Sidearm Sports President & CEO JEFF RUBIN is tasked with running a company that powers websites, mobile apps, live stats, social presence and video streaming for 1,100 colleges. Despite being acquired by Learfield IMG College in '14, Rubin kept the company he founded in Syracuse, which is home to his alma mater. He remains involved with the school by teaching a class and volunteering for the men's basketball team. Rubin recently took some time out of his busy schedule to walk THE DAILY through what a typical day looks like for him.
5:30am: I'll start my day by checking emails and looking to see if there are any fires from the night before. After that, I start reading. I read a bunch of blogs, newsletters and emails. I don't get through all of them in the morning, but I like to get a start.
6:30am: I'll start to wake up my two boys, NATHAN and BENJAMIN. I'll be getting breakfast together with my wife, JENNIFER. Typically, if it's a good morning and they're doing stuff they should be, I'll get back on the computer for another 20 minutes.
7:30-8:00am: I am out of the house and driving my son to private school. Once I drop him off, I will either head to my downtown Sidearm Sports office or Syracuse University, where we also have an office. I will listen to MICHAEL BARBARO's "The Daily" podcast on my drive to work. Usually his podcast is thirty minutes, but I listen to it at 1.5x speed. If I ever met the guy, I would probably think that he talked really slow.
8:00-8:30am: I'll have a quick breakfast meeting, whether that be with someone from the economic development team at downtown Syracuse or a CEO from another local business in the Syracuse area.
8:30-10:00am: I'll do a check-in with the senior leadership team to get a feel for what happened over the night. I am also still doing a lot of reading.
Rubin teaches a class of 340 students at Syracuse on information management and technologyJEFF RUBIN
10:30-11:30am: During a day that I am teaching, I will head to Syracuse and teach a class of 340 students. I am lecturing on information management and technology. Those lectures are right in line with what my daily life is like. It's great being able to merge my life as a CEO and bring it back into the classroom to educate my students.
11:30am-12:00pm: I will typically have a phone call on the books during this time. That phone call is usually going to be with someone either at Learfield IMG College or with another one of our solutions group partners.
12:00-1:00pm: I go non-stop for a full day, so I look at this hour as a time where I need a break. I try my best to do a lunch with some of the team at Sidearm. Just go out and enjoy a lunch where you can chat and laugh. I would say I am probably successful two out of five days with that. The other days are usually a lunch meeting. When that happens, it puts a damper on the second half of my day.
1:00-2:00pm: I will have a Learfield digital leadership meeting. This would be with Chief Strategy & Development Officer ROB SCHNEIDER, Exec VP/Sales Strategy & Innovation RICK BARAKAT and Exec VP/Marketing & Data Solutions MING WU. We will set aside an hour to talk about alignment and opportunity as it exists for the future of digital across the entire organization.
2:00-3:00pm: I will have a meeting with my senior staff here at Sidearm. Our senior staff consists of five individuals. These are very structured meetings. We're celebrating wins, looking at potential losses and looking at opportunity.
3:00-5:00pm: Some point during my day I end up having a call with some sort of industry partner. I also fit in time to talk with potential new partnerships.
5:00-5:30pm: In a perfect scenario, I am someone who likes to leave the office somewhere during this time. I like to get home and see my kids and help them with homework.
6:00pm: For dinner, we're usually ordering something. It is not exactly the healthiest stuff. My wife owns a fitness studio and so she's busy and I'm busy. So, we get home and try to eat pretty quick.
ON GAME DAY: If there is a Syracuse men's basketball game going on, I volunteer my time with the team. I will help them with a lot of their technology. I also help them with their social activations. I sit six seats over from coach JIM BOEHEIM at the scorer's table. I have sat there for the last 20 years. I used to sit a little closer, but then everyone likes revenue, and Syracuse sold the first four seats at the scorer's table. I love it, I love being involved. It also really allows me to network. Most of the time, the school Syracuse is playing is either a partner or client of Sidearm.
8:00-9:00pm: If there isn't a game going on and I don't have to take my son to soccer practice, I do enjoy watching mind numbing television with my wife. We binge watch shows like "Jack Ryan." I also am a huge "Survivor" and "Big Brother" fan. I've never missed an episode of those.
10:00pm: I love mornings; I am not a good night person. So, I try to get to bed by this time. My brain is fried, and I am mentally done at this point.
Know of someone who should be featured in "A Day in the Life"? Send a note to mchupita@sportsbusinessdaily.com.
