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Jacqueline Parkes became MLB's CMO in 2008.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES |
Jacqueline Parkes, departing chief marketing officer for Major League Baseball, said last week she reached a career “inflection point” that prompted her to announce her resignation after 21 years with the league.
Parkes was the first female CMO in major U.S. pro sports, a role she had held since 2008, and played a substantial role in extending baseball’s position as a global social institution. But with MLB standing at historic highs across numerous metrics, Parkes said she was ready to embrace a new opportunity.
“It was really about an internal audit of Jacqueline Parkes, something I really felt like I owed myself, and this felt like the right time to move on,” she said. “Being at baseball has been an absolutely epic adventure, something I’ve really cherished. And I could have stayed, and it would have been amazing. But I feel like I need to take on a new challenge. It’s time for the next chapter.”
Parkes’ resignation will be effective May 1, and she said the decision has been under serious consideration since about Christmas. MLB does not intend to immediately refill the position.
Parkes, 50, a two-time SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 winner last decade, surprised some outside observers last year when she survived a substantial reorganization of MLB’s league office undertaken by new Commissioner Rob Manfred. While others departed, Parkes was asked to stay, and was actively involved in a 2015 season that saw TV ratings growth, a successful repositioning of All-Star Game activities including the Home Run Derby, and additional efforts by MLB to connect with youth and Hispanic audiences. Most recently, she was involved in the league’s “Caps On” social media-based marketing effort for Opening Day.
Parkes expects to decide her next career move in the next several months.
She joined MLB in 1995, directly on the heels of baseball’s highly damaging 1994 strike, after a stint with Jim Henson Productions. Going from a beloved brand such as the Muppets to one as deeply troubled as MLB was at the time represented a marked shift in outlook and approach for Parkes. She predicted something similar could happen again.
“People thought I was insane at the time going from Henson to MLB, but it’s interesting how that’s come full circle and where baseball is now,” she said.
In addition to transcending gender barriers, Parkes also broke the mold of a typical CMO role, also overseeing baseball’s efforts in community affairs, ticketing analytics, research and design services. Much of that expansion of Parkes’ duties was championed by former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.
“She played a really great and important role in what I would call our societal affairs,” Selig said. “Whether it was Jackie Robinson Day, Stand Up 2 Cancer, or what have you, she was just really, really good.”
Other marketing and sponsorship executives credited Parkes’ high level of care and stewardship of MLB’s core brand.
“She really cares for the game of baseball, knows its nuances well, and has been deeply protective of the MLB brand. She understands the DNA of that brand inside and out,” said John Osborn, president and chief executive of BBDO NY, which previously worked with MLB as the league’s multimedia creative marketing agency. “I have a real high regard for her. She is a straight shooter, brings a lot of energy to the table, and every now and then, she throws a mean slider.”
John Brody, WWE executive vice president of sales and partnerships and a colleague of Parkes’ at MLB for 13 years, expressed similar sentiments.
“I knew when I was in the foxhole and she was next to me that I could depend on her. What more can you ask for from a senior leader?” he said.
