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Forty Under 40

The people who have influenced their careers

We asked each of the Forty Under 40:

Who in the industry has most influenced your professional development (and why)?

Michael Allen: Adam Silver, for his continued leadership and vision, along with my bosses at the NBA, who have each mentored, coached and pushed me in their own way.

Chris Allphin: I’ve had spectacular fortune to work with and for some pretty amazing people: Casey Wasserman, Steve Phelps, Richard Schaps have all been amazing teachers. But Jeff Knapple stands out. He put trust in me at a time that few would have and has pushed me to [be] better at what we do for almost 15 years. He’s taught me to find the good in bad situations, to value people over business, to communicate, and to be humble.

Renie Anderson: I have had many influencers, but two key important ones in the past few years: Keith Turner, who prepared me to become an executive, and Brian Rolapp, who leads me now. Brian leads with integrity and intelligence. I’m very fortunate to be on his team.

Lyle Ayes: Art Rooney. He gave me my start in the sports M&A business when I helped him and his father, Dan, recapitalize the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he’s become a mentor and a valuable resource since that time.

Nick Baker: I have been so fortunate to learn from so many, but the top of my list is very clear: My dad, Ray Baker; the late Keli McGregor, president of Colorado Rockies; and Todd Goldstein of AEG. Each shared with me a belief of hard work and high morals, combined with insight and confidence — which has had a significant impact of my career.

Tom Brady: Steve Bornstein was the one who took a chance on me when I started at the NFL and has continued to be an influence, but Brian Rolapp has most influenced me. As cliché as it may sound, he challenges me and makes me push for better yet is always supporting me to create new ways to delight our fans.

Sashi Brown: Browns President Alec Scheiner. We’ve followed similar [career] paths and faced similar challenges.

Nicholas Carey: It’s impossible to name just one person. I’ve worked with and for really inspiring, knowledgeable and selfless people, and they’ve all given me unique opportunities to grow professionally.

Justin Connolly: Mike Slive: a great source of feedback, advice and friendship over the past two years. I continue to learn so much from Commissioner Slive.

Juan Delgado: I can’t single out one; probably a handful of Perform colleagues, including Oliver Slipper, and some of the most forward-thinking people at leagues like the NFL and MLB, including Bob Bowman.

Ray DeWeese: Todd Patulski gave me my first full-time job. I was finishing my last year in grad school and hadn’t secured a job yet when he took a meeting with me. He was one week into his athletics department role at Baylor and listened to me try and sell him on why he should give me a job. He didn’t know all that he would be doing yet and said he would keep me in mind. I saw him a month later at the Waco airport, and he mentioned that he had an opening for me. My wife and I were flying home for Thanksgiving, and he was picking up our future compliance senior associate AD. Three weeks later, I accepted a job as the assistant business manager for Baylor — one day after finding out my wife was pregnant with our first child. Todd allowed me to be a part of high-level meetings and decisions that needed to be made. He taught me to treat people with respect and to expect a lot of myself and others. Without such a supportive start, I would not have gained the experience to do what I do now.

Jennifer Duberstein: Harvey Schiller. As my first boss, Harvey opened the door to the sports world for me, and I remain grateful for the opportunity as well as the guidance he has given me along my career path.

Janet Duch: I’ve been fortunate to have many amazing mentors throughout my career. Most influential in my professional development: Howard Jacobs, current MSG Sports executive vice president of tickets, clubs and corporate hospitality. I’ve worked with Howard for more than seven seasons, and he’s truly challenged and taught me to elevate my strategic approach to both the business and brand side of sports.

Rosalyn Durant: Happy to say there have been many.

Colin Faulkner: Geoff Moore, Circuit of the Americas. Geoff is a person who has great experience, insight and wisdom and is a person whose advice I trust both personally and professionally both when I worked with him and to this day. Geoff and I share many of the same core values, and he has given me great perspective as I’ve faced important decisions during my career.

Tom Griffiths: My co-founder, Nigel Eccles, CEO of FanDuel. I’ve learned so much from him over the past eight years we’ve been working together, including analytical thinking, industry knowledge and leadership.

Eric Guthoff: My partner Dave Mingey was instrumental in me exploring the world.

Flavil Hampsten: Jon Spoelstra. He gave me my first job in sports and showed me a systematic approach to sales that I still use to this day.

Seth Jacobs: Greg Luckman. He has been a mentor, boss, colleague, supporter and friend for over 15 years. I have never come across anyone else in my professional career who has the leadership and team-building skills that he has.

Dave Kaval: Lew Wolff, for his inspiration and support.

