16 minute read
The Business of Sports
FOOTBALL When Tara McCreery Wood ’84 accepted a job with the NFL in 2006, it was as a temporary, part-time leave replacement. Little did she know that she would spend 17 years working her way up the ranks to become an executive at one of the top professional sports leagues in the world. “I grew up with three brothers,” Wood says. “My father likes to say, ‘I always knew one of my kids would work at the NFL, I just never knew it would be my daughter!’” Throughout her career in law and human resources, Wood has often been the only woman in meetings — something she “never thinks twice about.” In addition to growing up with brothers, she credits the “undeniable value” of her Dobbs education for her confidence: “I learned not just that I had a voice in the world, but how to use it wisely.” Wood admits that when she first came to The Masters School as a junior in 1982, “I walked into a classroom with a conference table and chairs, instead of desks in rows, and I panicked! My nature was to hide in the back of the classroom, placing as much distance as possible between me and my teacher.” Although the seminar style of learning took some getting used to, “It has served me well in the long run,” she says. After graduating from Masters, Wood attended Vanderbilt, where she earned a B.A. in communications; she got her J.D. from Delaware Law School. She practiced law at Epstein, Becker & Greene, P.C. for three years before taking on a role at King World Productions, where she launched its human resources department. “Building a department from the ground up was a very challenging experience,” Wood says. “The strategic and managerial skills I was forced to develop in real time pushed me out of my comfort zone and remain with me today.” Wood describes moving from a law firm to a fast-paced, live television studio as “a fantastic pivot.” And HR was a good fit for her personality. “I prefer to work directly with employees to reach amicable solutions to workplace issues, as opposed to adjudicating disputes, sometimes years later, in a courtroom,” she explains. While at King World, she met and married her husband, Simon, and they welcomed three children to their family. “Over the years we have always worked together to prioritize and integrate our expanding careers and our amazing family,” Wood shares. When offered a temporary, part-time job at the NFL in 2006, Wood jumped at the opportunity. “I was absolutely thrilled to play even a supporting role in such a prestigious organization,” she says. “I never imagined I would remain and grow my career at the NFL for the next 17 seasons.”
Touchdown: Looking Back on Two Decades With the NFL As the league's head of employee relations for nearly a decade, Wood was responsible for “creating and implementing employment policies and practices to cultivate a positive, productive and diverse workplace.” She describes close consultation and collaboration with a number of departments, including HR, legal, compliance, audit and security to “help ensure the successful resolution of employee relations matters and workplace investigations.” She also oversaw annual league-wide workplace conduct trainings. She notes that, while many are familiar with the NFL’s social responsibility initiatives and their global impact, NFL leadership’s care for league office employees “although not publicized, is equally compelling. I was privileged to assist in the quiet channeling of resources, assistance and support given to a number of employees who were facing difficult personal situations. My file folder of handwritten thank you notes is a wonderful keepsake.” When reflecting on lessons she learned at Dobbs that she carried throughout her career, Wood is quick to mention that it was at Dobbs where she learned to “see my teachers as a valuable resource outside of the classroom.” Because day students couldn’t leave campus before 5:00 p.m. and teachers were often on campus until dinnertime, “When I had homework questions, I would simply pop in and speak one-on-one with my teachers,” she shares. “Those few extra minutes of individual help made all the difference in my effort to master a topic. Subsequently, in college and law school, I would wait after class or visit my teacher’s office for extra help. Even today, I never hesitate to circle back with my boss or colleagues to work through complex business issues — a lasting imprint from my Dobbs teachers.” As Wood looks back on her career path, her advice to those just starting out is simple: “Make the most of every opportunity you are given, no matter how trivial it may seem at the time. Be open to all possibilities and don’t be afraid to ask for what you need.”
Tara McCreery Wood ’84
A Home Run Career in Sports PR
Andrew Rhodes ’07 can pinpoint the moment he became interested in the business side of sports: “Mr. Ives’ ninth grade history class. I wrote a paper on the business of baseball and rising player salaries. I still have it in my parents’ house. I recently came across it and thought, ‘This sort of started it all in many ways.’”
Rhodes has now spent a decade in public relations serving as a communications counselor and strategist for professional sports industry clients. As senior vice president at PR firm DKC, Rhodes’ client list is an all-star lineup: Meta (Facebook Sports); SMAC Entertainment, founded by TV personality and pro football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and his longtime business partner Constance Schwartz-Morini; Sports Illustrated; and many others.
Rhodes also helped launch The Players’ Tribune, the media company that Derek Jeter founded when he retired from the Yankees. A lifelong baseball fan, Rhodes “worshipped the game and was a huge Yankees fan — still am.” He describes working with one of his childhood sports idols as “a lifelong dream come true” and “a careeraltering opportunity.”
Although he works primarily with individuals and companies in the sports arena, Rhodes also consults for clients in other industries such as travel, retail, food and media, including award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. “I get to plan events around the country to support each film and go on the road with him for these sneak previews,” Rhodes shares. “I’ve been very fortunate to have many ‘pinch me’ moments.”
