turnkey
Dana Busino’s professional growth has coincided with Turnkey’s. She joined the company 14 years ago and has developed into CEO Len Perna’s right-hand woman and No. 2, running day-to-day operations at the search firm’s offices in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Busino is a major advocate of clients considering candidates from underrepresented groups during their searches, and she’s shown a specialty for helping sports properties make hires and rebuild during transitions.
“We need visionaries who can execute,” said Busino. “In sports, we win every single day, you win or lose if the building is full or if it’s not. We have to adjust in a moment’s notice in a way that a lot of other industries don’t. That’s what we look for — can someone create strategy but also be driven by bringing it to life in a moment’s notice.”
Diana Busino
Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Turnkey Search
Born: Toronto
Education: Union College, B.S., psychology and Spanish
The hockey-loving Canadian and mother of a 3-year-old — “he’s picked a hell of a time to be 3,” she jokes — wants more women to land revenue roles; they’re often concentrated in marketing or administrative roles, like human resources.
But Busino’s impact can be seen throughout the industry in the hundreds of placements that she’s helped make, including helping women land those very revenue roles. That creates the kind of self-fulfilling cycles that Busino thinks will gender-diversify the industry, because she said it is easier for women to evaluate women during the hiring process than it is for men. — Bret McCormick
More about Diana
Guilty pleasure: Full volume, late-’80s Whitney Houston (less guilty, more apologetic to my husband!).
Attributes I look for when hiring: Humility paired with innate competitiveness — must have both.
Proudest professional achievement in current post: The team we’ve put together — all different backgrounds, different personalities, different approaches, but together, the pieces fit perfectly and we come together to consistently punch above our weight.
Woman in sports business I’d most like to meet: Lisa Fernandez. She was my hero growing up and the first time I had really watched women be represented athletically on TV.
Sports can grow its role in the social justice movement by: There are few things that have the power to drive unity but also amplify conversations quite like sports. With that power, we have an obligation, in my opinion, to lead from in front. Representation in our organizations need to better reflect that of our communities to be able to authentically understand, amplify and advocate for the social justice matters that impact the lives of our fans, athletes and staff.
