How did you get your start in a career in football?
I was a communications major, majoring in journalism and public relations at the University of Washington, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Oddly enough, I ended up in the NFL because I was trying to figure out all the things I didn’t want to do. I did not want to go work at a PR agency. I did not want to go and write at a newspaper. So, as I was gaining experience, I went to the one thing that I always loved, which was football. So, I ended up working at a publication that covered the University of Washington and Washington State football teams and published the preseason glossy magazines for the NFL, all 32 teams. As I got closer to graduation, I called the Seahawks because the organization was right across the lake from my school, to see what sort of internships or introductory positions they had. They actually told me there was an internship program in the public relations department, so I applied and ended up getting it.
I started at a really unique moment in time, right before our late owner, Paul Allen, bought the team. The former owners tried to move the team to Southern California, so my very exciting opportunity to work in the NFL almost didn’t happen. But Mr. Allen went through a stadium referendum to build what is now Lumen Field, and I was able to stay on as an intern for two years. That was really a great start and set the groundwork to what’s now going into my 32nd season.
I love how that worked out. Having been with the organization for 31 seasons, how has your role expanded? And what does your current position entail?
I loved working in public relations, though it was very different at that moment in time than it is now, but I needed more speed in my day-to-day activity. So, if there was downtime, I would go help other departments — scouting, game presentation, tickets. With the new ownership, our business operation exploded and our ticket office grew by four or five times. I was approached about corporate sales — making sure all of our advertisers and brands were well-represented, things like that — and it was like this person was speaking a foreign language to me. So, I was splitting time between PR and the sponsorship group, and I loved that energy. I started off supporting the sales team, managing activation that emerged into developing strategy and working with all of our business operations teams. I loved being part of the team that sold our hearts out, did a great job and made it happen. We exceeded expectations, and I was energized by that work.
We went through a transition where he team played in Husky Stadium for the 2000 and 2001 seasons, and our late owner had a college sports marketing entity. Through that, we were doing sponsorships with the university, naming rights deals and working on Washington State athletics, as well. We eventually moved to what is now Lumen Field, so it was just this really cool crash course in sponsorship activation. I loved that energy and got to wear a lot of hats and work in various roles within sponsorship, account management, activation and operations. I loved it all.
Along the way, I had a lot of great teammates ask me why I wasn’t in sales. I would always say, “I’m not a salesperson,” but what I didn’t realize is my brain had been trained to understand how all the dots connect with football and how sponsorship can provide solutions. At one point, we were hiring for a director of sales position, and our candidate didn’t take the job. When that person declined, I immediately felt this shift in my body, like it was time for me to really stretch and try something new. I told my boss I wanted to throw my hat in the ring for the job. He told me to come in the next day and we would figure out how to transition into that space. So that’s when I moved into business development, which all about working in a different capacity with brands and people and integrating that work into our game day experience.
I continued to grow in that space, but I never want to get complacent. I’ve always looked at my career as a marathon, wanting to be thoughtful and present. I was in a meeting with Chief Revenue Officer Amy Sprangers, and she said we were going to start a new business development team and that I was going to lead that team, focusing on new business for the Seahawks sponsorship portfolio. I work with such great people within our partner ecosystem, staff and the greater community.