Well before he took steps to launch a career at the intersection of communications, business, sports and media, Rhodes spent his high school years at The Masters School exploring a variety of interests. He caught fly balls as an outfielder, harmonized onstage with Dobbs 16, and showcased his performing chops in musicals. He was also co-president of Gold Key, co-vice president of MISH and co-chair of the Special Olympics.
As captain of the varsity baseball team, Rhodes fondly remembers the team’s spring training trips to Florida, implemented and led by thenathletic director Ray Lacen. “Those trips, bonding with the team, the ability to play at one of the best facilities in the country, in Disney's Wide World of Sports, that was incredibly special,” Rhodes says. Another highlight was an “improbable win over Brunswick School” during his junior year. “We had no business beating them,” he explains. “It was one of these ‘Any Given Sunday’ situations.”
In the classroom, Rhodes recalls the impact that Harkness discussions had on him. “You don’t realize it in the moment, but the Harkness experience is very similar to the boardroom or a meeting room,” Rhodes reflects. “It encourages involvement and promotes the idea that you can and should try to make an impact in every session.”
In history teacher Lisa Berrol’s psychology class, Rhodes discovered an interest in the subject; he double-majored in psychology and media and communications in college.
At Muhlenberg College, Rhodes continued to pursue his passion for baseball and sports overall. He interned with the Philadelphia Phillies’ Triple-A baseball team, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, where he “did everything from on-field promotions and selling items in the stands to handing out giveaways and arranging the first-ever hotdog-eating contest for the team.” He later interned for sports anchor Bruce Beck at WNBC-TV. And he worked for Muhlenberg Athletics as a game day operations manager and public address announcer.
After graduating, Rhodes took a job at a small technology company before landing an entry-level position at DKC. About that first role, he says: “I worked with a few executives to support them and the accounts that they worked on. I learned the fundamentals and worked really hard — the hours were long, the demands were high. But the people that I work with and the clients that I get to work with have always kept me motivated.” This September, he will celebrate his 10-year anniversary with the company.
For Rhodes, the job is a winning combination of his two passions: sports and communications. Seeing the results of his work is also an exciting, tangible reward. “There’s something special about watching a news segment or reading an article that you helped facilitate,” he says. “Most of the news and entertainment media we consume — what we read, what we watch, what we listen to — has likely involved a PR person.”
As someone who appreciates the complexity and nuances of a game like baseball, it’s no surprise that Rhodes enjoys the new challenges each day brings: “I wake up and, as much as I might plan, I have no idea what's going to come my way that day. Every day is a new adventure.”
Andrew Rhodes ’07 ...the Harkness experience is very similar to the boardroom “ ” BASEBALL or a meeting room.
SPORTS INFORMATION As a child, Jhon Guarin ’13 didn’t like watching sports. He remembers his older brother tuning in to ESPN, but says, “I found it to be very boring.” How times have changed. As the sports information director at Villa Maria College in Buffalo, New York, Guarin spends his days working on all things athletics. “I wear so many different hats,” he explains. A typical day might consist of scheduling games, coordinating transportation and hotels for away matches, writing pre- and post-game stories, and creating graphics for social media. Then, of course, he attends whichever games are taking place on campus, providing real-time stats and updates on social media. Guarin’s passion for sports was ignited when he picked up a ball and became part of the game. At Masters, he was a three-season athlete, playing soccer, basketball and baseball in both the Middle and Upper Schools. It was the School’s athletic trainer at the time, Ken Verral, who opened Guarin’s eyes to a different world of sports beyond the pitch: working behind the scenes to support the athletes. Guarin recalls that he and other students would spend their free periods and downtime with Verral — whom they affectionately referred to as Mr. V — in his office. “He had an open door and was an awesome person to talk to,” Guarin says. “When I first went to college, I wanted to be an athletic trainer, and Mr. V was the reason for that.” Guarin also credits then-Athletic Director Ray Lacen with impacting “how I approached sports and also the career I wanted to pursue when I was going into college.” Once at SUNY Brockport, Guarin began taking classes in athletic training and quickly realized that wasn’t his passion. A friend in the program suggested he try sports management; that idea turned out to be a slam-dunk. As part of his course of study, Guarin interned in Brockport’s sports information office and dived into everything from graphic design and project management to sports writing and media relations. “It’s really cool work that you don’t think about when you’re the fan,” Guarin explains. “People love to see the graphics on Instagram, but they don’t think about who makes them. They love reading all the post-game articles, but don’t know who writes them. They see all the stats, but they don’t know the people that are inputting them
A Three-Season Panther Promotes College "Vikings" during the game. It was awesome to be a part of all that as an undergrad student. I was instantly hooked.” Guarin earned his bachelor’s degree in sports management and communications, and stayed at Brockport for two more years as an assistant sports information director while getting his master’s in athletic administration. Now at Villa Maria, Guarin continues to pursue a meaningful career. One of the most rewarding aspects of his job is getting to know the coaches and players. “You get to meet a lot of different people from a lot of different walks of life who have gotten to Villa in different ways,” he says. The biggest perk, of course, is cheering for those players during their games, since “At the end of the day,” Guarin says, “I love watching sports.”
