Photo: BANNER COLLECTIVE
W
atching spouse Colin rise through the marketing departments of the Dallas Stars and then Chicago Cubs, Jaime Faulkner often was struck by the way he thought “fan first.” Now, as CEO of Levy Restaurants’ analytics subsidiary, E15, Faulkner is building a division that aims to figure out how to best serve those fans.
“We have more data available to us than we’ve ever had before,” said Faulkner, who spent 15 years as a KPMG consultant before leaving to start E15 last year. “The challenge we face is that the teams have a piece of that data and then our partners have that data. Everybody has pieces of the puzzle, but nobody has it all. So it’s really helping the teams figure out how we put your ticket data with our POS [point-of-sale] data and the market research data that A-B or Coke or Pepsi might have and really create an experience in that venue that benefits all of us.”
Faulkner made the crossover into sports after helping the Cubs assess their options as their last concessions deal expired. When the Cubs chose to renew with Levy, the company offered Faulkner a job creating an analytics division to work with concessions clients in all facets of its business, in areas ranging from pricing to supply chain to consumer behavior.
“We’re starting to get a really good handle on what is happening in a venue,” Faulkner said. “But what’s most interesting for us now is, What are those fans doing when they’re not at the ballpark or stadium or arena? If we have a better understanding of how they spend money when they’re not there, we can create a really great experience for them when they are there.”
— Bill King
- Notable professional achievement: The creation of E15. … The ability to take a vision, execute it and start to build it has been awesome.
- Biggest professional disappointment: Most people start at KPMG with the goal of making partner. I chose to go into industry before making partner. I don’t regret that decision, but I don’t have “KPMG partner” on my résumé.
- Best advice received: From my dad when I was young: Begin with the end in mind. He always said if you know where you’re going, you’re smart enough to figure out how to get there — but you have to know where you’re headed to do that.
- Cause supported: Compassion International, a ministry that supports children in other countries. It’s something we can do with our kids. Helping our kids build relationships with those kids has been great.
- Most memorable sporting event attended: Getting to take the kids back to Baylor to the new stadium for homecoming. (Colin and I) both went there. To be able to take them back at an age where they could understand and we could share a big part of our lives with them was pretty cool.
- If my colleagues were asked to describe me, they would say I: Am very strategic and a visionary. And they would follow that quickly by saying I am extremely competitive.
