Organization: Fiesta Sports Foundation

Position Title: Vice President, Partnerships

Reports to: Chief Financial Officer

Location: Scottsdale, AZ

Search Contact: Prodigy Search

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BACKGROUND

The Fiesta Sports Foundation’s vision is to be a world-class community organization that executes innovative experiences, drives economic growth, and champions charitable causes, inspiring pride in all Arizonans. As a nonprofit organization, it believes in the importance of community outreach and service. 

In an effort to help enhance Arizona communities through youth, sports and education, Fiesta Sports Foundation commits more than $3 million in annual charitable giving, the most of any college football bowl organization. Over the last seven years, the Foundation has donated more than $23 million in charitable giving to nonprofit organizations across the state. 

Since 1971, the Fiesta Sports Foundation has worked to increase its footprint across the state and to benefit Arizonans year-round, during and outside of bowl season.

SUMMARY

The Vice President of Partnerships is a strategic leadership role responsible for enhanced design and development of process and infrastructure, and implementation of strategies that enhances our organization’s mission. Through the creation and management of partnerships, this innovative leader will drive Foundation’s goals to grow and enhance the portfolio of revenue generating relationships while ensuring adherence to mission-centric objectives.

This executive will lead a team of professionals guiding them in forging partnerships that are not only initially commercially beneficial but also scalable to accommodate the organization’s growth by being strategic, thoughtful and intentional. This leader is tasked with developing a comprehensive plan that identifies the Foundation’s existing and potential partnership assets, values of those assets and incorporates such assets into a custom offering(s) that delivers value to each partner based on the that partner’s articulated business goals and objectives of their mission.

The ideal candidate will possess a blend of exceptional relationship building skills, strong commercial acumen, deep industry knowledge and a passion for making differences through sports. This engaging, dynamic and self-aware leader will be self-motivated, proactive, and fueled by the pursuit of success in achieving revenue goals that move the mission and strategic goals of the organization forward.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and execute an overall revenue-centric strategic plan aimed at growing the organizations’ partnership revenues in a manner that seeks to optimize the portfolio of relationships and accounts and ensures that each partner receives the level of service to meet or exceed their expectations.
• Lead and manage a team of partnership professionals, and various personnel (as needed from time to time), fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and innovation.
• Identify, cultivate, and secure new partnerships, while nurturing and expanding existing relationships that can be scaled to align with the organization’s status within the college football landscape and the Arizona business, civic and philanthropic community.
• Design and implement innovative commercial strategies to enhance partner engagement and deliver measurable results. Design and lead corporate activation strategies that are first-in-class experiences for partners.
• Collaborate with the executive, ticketing, marketing, communications and public relations, events, volunteer engagement and finance teams through regular strategy meetings to ensure that partnership initiatives are fully integrated and aligned with overall organizational objectives.
• Responsible for the overall budget of the department, driving organizational KPIs in the areas of revenue generation, investments, partner engagement and partner return on investment.
• Build out of the CRM system to be an entity wide tool for collaboration and structured execution of partnership strategy.
• Create, in consultation with the CFO and executive team, proper compensation plans for the partnerships team that will help to attract and retain top talent and enhance long-term revenue generation (both new partnership revenue and expansion of existing partnership revenue).
• Oversee the development of tailored partnership proposals, ensuring they meet the needs and objectives of both the Foundation and its partners.
• Monitor market trends and adapt strategies to maximize opportunities for partnership and revenue generation. Keep the organization abreast of changing dynamics in corporate sponsorship/partnership deals and revenue generating opportunities in the constantly evolving environment of college athletics and the sports and live events industry.
• Lead by example in creating a culture that is mission-driven, while fostering a department that achieves results through development, mentorship, unfailing integrity, accountability and initiative.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Sports Management, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
• 8-10 years’ experience in partnership development, commercial strategies, and team management, ideally within the sports or live events sector.
• Experience with Salesforce.com CRM system or similar with strict adherence to process and data analysis
• Experience with MS Office Suite and proposal creation 
• Proven track record of securing, managing, and growing partnerships.
• Strong leadership skills with experience leading and developing talent.
• Exceptional negotiation, communication, and presentation skills.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to drive innovation and change.
• Deep understanding of the sports and live events industry and sponsorship/partnership landscape.
• Commitment to the values and mission of the Foundation.
• Proven track record of securing partnerships of all sizes, supporting small events and community engagement activities, as well as seven-figure partnerships to support live events and integrated partnerships across multiple Foundation activities.

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CONTACT INFORMATION

Founded in 2007, Prodigy Search, located in the New York City suburb of Freehold, NJ, boasts over 80 years of experience in the sports and entertainment business. As a renowned nationwide leader in senior-level executive search, Prodigy Search has honed its business principles and expertise, establishing itself as the largest boutique recruiting agency in North America. We recruit with integrity, purpose, and passion.