Eric Fernandez – Digital and Social Media Expert
Media Link LLC

In his current position, Eric Fernandez oversees the development of the sports and entertainment practice for Media Link.  A growing advisory firm founded in 2002 by Michael Kassan, Media Link specializes in assisting brands, agencies and advertisers navigate and grow in new, digital and non-traditional media environments.  Since joining Media Link in July 2008, Eric has focused on helping existing clients expand into sports and entertainment as well as shape Media Links strategy to launch a fully-fledged entertainment division.

Prior to joining Media Link LLC, Eric spent 14 years with AT&T in various marketing and advertising positions.  Eric spent the last 6 years as the Executive Director of Sponsorships and Events where he oversaw global sponsorship strategy, contract negotiations and development and implementation of industry-leading marketing activation programs.  Eric oversaw an organization of 50+ people, a sponsorship portfolio of 55+ best-in-class partnerships and an annual operating budget in excess of $150M.  Partnerships led by Eric included the US Olympic Committee, The Masters, NCAA, Williams Formula One, PGA Tour and numerous MLB, NFL, NBA and NCAA team properties and Music and Entertainment partnerships.

Eric led AT&T's sponsorship integration through mergers with SBC Communications, BellSouth and Cingular Wireless that transformed the company from a wired telecommunications company into a global communications and entertainment enterprise.  AT&T's sponsorship portfolio played a key role in driving consumer perceptions of this brand transformation.

Sponsorships were used to connect with consumers via experiential engagements allowing them to interact with The New AT&T first-hand, thereby enhancing brand perception and driving transactions.  Eric's sponsorship organization was recognized for their market leadership via receiving over 21 industry awards between 2006 and 2008.

Eric holds a BBA in Finance/International Business from Baylor University.  He is an active member of the advisory board for Baylor’s Sports Sponsorships and Sales (S3) major.

Shawn Hunter

In February, 2011, Shawn Hunter was appointed as CEO and co-chairman to the USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Colorado's largest spectator event, which features 128 pro cyclists racing through 518 miles of the Colorado Rockies. He joins the Pro Challenge with a deep background in sports management and marketing as the former president and CEO of Deportivo Chivas professional Soccer Club, after holding the position of chief marketing officer and president of AEG Sports. Shawn Hunter is also a former executive vice president of the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets and also served as President for the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes.

Hunter’s experience with AEG included overseeing eleven sports teams worldwide and many of the brand's marquee sporting events, including the Tour of California professional bike race. Hunter also holds a position on the board of directors for Total Sports Asia, a company that has represented leading sports federations and rights holders from around the world including the US Open Tennis Championship, Badminton World Federation, Manchester United, and Real Madrid. As one of AE'’s representatives on the MLS Board of Directors, Hunter has also beeSn influential in a number of major business developments in Major League Soccer. Hunter played a role in the formulation of the Designated Player Rule, which opened the doors for the arrival of such international stars as the New York Red Bulls' Juan Pablo Ángel, the Chicago Fire's Cuauhtémoc Blanco, and the LA Galaxy's David Beckham.

A native of Lawrence, Kansas, Hunter began his career in professional sports as a corporate account executive with the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves during the team’s inaugural season in 1988–89. During his tenure with the Timberwolves, the franchise set a new single-season attendance record for the NBA, as more than 1.1 million fans passed through the turnstiles.

He received both his undergraduate degree in business administration (1986) and his master's degree in finance (1988) from the University of Kansas. Shawn and his wife Deidre have two sons, Dillon and Daulton.

 

Andres J. (AJ) Maestas
President - Navigate Marketing, Inc.

Maestas launched Navigate in 2006 to serve the industry's need for accountability and accurate solutions to measurement. It is his and the firm's long-term goal to establish a generally accepted methodology for the calculation of return on investment (ROI).

Navigate is the industry leader in measuring and analyzing sponsorships, with an emphasis on custom market research studies, sponsorship valuations and sponsorship ROI studies. Headquartered in Chicago, with an office in Scottsdale, AZ, Navigate has measured ROI and effectiveness for hundreds of sponsorship deals and has valued over $1 billion in sponsorship transactions on behalf of brands, properties and municipalities. Current and previous Navigate clients include the NFL, ESPN, Farmers Insurance, Greater Cleveland Regional Transportation Authority (GCRTA), Village of Rosemont (Illinois), Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) and the British Airport Authority & Heathrow Airport. Navigate's customized and proprietary valuation methodology provides our clients with an unbiased and realistic market value for their sponsorship inventory assets.

Over his career, Maestas has worked with many sponsors, agencies and rights-holders to measure the value of media, media equivalents, hospitality, promotions and sponsorship ROI. He has also developed sponsorship selection criteria and sponsorship marketing metrics for clients. His professional and personal experience includes working with the leagues and/or properties of the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, AVP, NASCAR, IRL, Champ Car and NCAA. He has also served as a resource to numerous agencies and sponsors.

Prior to launching Navigate, AJ built his expertise in sponsorship and measurement in roles as Senior Manager at IEG, a Chicago-based sponsorship consultancy, and as Director of Marketing Communications at rEvolution, a sports marketing agency also based in Chicago. Prior to working on the agency side, Maestas worked for Yellow Roadway Corporation supporting their sports investments, including the title sponsorship of a car on the NASCAR (former) Busch Series.

In his spare time, Maestas serves as a guest lecturer in statistics and research at Northwestern University's Masters in Sports Administration program as well as an Adjunct Professor of Marketing for Columbia College's Masters in Arts and Entertainment, Ohio University's Masters in Sports Administration and Northwestern University. He is a mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and runs an After School Matters program titled Professional Sports in the greater Chicago area.