Jhon Guarin ’13
The Business of Sports
Let’s Make a Deal: Building a Career in Sales Planning
When Ross Lilienfield ’14 was asked to help the NBC Sports department with coverage of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he felt as if he’d won a gold medal.
At the time, Lilienfield was working in account services at NBC’s broadcast entertainment division. He has always been interested in sports, sharing that “I played sports growing up, and football became the first sport I really loved watching.” Starting when he was 9 years old, “I began following it extremely closely.”
At The Masters School, the diehard NFL fan hit the tennis courts as a varsity player for four years. After attending a summer program on sports business leadership at the University of Pennsylvania, he knew that was the right industry for him. “I wanted to pursue a career somewhere within the sports world so that I could be involved with a passion of mine,” he explains.
Lilienfield attended the University of Michigan, where he received a bachelor’s degree in sports management and worked in the athletic department. After graduating, he took a job with an experiential marketing agency that hosted events at sports arenas before joining NBC.
When the NBC Sports team approached Lilienfield to help out with the Tokyo Olympics, he says he “had wanted to try and make my way back into sports. This ended up providing a tremendous opportunity.”
When a position later opened up on the NBC Sports team, Lilienfield had an established relationship and proven track record with the team. Unsurprisingly, he got the gig.
Now, Lilienfield is a sales planner at NBC Sports and spends his days partnering with brand agencies to create media plans for NBC properties, including Sunday Night Football, the Premier League and the Olympics. “Clients come to us with a budget or target programs where they want to air commercials, and I work with our internal teams to put together a plan that fulfills their requests,” Lilienfield explains. Once they close the deal, he makes sure the terms of the contract, such as a certain number of views, are met.
“I never expected to end up where I am currently when I started my career,” Lilienfield says. “Keeping an open mind and taking a chance may lead you down the right path, even if it is not what you imagined at first.”
Ross Lilienfield ’14 “
SALES PLANNING
feature | ALUMNAE/I PURSUE CAREERS IN SPORTS The Business of Sports
Love (of Data) and Basketball
As a child attending New York Knicks games with his family, Nick Fleder ’13 was fascinated with data. “The game really came to life through the numbers,” he says. “I used to pour over The New York Times box scores every morning and have my dad quiz me on the statistics leaderboards.”
What began as a childhood enthrallment has turned into a dream job. Fleder now works as a data science manager with his beloved Knicks. “Our group supports stakeholders in the Knicks front office with analysis, research and reporting,” he explains.
Having been an avid spectator who also played the game throughout childhood, Fleder decided to pursue a career in the sports industry because “the game of basketball is mesmerizing both on and off the court,” he explains. “Everyone is looking for an edge — in terms of information, personnel, productivity — and that requires creativity, topnotch communication and a fair bit of luck. I love the challenge in that type of environment.”
After graduating from Masters — where, he says, history teacher Lisa Berrol and science teacher Kristen Tregar “helped me grow as a student and a person” — Fleder received a B.A. in history and sports management with a concentration in analytics from Rice University. He followed that degree with an M.S. in business analytics from Texas McCombs School of Business. Prior to joining the Knicks, Fleder held analyst positions with the Indiana Pacers and Rice University’s men’s basketball team.
“During my high school and college years, there was massive growth in terms of the data available to professional teams — everything from in-game player tracking and coordinate information to athletic performance and movement data,” Fleder says. “Every industry is changing rapidly in the information age, and if you have passion and creativity, you can find a way to land even through unconventional routes.”
One of the most exciting moments of his career came when Fleder got to watch the full process of the NBA Draft unfold — an opportunity he describes as “a dream come true.”
“I’ve always loved the NBA Draft process,” he says. “You have dozens of people realizing their dreams, and from the fan and team perspective, the league gets dozens of exciting young players at once to root for and watch grow. Meanwhile, there’s intrigue from everything to the draft lottery and figuring out how to evaluate a player’s fit with a team.”
One data point is certain: With a head for numbers and a heart for the Knicks, everything has added up for Fleder.
Nick Fleder ’13
BASKETBALL”
VITAL SUPPORT
The generosity of alumnae/i, parents and friends has shaped Masters’ history and will continue to impact its future.
Gifts to the Masters Fund provide vital support to our community’s most valuable assets — our students and their teachers.
Be a part of this annual intiative today. Visit mastersny.org/makeagift or contact Director of Annual Giving Hilary Finkelstein at hilary.finkelstein@mastersny.org.
The Estherwood Society recognizes alumnae/i, parents and friends who have chosen to honor The Masters School through their estate, trust or other gift planning vehicle. The thoughtful planning of society members provides an ongoing legacy for future generations of Masters students and helps the School remain on solid footing during times of economic uncertainty.
For a complimentary gift planning guide or to notify The Masters School of your intentions, please contact Director of Alumnae/i Engagement Sujata Jaggi ’01 at 914-479-6611 or sujata.jaggi@mastersny.org.
