V
alerie Camillo is not a classically trained sports industry executive, having spent the first 15 years of her career in management consulting for Booz Allen and IBM Global Services. But in fewer than six years, Camillo has become one of the most prominent executives in the industry and a leading advocate for the use of business analytics.
Valerie Camillo
WASHINGTON NATIONALS,
CHIEF REVENUE AND MARKETING OFFICER
Arriving in sports in 2010, she joined the NBA’s team marketing and business operations group and immediately played a key role in advancing the deployment of business-side analytics, particularly as they relate to ticketing, sponsorships and concessions. With the Washington Nationals since early 2014, she has placed her stamp on the franchise as it’s become a perennial contender.
Among her projects at the Nationals have been shifting the club’s entire ticketing business from a traditional, transaction-based operation to a more membership-based model; building a free-standing business analytics department; developing entirely new forms of premium seating through the K Street Boxes and Club 24 at Nationals Park; and expanding the number of non-game-day events at the ballpark. She’s also now a key part of ongoing efforts to sell the naming rights for Nationals Park.
Camillo is part of a Nationals organization in which four members of the Lerner family ownership group, as well as the club’s heads of revenue, brand marketing, broadcasting, communications, human resources, and finance, are all women, a situation arguably unrivaled in major pro sports.
“I missed the initial wave up for the Nationals and was fortunate to walk into a really great situation,” Camillo said. “The big question was, ‘How do we sustain growth?’ And that’s where a lot of that [NBA] TMBO experience kicked in, where we could look at a lot of best practices and implement meaningful change.”
— Eric Fisher
