People and Pop Culture
Spotlight: Colby Connell, U.S. Equestrian Federation
Following her passion leads Connell to U.S. Equestrian Federation
Colby Connell made the jump to sports marketing when she took a job with SmartPak Equine, a retailer of equestrian products. The job allowed her to build relationships throughout the riding world, including with the U.S. Equestrian Federation, where she is now chief marketing officer. She spoke recently with staff writer Jordan Missal.
■ Age: 40
■ New title: Chief marketing officer, U.S. Equestrian Federation
■ Previous title: Vice president of marketing, Spartan Race
■ First job: Assistant aquarist, New England Aquarium
■ College education: B.A. in biology, Bates College, 1997
■ Resides: Scituate, Mass.
■ Grew up: Mountain Top, Pa.
■ Executive most admired: Tony Hsieh of Zappos
■ Brand most admired: Patagonia
■ Favorite vacation spot: Harbor Island in the Bahamas
■ Last book read: “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead,” by Sheryl Sandberg
■ Last movie seen: “Jurassic World” in 3-D
■ Favorite movie: “Cast Away”
■ Favorite musician/band: Zac Brown Band
■ Biggest challenge in your new position?
Evolving an industry that has been very traditional and making the case for digital media and new media usage to cultivate the relationships in a way that they haven’t been used before. How do you, with a nod to tradition, evolve to be more effective, to grow the audience of people getting into the sport?
■ Biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?
I was a customer of SmartPak Equine. I had recently got back into riding after taking a number of years off and had just bought myself a horse right when I turned 30, and I had the same exact job [as I had], director of e-commerce, come up at SmartPak. It meant driving over an hour south, taking a pay cut, and it was very much a startup ... but I had a feeling that it was something that I could be the best in the world at.
■ Biggest professional accomplishment?
What we built at SmartPak was very, very special. Having the free range to do the right thing by the customer made all the difference. The organizational support to make all those decisions paid off. To build that company from a $20 million company to valuations well over $150 million was an amazing thing.
■ Biggest professional disappointment?
Bose was a brand that I really respected, and I think I’m someone who is flexible in figuring out how to do new things, so I took a job as an analyst and I had no background in analytics. Being a science major was tough. I stayed too long, for three or more years, and when you’re doing work that you don’t like, three years really broke me down.
■ What is the one element you would like to see changed about the sports industry?
There’s only so many sports that you can consume on TV. The networks have to make a call based on critical mass, what makes it in to network programming. I would like to see more readily available live streaming of different sports online.
