" by JOHN COYNE. I’m a big golfer, I enjoy the game a lot, and I'm a big BEN HOGAN fan in general just for what he stood for in golf. One of the things I liked about that book is his thought process when he played the game. He had a slogan he used that I keep in mind. It says, "What’s important is the next shot, not the one you just played." I think that’s a cool statement, even in business, I can follow that idea.
First thing in the morning: I always grab my phone and get up to speed. Twitter and CNN are two of my things I hit first. I usually hit "MIKE & MIKE" when I get ready and HOWARD STERN on my way into work. I hit about every facet right there.
Talking Tech: I’m an Apple guy. Having an iPhone and an iPad -- you're always connected. I think it's helped streamline a lot of things for me.
Must have music: I'm kind of across the board. I'm a COLDPLAY fan, FOSTER THE PEOPLE, sprinkle in a little '80s and then some EMINEM.
Food for thought: With my family living out in Lake Mary, we've got a couple spots out there that we'll frequent. Usually it's Jimmy Hula's for fish tacos or grabbing a burger at BurgerFi.
How I unwind: My wife and I have two young kids, my daughter, AVERY, just turned 5 and my son, COOPER, will be 2 in June. We're usually busy doing something with them on the weekends. But Avery actually is becoming an avid fan of golf, so she'll join me on the course or on the driving range, chipping and putting in the evenings. That’s something we really like to do together.
Day in the life: One of the things that really drew me down here (from Indianapolis Motor Speedway) was the opportunity to be involved in this $400 million redevelopment of a facility like Daytona. Really having the ability to be around that project day-to-day and selling -- it's definitely a new type of sell for me. I'm certainly speaking with a crowd that we may not have reached out to originally.
