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Game Changers

Karen Ashnault: LeadDog Marketing Group

Photo by: LANI ASHNAULT
K
aren Ashnault always had the moxie needed to succeed in sports. From her time with the NBA in the early 1990s to heading up LeadDog Marketing Group's largest integrated programs now, Ashnault has had the right stuff.

Karen Ashnault
LEADDOG MARKETING GROUP,
PARTNER AND SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
“She has the guts you need,” said Donna Goldsmith, senior vice president at Tough Mudder, who was with the NBA at the same time as Ashnault. “Karen never lost sight of the project she was working on. When [NBA Commissioner] David Stern would have a canary, Karen would jump right on it.”

At the NBA, Ashnault oversaw league deals with Nike and Reebok. At LeadDog, she is a partner and senior vice president of account management and manages partnerships with NASCAR and WWE. In 2014, she led activation for the New York/New Jersey Super Bowl Host Committee's presence on Super Bowl Boulevard in Manhattan.

One of LeadDog's marquee clients is the Avon 39 Walk to End Breast Cancer. Ashnault's team fundraises for the event, coordinates marketing and recruits participants. “We see where the money raised goes to and how it enhances and benefits women's lives," she said. "It brings a different level of pride to the job.”

Despite her tenured success, breaking into the business didn't come easy to the mother of three. “In the late ’80s, being a girl, one of the only ways you could get into sports was to be able to type 65 words a minute and be a secretary,” she said. “There was no entry-level position beyond administrative that a female could take. To make it work, you have to surround yourself with the right people.”

— Josh Carpenter

  • An attribute I look for when hiring: Humility.
  • A networking tip I’ve learned: Do it when you don’t need to.
  • Biggest challenge I face working in sports: Balancing work and family.
  • Best advice I’ve received for career development: If you always do the right thing at the right time for the right reason, you can’t go wrong.
  • Woman in sports business I’d most like to meet: Billie Jean King. She broke down the barriers in pushing for equality.
  • Most memorable sporting event attended: Tucson Toros baseball game back in the late ’70s. We went with my grandfather, and he just had to be there so early to get the best seat, to map everything out. It just hit me as a kid how passionate he was. It doesn’t always come from the biggest payroll or shiniest stadium; it’s what you stir up inside yourself.
  • Cause supported: Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

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