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Maura McGreevy wasn’t sure what to expect when she went to work for WME-IMG in 2014. The firm, which later rebranded as Endeavor, had not yet acquired UFC, it had not started a merger between its college business, IMG College, and Learfield, and McGreevy had never worked in the modeling industry, all of which are aspects that she has encountered as part of her job.
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, IMG (part of the Endeavor network)
Age: 35
Born: Pullman, Wash.
Education: Boston University, B.S., communications
Family: Husband, Walter Klinke
I get fired up … : Being underestimated.
Advice to my 20-year-old self: Don’t be so hard on yourself. And get more sleep!
Profession I’d most like to attempt: I’d love to be a professional chef/baker (a la Christina Tosi).
Cause supported: We’re fortunate to partner with so many incredible organizations through the Endeavor Foundation, so I follow their lead! I’ve recently been working with the Art for Justice Fund, which is funding artists and advocates who work to help reform our criminal justice system.
Person in the industry I’d most like to meet: LeBron James.
Sports industry needs to do a better job of … : Cultivating career paths for women and other underrepresented groups.
Sports business leaders should be more mindful of … : Nepotism (this applies to all leaders, not just sports).
As a communications expert, though, McGreevy loves telling a good story, and the past six years have certainly made for good storytelling.
“WME was a fascinating company with lots of interesting opportunities from a communications perspective,” said McGreevy, who previously worked for the agency Droga5 when it was acquired by WME in 2013. “So, as I thought about my next professional step, it sounded like a really exciting place, but I really took a risk. I had to have faith in [WME’s leadership] because I genuinely had no idea what my day-to-day would be.”
Taking a chance wasn’t a foreign concept for
McGreevy. Earlier in her communications career, she took a job with Thomson Reuters that required her to move to Hong Kong for four months in 2009 without knowing a soul. She was charged, at age 25, with creating a communications strategy for the company’s offices throughout Southeast Asia.
“There wasn’t even a job description,” McGreevy said. “We just had to figure it out.”
She has gone into jobs that didn’t have a specific outline, sort of like “a 500-piece puzzle where all of the pieces are the same color,” she said. “So, you ask questions, you learn about the people and you find the best stories to tell.”
