Panelists

Lou DePaoli

CMO, Pittsburgh Pirates

Lou DePaoli joined the Pirates as their Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer on 9/26/08.  In his position, he oversees the club’s marketing, ticket sales, corporate sponsorship, and communications efforts for the Pirates. 

DePaoli previously worked for the Atlanta Spirit organization, where he held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association, Atlanta Thrashers of the National Hockey League, and Phillips Arena.  In this position he was responsible for all marketing, ticket sales, corporate sponsorship sales, communications, and community development efforts for the organization.

Prior to joining the Atlanta Spirit in May of 2005, DePaoli was the National Basketball Association’s Vice President of Team Marketing and Business Development in the NBA’s Team Marketing and Business Operations department.  There, Lou worked with the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association and National Basketball Development League senior management on all business initiatives, including ticket sales, sponsor sales and service, marketing, advertising and promotions. DePaoli, who started in the NBA League Office in December of 2000, worked closely with the NBA clubs to improve their business operations and to implement the industry’s best practices.

DePaoli also worked for the Florida Marlins from 1996 to 2000, serving first as the Director of Ticket Sales and then as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the club.  With the Marlins, DePaoli’s duties included overseeing ticket sales, sponsorship sales, marketing and customer service.  During tenure with the Marlins, the club won a World Series title in 1997.  While with the Marlins, DePaoli was also the subject of the Sports Illustrated article "Fishing For Marlins Fans” written by acclaimed columnist Rick Reilly in the March 9, 1998 issue.

Prior to joining the Marlins in 1996, DePaoli was Vice President of Sales for the Worcester IceCats Hockey Club of the American Hockey League (AHL) from the inaugural 1994-95 season through the beginning of the 1996-97 season.

Lou is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts where he earned his BA in Management of Professional Sports Organizations.

Joe Kessler

CEO, The Intelligence Group

Joe’s career spans nearly 30 years in communications, marketing and business strategy.  Currently, he is Chief Executive of The Intelligence Group (IG), a leading consumer insights firm focused on youth culture and consumer trends.   IG is the publisher of The Cassandra Report which, for 15 years, has been the definitive quarterly syndicated study of youth attitudes, behaviors and consumption for marketers.  IG also consults with an array of corporate clients and agencies on their marketing strategies for engaging youth audiences, including Microsoft, Visa, Nordstrom, Target, T-Mobile, Unilever, Time Warner and Leo Burnett, among many others.  IG is wholly owned by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the largest entertainment and sports talent agency in the world.

 

Previously, from 2004 to 2008, Joe was a partner of SS+K (formerly Shepardson, Stern + Kaminsky), an integrated, non-traditional marketing communications agency that, among its many accomplishments, was part of the Obama for President media team during the campaign leading up to the 2008 elections with a focus on developing campaigns designed to get out the youth vote.  Previously, he served in a series of senior management positions at Weber Shandwick, the world’s largest public relations agency, including President of its Global Technology Practice and President of its Western Region operations. 

 

Joe started his career as a Capitol Hill journalist and later served as a legislative aide to U.S. Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and as press secretary to the late U.S. Representative Ted S. Weiss (D-NY). 

 

He resides in Woodland Hills, CA with his wife and two children.  However, he was raised in Cherry Hill, NJ and awaits his lifelong dream, still, of sitting in the stands while his beloved Philadelphia Eagles hoist a Super Bowl trophy. 

Darren Rovell

CNBC

Darren Rovell is CNBC's Sports Business Reporter.  He is responsible for both analyzing and reporting on the sports business world on all of CNBC's programming including "Squawk Box," "Power Lunch" and "Street Signs."

Since joining CNBC in July 2006, Rovell has interviewed many of the world's greatest athletes including Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Maria Sharapova, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Michael Phelps and Lance Armstrong. Other interview subjects also include the sporting world's top power brokers including NBA Commissioner David Stern, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, Major League Baseball President and COO Bob DuPuy, super agent Scott Boras, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, Nike CEO Mark Parker and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.

