Photo: PEDRO BONILLA
Pellerano worked on pro-jects involving the B-1 bomber
before moving to sports.
Heidi Pellerano
Wasserman Media Group
SVP, Multicultural Marketing
Heidi Pellerano took an untraditional route to a career in sports business, starting out 18 years ago as a consultant at Anser, where she worked on projects involving the U.S. Air Force’s B-1 bomber. When she sought to change careers, she was met with resistance. “Few people were willing to take a chance on me because they only saw me as an engineer trying to work in sports,” said Pellerano, whose challenging experience inspires her to mentor young professionals.
Ultimately, she found her way in. She worked as coordinator of player programs for the WNBA and later moved on to consulting firm OnSport. She was there when the firm was acquired by Wasserman Media Group in 2007. Today, with Wasserman, she drives business development efforts in the multicultural marketing space and leads Wasserman’s Miami office, which opened in March. “The new office expands our services to our clients, diversifies our team and opens new lines of business,” Pellerano said.
A native of Puerto Rico, Pellerano is also managing Wasserman’s expansion efforts into Latin America, focusing on market analysis and strategy development.
— Christopher Botta
- What is the best advice you’ve ever received?: My grandfather and my mom reminded me that, “To those who much is given, much is expected.”
- How would you describe effective business leadership?: Having great vision, seamlessly moving from 10,000 feet to 100 feet to see every angle and perspective.
- Woman in sports business you’d most like to meet: Sheila Johnson. As a minority and a woman, I would love to learn how she has done it all.
- My vision of success is …: Seeing my team continue to move up in the sports industry and being sought after for being insightful, strategic and great leaders.
- Outside of work and family, I’m spending a lot of my time on …: My couch. I love sports, movies (especially a good thriller), and I highly recommend “Castle” and “The Big Bang Theory.” And yes, I still miss “Lost.”
WHAT OTHERS
ARE SAYING
“When I worked with her on the Nokia account, I saw Heidi had a unique ability to walk into a meeting, create the strategy, and give all the credit to her team. She is a rare individual in the sports and entertainment business. Everybody loves her.”
- Tracy Hartman, former senior vice president of global partnerships, AEG
