#CapturedByKevin
Megan Hughes Allison
Senior Vice President, Corporate Consulting / GSE Live Hospitality, Genesco Sports Enterprises
Born: Kansas City, Kansas
Education: Hampton University, B.S., exercise science and sports medicine
After starting her career building Pepsi’s iconic motorsports deals with Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Megan Hughes Allison has now graduated to working on a range of different sports for Genesco Sports Enterprises.
Early in her career, Allison worked for Electric Red, which was involved with licensing marks from NASCAR to use on its hardware products like MP3 players. That helped vault Allison to Genesco in 2006, where she worked with longtime client Pepsi as it built up its motorsports presence with Gordon before eventually signing Earnhardt in 2007.
Now, she leads the GSE Live Hospitality unit, which includes business development, in addition to working with companies such as Bojangles’, Johnson & Johnson, Advance Auto Parts and Atrium Health.
“Being part of the Jeff Gordon years, seeing how he grew in the sport and being part of his retirement was just amazing. He and Hendrick Motorsports were just very good partners to work with,” said Allison, who grew up in Kansas City.
She also is enjoying working on other deals now, noting the Advance Auto Parts program.
“It’s been fun to sit down with Advance and develop their sports strategy to help them differentiate themselves in their industry and kind of identify who their brand is through sports,” Allison said. “Helping Advance build a sports strategy has really been fun, and going from Mountain Dew and the soda world to aftermarket auto retail parts is really interesting.” — Adam Stern
Getting to know...
Favorite day-off activity: Hanging with my family! My 3-year-old daughter keeps us highly entertained (and exhausted).
Guilty pleasure: Napa Valley cabernet sauvignons.
Something your friends would consider “so you”: Way too nice. I always want everyone to be happy.
Proudest professional achievement: Bringing together the two amazing brands of Mountain Dew and Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been one of my proudest achievements.
Woman in sports business you’d like to meet: I would like to meet and visit with Condoleezza Rice. I imagine she brings a very unique perspective to the business of sports given her background and experiences.
Role of sports in social issues: Sports provide a platform to amplify a single or collective voice and as an industry, we shouldn’t shy away from that truth. It may not always feel comfortable, but some of the greatest names in sports have taken risks to address social issues. Imagine the impact of the weight of the industry behind them.