Maestas earned a B.A. in finance from the University of Washington and his M.B.A. in Sports Business from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Mike Veeck

It is a name synonymous with fun at the ballpark. Veeck continues to blaze new trails every baseball season. After all, who else would hire a dog or pig to deliver baseballs to the umpire, a Roman Catholic nun to give massages, mimes to perform instant replays or lock fans out of the stadium to set an all-time attendance record for fewest people at a game. The Veeck family started in baseball nearly a century ago when Veeck's grandfather was president of the Chicago Cubs. Veeck's father, Bill, was a Hall of Fame owner with the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox and the then-minor league Milwaukee Brewers. Bill Veeck will always be remembered for signing Larry Doby, the first black man to play in the American League.

It is with the belief that anything is possible and no idea too silly that Veeck operates his ballclubs. Veeck is the part owner of six baseball teams and is a consultant for one other. In 2005, he was recognized by Baseball America as one of the 25 most influential people in baseball over the last 25 years. He has worked for four and a half Major League baseball teams including the White Sox, Marlins, Tigers and Rays. The half is a secret!

Serving to put fun back into baseball while proving his ideas are not specific to sport, Veeck has spoken and entertained groups at companies such as the NBA, 3M, General Mills, and NASCAR. His first book was released in 2005, entitled "Fun is Good," describing how the simple approach of putting "fun" back into the workplace brings out the best in your employees and keeps your customers coming back for more. He has taken the "Fun is Good" way of life and helped his teams routinely reach attendance and customer service milestones, while receiving national publicity and awards for innovative promotions. He has made appearances on 60 Minutes, HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, NBC Nightly News and ESPN Sportscenter.

As an advertising professional, Veeck serves as the creative director for Advertising Professionals, and recently received the 2007 Silver Medal Award from the Advertising Federation of Charleston, SC.

Veeck and his wife Libby, reside in Mt Pleasant, S.C. He is the father of two children, William "Night Train" and Rebecca.

John Coulter

John Coulter is most generally recognized for his diverse media management and business development successes as well as his ability to make connections between individuals and companies who on their own might never have met. Currently, he is a cofounder and managing partner of an entrepreneurial venture called The Content Factory. TCF is an independent enterprise which creates content and customizes distribution for traditional and digital media channels. Designed as an entertainment programming partnership, the company's mission is to connect innovative content offerings with targeted audiences and Fortune 500 brands. Long time sportscaster and nationally renowned, Dan Patrick, joined TCF in 2007 and in October of 2009 all assets around Patrick and Tony Bruno were sold to DirecTV. The company is now working with major colleges creating a subscription based digital content platform that engages students and alumni at levels not previously available for online and mobile distribution.

Since 2000, Mr. Coulter has worked as an independent advisor, talent recruiter and project consultant…..a successful business operated under the name of Accelerated Connections. As its founder and president, Coulter targets early stage business operations that are committed to exploring new revenue growth and extension opportunities for the purpose of creating competitive advantages. Also known for having an exceptional gift for identifying, recruiting and developing talent, Coulter's background with high performance teams continues to make him attractive to his clients and his passion for evangelizing a vision or great story in new business verticals is well documented.

Coulter is currently representing a Chicago based company called Dialog which is a marketing solutions provider with specialized expertise in social media. Dialog provides the technology that enables organizations of all sizes, including startups, to leverage the power of social media. Dialog builds customized social communities that facilitate collaboration, networking and commerce as well as collective buying environments that create trial and generate incremental revenues.

In 2003, Coulter began working as a board advisor to InStadium, Inc., a revolutionary sports marketing company featuring Indoor Billboard Systems (IBS) that provide local and national brands affordable access to advertising inventory and promotional opportunities within premier venues in Major League Baseball as well as the NFL.

A significant part of Mr. Coulter's prior career was spent at AMFM, Inc., the industry leading radio broadcast organization where he held several key positions. This ultimately led to Executive VP and Director of Sales where he managed a team of senior level executives in consistently exceeding top line sales goals of $1.5 billion in 1998 and $2.0 billion in 1999 during a tumultuous period of market fluctuations due to widespread consolidation. Under his leadership, AMFM became known for developing and executing successful customer service strategies and target account solution based selling practices. Resulting market cash flow margins of 50% and higher companywide were among the highest of all major radio broadcast groups at the time.

After receiving his BA in Radio, TV and Film from Northwestern University, Mr. Coulter began his career as an Associate Producer and Director for ABC TV Sports in New York and then as a Director of Planning and Development for ABC TV Network Sales.

He currently resides in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife Cindy.

Gordon Kane
Founder - Victory Sports Marketing

Gordon Kane combines the discipline and structure of brand management with over 18 years of sports marketing experience with world class sponsors and Properties. His marketing background includes an MBA from Kellogg (Northwestern) and several assignments in brand management at Kraft.

He has developed targeted measurable sports marketing plans for companies such as Gillette, Sprint, Umbro, Deloitte, and Chevrolet to help them leverage major investments in sponsorships.

He has worked directly for Properties such as the United States Olympic Committee (Director of Marketing 1996-2000), The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, The National Football League, Manchester United and Chicago 2016 (Head of Marketing 2005-2007). He has been a frequent contributing writer to Sportbusiness International magazine, Sports Business Journal, and has made presentations for the annual Kellogg Marketing Conference, Sports Summit (New York), IEG (Chicago), SportAccord (Madrid), the Chicago American Marketing Association and the Chicago Business Marketing Association.

He is a runner having completed 11 marathons (including qualifying and competing in the 2007,2008 and 2009 Boston Marathons) and over 15 half marathons since 1999. His English Premier League fantasy team continues to be well above average

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