Ahead of the National Hockey League (NHL) All-Star Game this weekend, some of the organization’s leaders stopped in to share their thoughts on partnering with the payments industry and innovation at the point of sale.
In this exclusive NEXTcast interview, Christopher Golier (Vice President of Mobile Marketing & Strategy), David Lehanksi (Group Vice President of Integrated Sales) and Joslin Warren (Director of eCommerce) discuss why the NHL chose to team up with Discover, divulge the extent to which NFC initiatives are in the organization’s future and respond to the question on everyone’s mind: Who will win the Stanley Cup this year?
– Related Article: Discover Becomes Official Partner of the NHL in United States
Christopher Golier is the NHL’s Vice President of Mobile Marketing & Strategy, responsible for driving the growth of the league’s mobile business and integration of mobile strategy throughout the organization. In his role, Golier leads the global mobile product roadmap including overseeing NHL Mobile’s content growth strategy, product development and operations.
Within his first few months at the League, Golier helped to develop and expand on a robust mobile product portfolio which includes mobile applications, tablet applications, mobile web sites, SMS alerts and tools to engage the fans. The NHL GameCenterTM applications offer fans the ability to watch live games anywhere and have been developed for the widest range of smartphones and tablets including Apple, Android, Blackberry, and Nokia operating systems. In addition, Golier is responsible for driving revenue growth and providing strategic direction for the league to maximize long term profitability. He oversees key strategic relationships including carrier relationships with Verizon and Bell, and mobile distribution partnerships with Apple, Google, RIM, Nokia, and Microsoft.
Prior to joining the League, Golier was the Senior Vice President at MobileBehavior, an Omnicom Group company that utilized deep insight into consumer behavior and emerging technologies to create personal and useful experiences through mobile devices. In his role, Chris focused on go to market strategies for engaging brands and creating customized mobile marketing opportunities to meet brand objectives.
Chris received his BA in economics from UCLA and a MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.
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David Lehanksi is the NHL’s Vice President of Integrated Sales and Sponsorship Sales, responsible for leading the securing new partnerships, strategic planning and development of new marketing opportunities for each partner. In this role, Lehanski works to fortify the League’s partnership base and quickly increase activation and marketing support for the League.
Since joining the League in 2005, Lehanski has worked to bring in some of the biggest brands in sports marketing to the NHL including Cisco, Honda, Anheuser Busch, PepsiCo, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Geico, Hershey’s (in Canada), and the U.S. Army. He also crafted the most comprehensive partnership in League history around the development and deployment of a new NHL Mobile platform with Verizon Wireless, which offers consumers with access to more than 1,000 live game broadcasts along with live game audio, in-game video highlights, VOD content, Mobile Video Exclusives, podcasts, and much more.
Before joining the NHL, Lehanski served as Vice President of Marketing Solutions at Clear Channel Advantage where he worked with Fortune 500 advertisers/marketers to develop, sell, and activate fully integrated media/marketing solutions that leveraged all of Clear Channel’s media assets.
Before Clear Channel, Lehanski was the co-founder and Vice President of HallOfSports.com, an online company focused on the distribution of sports memorabilia and collectibles with a long-term goal of consolidating the industry. At the time, HOS featured the largest online aggregation of sports collectibles (6,000+ items) with annual revenues exceeding $1M. Previously, Lehanski also spent several years as a consultant on the agency side at SFX Sports and Clarion Sports & Entertainment.
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Joslin Warren is the NHL’s Director of eCommerce overseeing the official online store of the NHL, Shop.NHL.com, as well as its auction site, Auction.NHL.com. In this role, Ms. Warren works to market licensed merchandise and memorabilia through multiple online and direct mail channels. Her primary objective is to establish and strategically manage a direct relationship with the high percentage of displaced NHL fans who can’t find items for their favorite team in their local market.
Ms. Warren began working at the League in 1999 and left in 2004 to work for the children’s entertainment network, Nickelodeon. She returned to the NHL in 2007 and has seen the company’s eCommerce business maintain strong yearly sales growth and become the largest online source for NHL product.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
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