Menu
Game Changers

Jessica Giordano, GMR Marketing

Photo by: CHAD DIEDRICK / GMR

B
orn and raised near Cleveland, Jessica Giordano had never been west of the Mississippi River until she landed a job with a San Francisco-based sports marketing firm out of college.

Jessica Giordano
GMR MARKETING,
VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT CONSULTING
A couple of days into a trip to Rio for the Olympics this year, Giordano reflected on the path that began when she met that firm’s founder, Jan Katzoff, at a speaker series while she was in school.

“I could have never in my wildest dreams imagined operating in this global role that I have been in throughout my career,” said Giordano, vice president of global sports and entertainment consulting for GMR Marketing, which worked with 15 clients in Rio. “Not only have I seen the world, but I’ve learned so much. … I’m proud that I’ve been able to continue to evolve but without ever taking a 180. I’ve always built on my previous experience to continue to make things better and better.”

A soccer player while at Mercyhurst University, Giordano spent almost four years as an account manager at SportsMark Management Group before leaving for graduate school at Ohio University, where she built both her skills and network before returning to the firm in business development. Her first major assignment was on the ground in Cape Town, South Africa, for the 2010 World Cup, where she hired and managed about 100 students to staff events for sponsor Visa. When parent Omnicom merged SportsMark and GMR in 2013, Giordano’s role became one that included both strategic consulting and event hospitality.

“Every step along the way has informed the next step,” said Giordano, who recently led the naming-rights activation strategy for client U.S. Bank at the Minnesota Vikings’ new stadium. “I’m better at consulting because I’ve lived the other side. I know what the teams on the ground are experiencing. So when we’re developing platforms and putting forth recommendations, we’re setting our clients up for success.”

— Bill King

  • An attribute I look for when hiring: A team player.
  • A networking tip I’ve learned: Always listen first and speak second, trying to learn as much as I can.
  • Biggest challenge I face working in sports: Finding a balance so that I can stay on the pulse of the demands of our clients while balancing the life side of things.
  • Best advice I’ve received for career development: Be true to yourself and make decisions that you are going to be proud of and let that guide how you navigate your career.
  • Woman in sports business I’d most like to meet: Condoleezza Rice. To me, she transcends sport: She works across sports, politics, culture and business. I so admire what she has done breaking down barriers and establishing herself as a strong woman through brains, strategy and preparation, three traits that I admire so much.
  • Most memorable sporting event attended: The 2010 FIFA World Cup. First and foremost, I met my husband there; nothing can trump that. But second, I’m a soccer player from birth and played in college, so the FIFA World Cup is the pinnacle.
  • Cause supported: Streetfootballworld. They’re trying to be facilitators for change, using soccer to do good in communities. They have an incredible group of NGB partners, but they haven’t been able to take that story to the corporate audience to get the funding they need to tell their story across the world.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/09/12/Game-Changers/Jessica-Giordano.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/09/12/Game-Changers/Jessica-Giordano.aspx

CLOSE