The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association has hired Dan Barnett as its first chief commercial officer, the same position he currently holds with the 35th America’s Cup now underway in Bermuda.
After the race, Barnett will start in time for the USSA partner summit in Park City, Utah, in late June. He replaces Mike Jaquet, the chief marketing officer who left in April after five years at the national governing body.
With the altered title, USSA CEO Tiger Shaw said, Barnett will be asked to direct all commercial revenue-generating activities, build a more robust international commercial sponsorship portfolio and help individual athletes market themselves.
“A primary part of his role is being CCO for our athletes,” Shaw said. “And what that means is working closely in concert with them to include them in our commercial success by helping them build their brands as well. This is an intrinsic partnership with our athletes. They’re the whole reason we exist.”
Shaw said Barnett’s experience with international sales and expanding sailing’s fan base were key factors in his hiring. Korn Ferry advised USSA on the search.
A lawyer by trade, U.K.-born Barnett started at the America’s Cup as senior legal counsel in 2011 but has overseen commercial programs for both the event authority and Oracle Team USA more recently. Before that, he was a lawyer at UEFA.
Barnett said he jumped at the chance to work for an organization with such a prominent role in the Winter Olympics, giving it worldwide potential for brands and fans. “I think there’s a real opportunity to expand the property to become global,” he said.
He also hopes to centralize USSA’s content production, currently spread across several divisions, to more effectively build the brand with social and digital media. The organization is streamlining its brand, hoping to be known more as a single entity than a collection of sometimes disparate sports, like cross country skiing and snowboarding.
“You could see that as being disparate, but I see that as the opposite — it gives you more opportunity to give the sponsors exactly what they want,” Barnett said, comparing the situation to America’s Cup selling to both Louis Vuitton and Red Bull.
Harvey Schiller, former commercial commissioner of the America’s Cup and former executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said Barnett is an ideal candidate for a large national governing body. “I know he’ll be the right person because he not only has that nationalistic view but also that global view of the sport, and with the many events he does, he’s used to event management, too.”
