Photo: HARRY HOW / GETTY IMAGES
J
aney Marks knew that breaking into sports marketing as a woman in the early 1980s was no small task. But after a career at a heavyweight like Anheuser-Busch and trips to 10 Olympic Games, it would be easy to look back and think it couldn’t have been more natural.
Janey Marks
Getty Images |
Senior Director, Strategic Alliances
Marks was hired at A-B in 1980 and helped drive the Budweiser brand’s sponsorship strategy. She expanded Bud Light’s triathlon portfolio sponsorship platform to include title sponsorship of the U.S. Triathlon Series as well as the Ironman World Championship. In 1989, she moved to the property side of the business, becoming one of the first women to lead a pro men’s sports league, serving as director of marketing and general manager of the AVP, which at the time did not have women’s events.
“Just being taken as seriously as your male counterparts can be an obstacle,” Marks said. “Sometimes as a female, if you have a strong opinion, you are viewed as way too aggressive or assertive in your position, whereas a guy is just viewed as doing his job.”
Marks joined Getty in 1999, starting as an account manager. In her current role, she drives the group’s strategies for partnership agreements with clients, a lineup that includes Yahoo, Fox Sports, the U.S. Tennis Association, Visa, and Procter & Gamble. With less than a year to go now before the Rio Olympics, Marks has her hands full with that event in particular. “I’m worrying about the transportation and what the Internet speed is like,” she said. “Are they going to be able to handle what we need for our team on the ground there? But I’m sure we’ll be pleased with how they pull it together.”
— Josh Carpenter
- Notable professional achievement: Being one of the first women to head up a professional sports organization (the AVP).
- Biggest professional disappointment: Not being able to attend the Olympic Games from 1984-96.
- Best advice received: What I learned at A-B on Day 1: Making friends is our business.
- Cause supported: Women’s Sports Foundation.
- Woman in sports business I’d most like to meet: Heidi Ueberroth. I’d be interested to find out the challenges and successes she had in her years at the NBA.
- Most memorable sporting events attended: Any year at Augusta National, and the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics.
- If my colleagues were asked to describe me, they would say I: Love what I do.
