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Daniel Cherry moves from SVP of marketing at Diageo.
Photo by: PRUDENTIAL CENTER
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The New Jersey Devils have hired Daniel Cherry as chief marketing officer, becoming the first person to hold that title for the team under owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer.
Cherry also will serve as CMO of the Devils’ Prudential Center arena. He previously was senior vice president of marketing, North America, for Diageo. Prior to that he worked as CMO of soccer’s New York Cosmos as well as for a number of advertising agencies, including Wieden & Kennedy, where he worked on the Nike and Jordan Brand accounts.
“After learning more about the vision for the brands and the commitment to market excellence that this group has, I’m excited to help them make a statement that represents this team, community and state,” Cherry said. “We all believe we’re on the right side of the franchise’s growth.”
It was Cherry’s past work with Jordan Brand that connected him to New Jersey. Jordan Brand President Larry Miller, formerly president of the Portland Trail Blazers, helped pair Cherry with Devils and Prudential Center President Hugh Weber, also previously an NBA team president.
“From a cultural and intellectual bandwidth, Daniel brings something that we’ve been lacking,” Weber said. “We’ve created some structure and direction on where we want to go with the team’s brand, and he will allow us to accelerate that process even faster.”
Weber and Devils/Prudential Center CEO Scott O’Neil headed previous marketing efforts for the team and the arena, as well as a staff of approximately 50 across the two properties. Cherry will report to Weber but will also work frequently with O’Neil.
Harris and Blitzer acquired the Devils in August 2013 and tabbed O’Neil and Weber soon after. Since then, the Devils have more than doubled the size of their front-office staff and have largely overhauled their business operations. The team in March named Adam Davis its first chief revenue officer.
