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Game Changers

Game Changers: Donna Fiedorowicz

Photo: CHRIS CONDON / PGA TOUR

D
onna Fiedorowicz’s impact on a PGA Tour event is felt long before the first shot is struck. The 23-year veteran of the organization has been responsible for several “firsts” on the tour, but nothing has excited her more than her most recent project to establish a women’s executive day at most tour events.

Donna Fiedorowicz
PGA TOUR

As the tour’s senior vice president of tournament activation and outreach, Fiedorowicz came up with the idea for a day dedicated to female professionals and began implementing it 2 1/2 years ago, as part of an overall initiative to introduce more women to golf and to the PGA Tour brand.

An umbrella sponsorship was sold to Astellas, a pharmaceutical company, to help cover the costs. Anywhere from 150 to 200 women executives from the tournament market come out to the site of the event for a day of speakers and networking, typically on the Tuesday before the event starts.

“It’s an opportunity for women to share their successes and their challenges in a unique setting,” said Fiedorowicz, who will manage 25 of these events this year and up to 30 next season.

She calls the effort one of her most rewarding initiatives because it gives women in the local market, 70 percent of whom have never been to a PGA Tour event, a reason to engage with the brand and the tournament. It also has inspired her to create other fan engagement platforms, such as college alumni days, family days and the Be a Hero initiative, which gives a fan the chance to redirect $10,000 of the tournament’s charitable funds to the fan’s charity of choice.

“The fans come out and enjoy the golf, but there’s so much more going on,” Fiedorowicz said. “We really want to give the fans more ways to touch and feel who we are beyond professional golf.”

— Michael Smith

  • Woman in sports business you’d most like to meet: Robin Roberts, who has transitioned from ESPN to ABC as one of the most respected on-air talents in the business. I respect her authenticity and her resilience on all levels.
  • Best advice received: Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.
  • Career turning point: I was working at ESPN when I was asked to move to New York City to join the sales team. I wasn’t a city girl, so I reached out to one of my clients — the PGA Tour — to explore job opportunities. I was the first female hired to travel and work tour events and have had eight different positions at the tour in 23 years. It’s given me tremendous sports marketing experience in all areas of the business.
  • On the iPod/musical interests: “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, Maroon 5, and music from the 1980s.
  • Outside of work and family, I’m spending a lot of my time on … : Finding “me time” to stay balanced and healthy.

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