Photo courtesy of The MATCHLearn from the best about how to deal with major league teams and sports enterprises at the Business Diversity in Professional Sports panel at The MATCH on Monday, January 30, 2017.
Houston is the most diverse city in the United States. The Game City Showcase Major League and Small Business Panel is a small business outreach initiative designed to help Houston’s small business owners to better engage with the city’s major league sports teams.
Panelists will include representatives from Major League Baseball, Houston Dynamo, and Houston Rockets. The panel will be moderated by Cynthia Cisneros of ABC 13.
Attendance is free, but limited to the first 250 who RSVP. Click here to RSVP.
Doing Business with Houston’s Pro Teams
In the panel discussion, Houston’s small business owners will learn how to do business with the city’s professional sports teams.
The panel will discuss sound business practices, how to become a business partner with a professional sports league, how to structure your business for long term success, how to market products and service, and how to maintain a positive business relationship with a professional sports league or team.
Panelists
Panelists will include representatives from Major League Baseball, Houston Dynamo, T-Mobile, Houston Rockets, and more. The panel will be moderated by Cynthia Cisneros of ABC 13.
Paul Byrne | Vice President of Operations at BBVA Compass Stadium – Byrne is responsible for the overall operations of the facility and the management of the stadium’s staff which includes the operations, event production, security and guest services team. Before that, he served as the Senior Director of Operations for the Houston Dynamo. Byrne has spent more than a decade working in the Major League Soccer (MLS) system having held a variety of positions with other teams including the New York Red Bulls and the New Jersey MetroStars. He was named the 2008 MLS Operations Executive of the Year.
Gretchen Sheirr | Vice President of Ticket Sales & Service for the Houston Rockets – Sheirr oversees the development of creative sales strategies and service practices for customer retention and new business generation, supervision of the ticket sales and service staff, and the integration of all ticket related events and promotions. She is also a member of the Rocket’s Senior Management Team. A native of Spring, Texas, Sheirr joined the organization in July 2001 as a season ticket account executive and then spent two seasons developing the Inside-Sales Department for the Rockets before moving into the role of Senior Director of Ticket Sales for six years.
Corey Smith | Senior Director of Supplier Diversity and Strategic Sourcing for Major League Baseball – Smith establishes and maintains League-wide procurement practices for all 30 baseball clubs and the Commissioner’s Office. Prior to joining MLB, Smith spent over four years at NBC Universal as Director of Supplier Diversity, where he implemented strategies throughout the company that increased the use of minority and woman-owned businesses across a variety of services. He’s also held various sourcing and supplier diversity positions at companies such as Altria Corporate Services, Columbia University and Advanced Technological Solutions.
Moderator: Cynthia Cisneros | Vice President of Community Affairs at ABC 13 – Although she is no longer filing daily news reports, Cisneros is still in Houston’s communities promoting and participating in local events. As a native Houstonian, Cynthia Cisneros has witnessed much of the city’s astounding growth firsthand. She joined Eyewitness News in 1989 and has covered just about every story imaginable, from hurricanes to droughts to flooding and fires. Cisneros also covered some of the more sensational stories over the past two decades, including the murder of Tejano singing star Selena, the Enron trial and the criminal trials of Andrea Yates and Clara Harris.
Panel Topics
Discussions will include the importance of supplier diversity, common mistakes that small business owners make, resources available to small business owners, small business and industries that the pros looking to connect with, and more.
An audience question and answer session will follow the formal discussion.
After the panel, attendees are invited to attend the free Game City Showcase Official Kick Off Party at Mongoose Vs Cobra.
Major League & Small Business Panel at The MATCH
- Date: Monday, January 30, 2017
- Time: 6pm to 8pm. Registration begins at 6pm.
- Location: The MATCH, 3400 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002
- Admission: Free; limited to 250 people. RSVP is required. Click here to RSVP.
We extend a special thanks to our Media Partner for supporting this event!
