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Gordon and her husband, Phillip
Berman, often unwind by biking
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As a longtime Managing Editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer,
ANNE GORDON spent plenty of time thinking about how to cover the hometown Eagles. Gordon now is even more focused on the NFL team, but in a different way. She was named the club's Senior VP/Media & Communications last December, and now offers a different point of view. Gordon: "I have the opportunity to sort of see things from both sides of the coin. That's been helpful." The Univ. of Denver grad recently spoke with THE DAILY about her new role, the digital age and her love for biking.
Settling into the new gig...
I’m not your typical executive for this role, I don’t have a sports marketing background. I have a media background and I have a private equity background, so it’s a little bit of a different role. We reorganized before my arrival and blended some departments together to try and make us all work together a little more effectively, with a strategy of putting digital media at the center of everything we do and everything that we hold so we can reach fans in a multitude of ways. The football aspect of it has all been new to me. I've been very blessed with colleagues helping me engage. (Eagles President DON SMOLENSKI) handed over some projects to help me learn, and I feel like those helped a lot.
Bringing media viewpoint to the front office...
I can now see something from the team’s perspective as well as from the community’s perspective, so that’s been very helpful for me to try to bridge the gap and get the bigger picture on what it means to be a Philadelphia Eagle in this community. It was helpful when we were trying to do a new marketing campaign this year about the team’s connection to the city.
Best advice I've received...
I always reflect on the words of RALPH WALDO EMERSON who said, “Over my years I've seen good preaching and bad preaching and have learned from both.” I really often think about that in terms of managers that I've seen over the years or worked with. You can learn something from the good and the bad.
Daily media diet...
I’m checking all of the media by 5:30 in the morning and then I constantly check a variety of other aggregating sources. I’ll check Pro Football Talk, our local media, I’m using Twitter as an aggregation service. I have three large screens on my desk, so I’m constantly checking in on things. My staff is constantly keeping me updated.
Smartphone of choice...
iPhone. I just like the operating system. I read content on it, I’m able to text with it. I like the size and being able to keep it with me. A big issue for me is when I’m in the stadium and there are hours where I don’t want to be carrying a bunch of stuff around, it’s great. I've been a longtime user.
Tech's impact on sports...
I’m constantly using and tracking the Eagles app. Everything that’s happening in mobile drives me, drives our professional discussion. We’re really trying to be a mobile-first operation in how we create content, so I would say the innovations there with the smartphones have been as revolutionary to me as they have been to the rest of the country.
Not just cheesesteaks...
My most recent favorite restaurant is Talula’s Garden in Philadelphia. They just have American cuisine, a garden outside. It’s lovely.
How I unwind...
I’m a big biker, my husband and I bike regularly. I’m also kind of a gym rat. Biking is a huge part of our lives. We do road biking, we've done trips and we bike every weekend. It’s something we really enjoy. No question, I get a lot of stress relief from that. I can’t do it as much with this job because my day starts so early.
