Andrea Williams loves dogs, especially her deaf, 8-year-old Great Dane rescue named Rain. For Williams’ 40th birthday, she and her friends and family raised $10,000 for a dog rescue in Thailand that saves dogs from the meat trade.
“I’m a sucker for anything dog rescues, so if you want my support, feel free to shoot me an email,” she said, laughing.
Williams will use that empathy and caring spirit in her new role as the Utah Jazz’s chief experience officer (CXO). Williams was hired just after Thanksgiving in that role, which is steadily becoming more common throughout the sports industry. What the role entails differs from organization to organization.
Andrea Williams says she has done a lot of listening in her new role.Utah Jazz
“These organizations are saying we can see what works at Disney, Chick-Fil-A, Ritz Carlton; can we mimic those externally with our customers, but also internally?” said Prodigy Sports partner Mark Gress. “It’s not there yet. [Diversity, equity and inclusion] and [diversity and inclusion], outside of sports are very prevalent, but sports is catching up and figuring it out as you go.”
Some takeaways from a recent conversation with Williams …
Williams is concerned with everyone’s experience; her role isn’t only a fan-facing role:
“It’s all tied together,” she said. “If you have staff members that are dedicated, committed, and have bought into the organization’s culture, they’re going to work that much harder, and that effort is going to be felt by our patrons.”
Williams’ position is incredibly broad; her potential to influence the Jazz organization will be considerable:
Williams leads the Jazz’s people and culture team, oversees a data analytics department, the game presentation team, and the Junior Jazz program, the NBA’s oldest and largest youth program, with 60,000 kids spread over six states. Oh, and she oversees Vivint Arena and all of its events. The organization has nearly 400 full-time employees, 150 of whom report to Williams.
“Obviously, the first responsibility falls in line in terms of experience, and that’s both public facing and internal. So this role is to provide world-class experiences for anyone coming into Vivint Arena, whether it’s for Jazz games or concerts or family shows, and internally, through our responsibilities through people and culture, ensuring that we’re providing a conducive space for our staff to have a safe place to work and be successful, but also putting intentionality around recruitment and retention of wonderful talent that’s going to help elevate the Utah Jazz and improve our organization and help it to evolve over time.”
CXO isn’t a job that every kid grows up dreaming about. Williams, whose résumé and education background reveal her to be a broadly experienced generalist, said that several things made her think she’d be suitable for a CXO-type job:
“In terms of my interest, it really was the leadership, whether that was Ryan and Ashley Smith on the ownership side, or Jim Olson, who is our president, and it’s the fact that they have this long history of working in the experience management category, and knowing that they’re going to bring that same energy and passion to what the Jazz organization can do; specifically, the ability to be part of an organization that wants to use their platform for good and use it to influence our community and state, in a meaningful and impactful way. So, I think it is really the opportunity to influence. We are here to win a championship, and that is our ultimate goal. But while doing so, you can do things to support your community. That’s really what the hook was for me.”
Utah was the nation’s fastest growing state from 2010 to 2020, its population increasing by more than 18%. Over half of Utah’s growth in the decade came from minority populations, according to Census Bureau data, even though Utah is still one of the “whitest” states in the nation. Asked what it’s like to work on diversity in Utah, Williams said:
“Utah is evolving. The culture is about community and fellowship and family, and the focus really is on being a good steward. When you have that as your foundation and the baseline of what represents your state, working on the inclusivity piece, that’s easy.”
Williams spent two years as the commissioner of the Big Sky Conference — the first African American woman to lead an NCAA Division I conference — and three years as the College Football Playoff’s chief operating officer. Pro sports will give her different opportunities to fine tune fan and employee experience:
“When I was at the College Football Playoff, we would talk about that. Because the games moved around annually, we had one opportunity to put on the best show that we could because we couldn’t replicate it the following year. You could take what you learned and the best practices and apply it to the next location, but it’s just not the same. Similarly, with the Jazz, and for all the events that we bring into Vivint Arena, we have an incredible staff and after each one of our shows and games, we collectively get together to examine and assess what happened at that particular event. What are the things we need to be prepared for or adjust, and that’s where our data analytics comes into play. We have surveys that we send out to attendees after every event, and we review that data and we talk about it. Whether it’s ticketing or concessions or sound system or game presentation or parking, we talk about it all.”
About six months into her new role in Salt Lake City, Williams is still focused on one thing: Listening.
During the Eagles concert the other night, “I walked the arena the entire night and I’m talking to our experience ambassadors, I’m talking to our security, I’m talking to our custodial, learning about their experiences, and what we can do to evolve in the ever-changing landscape of live events. Listening to people is so key.”
Bret McCormick can be reached at bmccormick@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
