Katie Boes

From the day that Katie Boes opened The New York Times job section in the fall of 1994 and answered a want ad for a job at Trans World International, she’s made the most out of being in the right place at the right time.

Fifteen years later, she is president of Reel Enterprises, the North American arm of a company that has worked with clients like the International Olympic Committee, the NFL and the English Premier League.

Boes joined TWI (now known as IMG Media) in 1994, working under longtime international media gurus such as Wayne Becker and Peter Smith. She handled accounts like the PGA Tour, PGA of America and the U.S. Golf Association when Tiger Woods turned professional, and worked with the NCAA and NASCAR as its popularity was gaining traction.

Smith describes Boes as “frighteningly talented” and “one of the first people to really get her arms around new media.” Boes was asked by the late Mark McCormack to head IMG’s fledgling new media division in 1999 and flew all over the world doing some of the first syndication deals for online sports content.

The NFL came calling in 2000 and tabbed Boes to run the international distribution group, where she doubled revenue in four years. She negotiated the first simulcast of the Super Bowl in Mexico on Azteca and Televisa, and in 2003 put the Super Bowl on free TV in the U.K. for the first time since 1996, which helped revive a dormant market and eventually led to regular-season games in London.

In her final year before moving over to NFL Network as senior director of programming, the league’s games were available in a record 500 million homes outside the U.S., a year-over-year increase of more than 40 percent.

In her first three years at Reel Enterprises, she has focused on emerging international sports like soccer, rugby and cricket, most recently doubling the international rights revenue of Mexican club Chivas de Guadalajara.