Name: Court Jeske
Position: Soccer United Marketing Senior Dir of Int'l Business
Age: 35
Where I'm from: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Where I call home: Manhattan
Focusing on right now: The May 29-June 7 "Road to Brazil" series, featuring World Cup sendoff games at MLS venues.
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Originally from Oklahoma, Jeske has taken a liking
to exploring all that Manhattan has to offer |
Best advice: Learn from every experience. I believe in that there’s ups and downs in your career and you can experience some fantastic successes as well as failures. The result isn’t as important as trying not to repeat the pitfalls that you’ve had in the past. I think that’s what I try to do daily. I think I’ve kind of picked that up along the way from a lot of different experiences.
A must for a new hire: Their attitude and willingness to take on a task regardless of if it’s in their immediate job scope or not. The willingness to learn and figure out their problems.
Exec I admire most: My first boss was KIRBY HOCUTT, who is the athletic director of Texas Tech University now. He hired me at the University of Oklahoma and gave me my first chance in the sports business market. I learned a tremendous amount from him.
Best book I've read this year: "An Army at Dawn" by RICK ATKINSON. It’s a great book about the World War II campaign in North Africa, but the important part is he really gives you an incredible sense of what it was like to be on the ground there and some of the factors. We all know about the D-Days and Pearl Harbors, but you really dive into the day-to-day trials and tribulations that the soldiers faced, which is incredibly eye-opening.
First thing in the morning: I watch the news to find out the weather then I’ll read the global sports headlines. I love Twitter as a news gathering source because it can aggregate all the different things that are applicable to my daily business.
Talking tech: One of my favorite apps is Fotmob. It’s scores, news and information from around the globe. It’s an aggregator but they present it in a really clean, easy-to-use fashion.
Must have music: I have an eclectic taste, but sometimes it’s good to listen to music from back home -- Oklahoma country music.
Food for thought: Because there are so many great restaurants in New York City, our goal is to try new places and new foods. Once a week, my wife and I try to explore a new place we haven’t been.
How I unwind: My wife and I like to go on walks around the city. Or, if I get the chance, I still love a competitive game of basketball.
Day in the life: Many of our Soccer United Marketing events have been proving grounds for expansions, and a prime example is Atlanta. We’ve had multiple events there over the last five years, including in March, when we had a sold-out venue with the Mexican national team and Nigerian national team. So it helped show that there’s a tremendous opportunity and appetite for soccer in those markets.
