Sports Leadership Program

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Guest Speakers

Fall 2012

• Jerry Wainwright, Marquette Men's Director of Basketball Operations
  Presentation Topic: The Importance of Leadership
  
• Jimmy Butler, Professional Basketball Player, NBA - Chicago Bulls and Marquette alumnus
  Presentation Topic: Leadership and Life in the NBA
  
• Dr. Paul Plinske, Director of Athletics, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
  Presentation Topic: Defining Leadership
  
  

Spring 2012

• Bob Hallas, Senior Director - Stadium Operations and
  Matt Kenny, Senior Director - Event Services,
  Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club
  Presentation Topic: Stadium Operations and Event Services
• Marti Wronski, Vice President and General Counsel, Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club
  Presentation Topic: Legal Aspects of Baseball
• Tom Hecht, Vice President - Corporate Marketing,
  Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club
  Presentation Topic: Corporate Marketing
• Nick Watson, Vice President - Information Technology,
  Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club
  Presentation Topic: Information Technology
• Tyler Barnes, Vice President - Communications,
  Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club
  Presentation Topic: Media Relations
• Doug Melvin, President of Baseball Operations and General Manager, and Gord Ash, Vice President and Assistant General Manager, Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club
  Presentation Topic: Baseball Operations
• Joe Zidanic, Vice President - Controller,
  Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club
  Presentation Topic: Finance
• Cecilia Gore, Executive Director - Brewers Community Foundation, and Katina Shaw, Senior Director - Community Relations, Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club
  Presentation Topic: Community Outreach/Brewers Community Foundation
  

Fall 2011

• Greg Busch, Executive VP-Client Management, GMR Marketing Presentation Topic: The agency's overall involvement in NASCAR.
• NBA players Steve Novak of the San Antonio Spurs and
  Lazar Haywood of the Minnesota Timberwolves
  Presentation Topic: Athletic leadership from their perspectives as former collegiate and now professional athletes. Strength and importance of leadership from owners to coaches and from teammates to self-leadership skills were articulated.
• Terri Mitchell - Head Women's Basketball Coach,
  Marquette University
  Presentation Topic: Sports leadership from her perspective as a coach.

Fall 2010

• Brent “Buzz” Williams – Head Men’s Basketball Coach,
  Marquette University
  Presentation Topic: Sports as a vehicle for achieving significance in life.  Sports has been a life-long learning journey for Buzz.   He said:  “Life is about work; work is about life, and both are about people.”  And, “you get what you earn.” 
• Bob Gansler – US World Cup Coach; Olympic and professional soccer player; renowned national and international soccer coach; MU Athletic Department Lifetime Achievement Recipient; US Soccer Hall of Fame inductee
  Presentation Topic: Need to have respect at the heart of any team and how caring for each other can be a key ingredient for success.   The “who” is the most important element of success.  Emphasized that mediocrity can’t be tolerated because it deludes respect, and the importance of communication.
• Kevin Bryne – Senior Vice President, Public & Community Relations, Baltimore Ravens, and Marquette alumnus
  Presentation Topic: Four key aspects of sports leadership - setting winning as a goal; communication; accountability; and staff improvement.   Implementing these four can evolve into “care-fron-tation” – the ability to challenge a colleague or team in order to gain improvement while still holding respect.  

• John Sweeney, Director of Recreational Sports,
  Marquette University
  Presentation Topic: Discussion about changing trends of recreational sports, importance of club and intramurals, and the challenges and importance of facility management. In addition, John talked about the latest research regarding recreational sports.