Chris Klein: Bruce Arena. He wrote the book on building and managing teams.

AJ Maestas: Jim Kahler, Ohio University executive director, Center for Sports Administration, who was at Arizona State University when I was there, and now I co-teach a sponsorship

class with him at Ohio.


Paraag Marathe: John York. John took a chance on me when I had a very nontraditional background for football operations. He, along with Bill Walsh, taught me to always find the best people for the job; it doesn’t matter where they are from.

Chris Marinak: Rob Manfred. Rob hired me at the 2007 Winter Meetings and has taken a personal interest in my development since I’ve been in baseball.

Stephen McArdle: I wouldn’t be in sports had our commissioner not taken a chance by hiring me into a new position, so Gary [Bettman] obviously deserves a lot of credit. And John Collins, who challenges me every day to combine analytics with creative thinking in our approach to the wide range of issues we work through.

Scott Milleisen: Rich Walden, my longtime sports partner at JPMorgan. He gave me my first opportunity in the sports business and was always willing to give me as much responsibility as I could handle (and then some).

Dan Reed: Chris Granger and Scott O’Neil, who took a chance on me at the NBA.

Jason Robins: Jonathan Kraft. He is an incredible entrepreneur, mentor and, most importantly, a good human being. He believed in me and what my team is trying to accomplish at an early stage, and his guidance and support have been critical to the traction we have achieved.

Frank Saviano: Joe Leccese: a mentor who has trusted me with big opportunities, taught me how to practice law at the highest level, and is always there to listen and share advice — usually with a joke, at my expense, to boot.

André Schunk: Lisa Murray. She’s expertly guided me throughout my career at Octagon.

Chad Seigler: Jill Gregory, senior vice president, industry services, at NASCAR. She taught me to always be prepared, work hard, and not be afraid to roll up your sleeves and do what it takes to get the job done. Most importantly, always support your team and have their back when they need you.

Dan Shell: There have been three; all have been huge: Randy Bennett, who I worked for as an assistant coach (taught me consistent work ethic and attacking every day like it’s a game); Mark Dyer at IMG (leadership/managerial skills); and Randy Freer (competitiveness plus an ability to quickly decipher any possible relationship into what makes sense for both parties).

Brad Sims: Chris Granger. He is probably the most intelligent person I’ve ever worked with but can relate to anyone at any level. I am extremely competitive and I was driven to take my game to another level just by the caliber of talent that he had assembled on our team. He taught me that working/aligning with talented, smart, like-minded people will help me grow and get better, no matter at what level in my career I may be.

Jared Smith: Really hard to name just one, but Marla Ostroff, whom I worked for for half my career at Ticketmaster, has been an incredible champion for me throughout my career. She taught me the ropes, provided a continual and consistent source of guidance, and always pushed me to take on more sooner.

Teri Patterson Smith: DeMaurice Smith. Not only does he possess a brilliant mind from which I learn daily, but he has an unbelievable heart. He is a terrific mentor and friend.

Meredith Starkey: Mike Belcher, T-Mobile vice president, media, sponsorships and events.


Mike Tomon: I embody the thought “It takes a village,” and I’ve been extremely fortunate on that side to have some of the best people in the business influence me along the way. In chronological order: Doug Dawson, Chad Estis, Scott O’Neil, Drew Cloud, John Walker, Rick Welts, Bill Sutton, Greg Economou, Len Komoroski, Shervin Mirhashemi.

Danny Townsend: Paul Smith, Repucom CEO. We have worked together since the inception of Repucom and along the way been faced with many challenges. We have seen a small domestic business grow to a global leader in sports marketing consultancy with 22 offices worldwide. There was no script to follow, and Paul’s entrepreneurial approach has made the business what it is today and ultimately had the greatest influence on my career.

Jennifer van Dijk: Todd McCormack. I worked for Todd at the start of TWIi, which was a new part of IMG when I started in 1998. Watching Todd have the vision and determination to grow the business in digital as part of IMG and working with him to create new, out-of-the-box ways to consume sports online in the early days of the Internet gave me the ability and belief that we can create smart, creative work for clients in digital sports that can also drive real value and revenue. I consider myself very lucky to have also found a visionary, tech-savvy CEO like Casey Wasserman. Working with Casey and the vision he has and what he has created at the company has also shaped my understanding of teamwork and creative strategy significantly.

Nicole Jeter West: Lew Sherr, USTA chief revenue officer (and my boss). He challenged me three years ago to step outside my comfort zone of sports marketing into digital partnerships. He’s an advocate for change and supports creativity, innovation, and room for trial and error.

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