This Week’s Movers in Sports Media & Marketing

This week in the sports media and marketing ecosystem, Tom Fletcher joins the Phoenix Suns, Amadou Gallo Fall heads the Basketball Africa League, and Nate Nanzer jumps to Epic Games.

For job openings and more on who’s moving where, check out the Hashtag Sports Weekly roundup.

Phoenix Suns Announce SVP of Marketing

Tom Fletcher has been named the Senior Vice President of Marketing Partnerships for the Phoenix Suns, WNBA franchise Phoenix Mercury, and Legends Entertainment District. As SVP, Fletcher will rely on 20 years of experience in the collegiate and professional sports worlds to help him oversee the sales, activation, and operations divisions of the marketing partnerships department. Before accepting the position, Fletcher was most recently the Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development at IMG College, a role in which he managed all revenue generation, activation, and expense management of multimedia rights.

Barstool Sports Appoints VP of Production, Programming, and Development

Barstool Sports has selected Jen Simons to be the Executive Vice President of Production, Programming, and Development. Having most recently held the position of Vice President of Sports and Digital Programming at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Simons is an experienced team leader with creativity as her former role put her in charge of various production staffs and pitching new ideas to drive business. At Barstool, she will call upon her experience as a producer and showrunner to manage the brand’s content as it continues to venture out from its stronghold in the sports world.

NBA Names President of Basketball Africa League

Amadou Gallo Fall has been appointed President of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), an NBA-backed professional league. With basketball becoming increasingly globalized, Fall will leverage his prior experience growing the game in Africa to oversee the operations of the league’s 12 clubs spread across the continent. As the NBA’s Vice President and Managing Director for Africa, Fall helped to open The NBA Academy Africa in 2017. The organization’s training and scouting programs have helped several African prospects reach NCAA Division 1 schools.

Overwatch League Commissioner Jumps to Fortnite

Nate Nanzer announced on Twitter that he will be stepping down as commissioner of Overwatch League and leaving Activision Blizzard. He will join Epic Games and lead the company’s esports initiatives. Nanzer will be tasked with building a community around Fortnite and professionalizing the game with similar results to the success he experienced with Overwatch.

Snap Taps Google Exec to Lead Diversity Initiative

Snap has named Oona King as its first-ever Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion. At Snap, King will play a major role in the company’s initiative to “ensure Snap’s employee culture represents the diversity of [their] global users.” Having directed diversity strategy at Google and the diverse marketing department at YouTube, King is positioned to cultivate the same level of diversity with Snap.

Marquee Sports Network Hires Network’s First GM

With the Chicago Cubs and Sinclair Broadcasting Group rolling out Marquee Sports Network in 2020, there is a lot of buzz surrounding the Cubs’ first independent regional sports network. Michael McCarthy has been tapped to serve as President of the forthcoming network. After occupying the same position for MSG Network in New York City, McCarthy will lead the network towards its scheduled launch in February 2020.

NBC Sports Chicago Names VP of Content Strategy

Ed McGregor is set to occupy the role of NBC Sports Chicago’s new Vice President of Content Strategy. McGregor will be tasked with managing all live events, news, and original content across multiple platforms. McGregor most recently served as ESPN’s Director of Content Integration at. In that role, he produced “Catching Hell,” an episode of the documentary series “30 for 30.”

Green Bay Packers Exec Joins Learfield IMG College

Learfield IMG College has selected Shea Hansen as its next General Manager of Milwaukee Panther Sports Properties. Her responsibilities in Milwaukee will not take her very far from her previous role as she most recently worked as a corporate sales executive with the Green Bay Packers in their Milwaukee office. Hansen is expected to collaborate with Milwaukee Director of Athletics, Amanda Braun, in growing the Panthers’ brand by managing sponsorship and multimedia initiatives.

Esports Entertainment Group Brings on CIO

Esports Entertainment Group Inc., which specializes in esports wagering and gambling, has named John Brackens as its Chief Information Officer. Brackens’ familiarity with esports makes him well-positioned to tackle the challenge of developing cost-effective technologies to improve the experiences of esports competitors and fans. Most recently serving as Manager of Network Operations at Activision Blizzard, Brackens leaves a role that saw him directing IT service management and hardware support for more than 50 million active players each month.

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