Rovell reported and anchored the CNBC primetime documentary "Swoosh! Inside Nike," which took viewers through the company's history to the factory floors in Vietnam. It was nominated for an Emmy. He also anchored two other primetime documentaries, including "Inside Track: Refueling the Business of NASCAR," and "As Seen on TV," an in-depth look at the informercial business.  Rovell won an Emmy for his contribution to NBC's 2008 Election coverage.

Rovell doesn't just report, he does. He finished the New York Marathon in 2004, the same year he ate six hot dogs and buns at a hot dog eating qualifier. He finished fifth in the world in the World Championship of Watermelon Seed Spitting in Luling, Texas in 2005, and scored one point in a two-minute stint for the Washington Generals at Madison Square Garden in 2008. He is also on the Green Bay Packers season ticket waiting list, has searched for golf balls in the water of the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass and has been tutored by the Dallas Mavericks free throw coach.  In February of 2008, when Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Phoenix Suns, he gave Shaq the idea to call himself "The Big Cactus." In 2009, he played then No. 2 ranked Andy Murray in a game a tennis and sat in Kyle Busch's car during the Pennzoil Burnout Competition at the Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte.

Prior to joining CNBC, Rovell served as sports business writer for ESPN.com and reported on the world of agents, stadium deals, endorsements and contracts on ESPN's flagship, "SportsCenter," its investigative show, "Outside the Lines," and had weekly segments on ESPNEWS.

Rovell is also the author of two business books. First In Thirst: How Gatorade Turned The Science of Sweat Into A Cultural Phenomenon and On the Ball: What You Can Learn About Business From America's Sports Leaders. First In Thirst was named by Soundview Summaries as one of the top 30 business books of the year, while On the Ball, co-written with industry insider David Carter, was named to the Top 25 list of "What Corporate America Is Reading" by the Knight Ridder/Tribune News.

In 2004 and 2007, Rovell was named to Newsbios' "30 under 30," a list of the top 30 national business reporters under the age of 30. He is the only sports reporter in the two-decade history of the awards to have been honored.

Rovell graduated cum laude from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he is on the advisory board for graduate programs in sports administration.

Jeff Ma

Co-Founder and VP of Research, Citizen Sports

With a tremendous passion for sports, Jeff co-founded the company in 2004 and is a tireless evangelist for the Citizen Sports mission. He has been the technology lead for two internet startups and was an options trader on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. He gained notoriety as the protagonist, under the name Kevin Lewis, in the New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House, the story of the MIT blackjack team.

Jeff is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering.

Moderator

John Walsh

Executive Vice President and Executive Editor, ESPN, Inc.

John A. Walsh serves as executive vice president and executive editor of ESPN, Inc.  Walsh has been the executive editor of ESPN since December 1990.  At times during his 20 year career at ESPN, he has overseen the launch of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Radio; was instrumental in developing the many news and information elements within ESPN; including networks and new shows; and has led the editorial direction of ESPN.com and its properties.

Walsh served as the managing editor for ESPN from January 1988 to December 1990, and was responsible for the editorial content of all news and informational programming, including SportsCenter, ESPN's flagship sports news program.

The founding editor of the original Inside Sports magazine (1979-82), Walsh also served as managing editor of U.S. News and World Report (1985-86) and Rolling Stone (1973-74). He held a number of editorial positions at Newsday (1970-73), including sports editor; worked as sports editor of the Columbia Missourian (1967-70), and was an editor at the Washington Post style section (1977-78). He has been the editor of three sports books, including "The Heisman: A Symbol of Excellence," published in 1984. In addition, he has served as a consultant for several publications, including Esquire magazine (1982-83), Vanity Fair magazine (1983-84), the New York Times Sunday sports "Part Two" magazine (1985) and Special Report magazines published by Whittle Communications.

Walsh had been a consultant to ESPN from July 1987 to January 1988. His television experience includes consultancies to CBS Sports' NFL Today program (1986-87 season) and with TVTV on a PBS documentary on the 1976 Super Bowl.

A native of Scranton, Pa., Walsh earned a bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of Scranton in 1966 and received a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in 1968. In 1991, he received the Frank J. O'Hara Award from the University of Scranton's National Alumni Association, recognizing his "sustained achievement in the communications field."   In 2001, he received the University of Missouri Journalism School Medal of Honor.