ON Partners Recruits CFO for PlayOn! Sports
February 16, 2024 – ON Partners has recruited James Rosenstock as the new CFO of PlayOn! Sports, a high school media and technology company located in Atlanta, GA. Partner Tara Flickinger and co-president Matt Mooney led the assignment. “We are thrilled to welcome Jay to the PlayOn! leadership team. He brings extensive experience in both the DTC and B2B industries and has guided leading companies through significant transformation,” said David Rudolph, PlayOn! founder and CEO. “We are confident that Jay’s expertise will be valuable as we continue to innovate for the benefit of schools and fans nationwide.”
Mr. Rosenstock is an accomplished media and technology executive who has previously served as CFO at Skillshare, a direct-to-consumer (DTC) creative learning marketplace, and ezCater, a business-to-business (B2B) online catering marketplace.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Rosenstock was instrumental in architecting and operating Discovery’s international businesses, where he oversaw Discovery Education International. He also held leadership roles with SONY, WWE, and VICE. Rosenstock began his career as an investment banker covering the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector. Mr. Rosenstock serves on the Virginia Tech Foundation board of directors. He is also a long-standing member of the board of directors for Special Olympics New York.
“Jay is a forward-thinking executive who values the power that sports have to impact not only the lives of our young people but also their families, schools and communities,” said Stacey Hengsterman, president and CEO of Special Olympics New York. “Jay’s leadership will be an incredible asset to PlayOn!, just as it has been for our statewide nonprofit.”
At PlayOn!, Mr. Rosenstock will oversee the accounting, finance, tax, M&A, information technology and security and project management office (PMO) departments. “As the child of two educators and an avid sports player and youth coach, it’s a privilege to join such an innovative company and accomplished leadership team as we embark on the next stage of growth,” said Mr. Rosenstock. “I look forward to the journey ahead as we continue to scale our business and create meaningful experiences for schools and communities across the country.”
Through the NFHS Network, GoFan, and rSchoolToday, the PlayOn! team elevates the event experience for schools and fans across streaming, digital ticketing, scheduling, and sports marketing. With the NFHS Network, schools can broadcast their events at no cost and grow their fanbase with streaming subscriptions and automated event promotion.
Experienced Search Consultants
With a primary focus on technology, consumer, industrial, and the life science sectors, ON Partners recruits C-level and board talent for public and private companies, as well as venture capital and private equity firms. Founded in 2006, the firm’s consultants work from offices in Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Cleveland; Dallas; Menlo Park, CA; Minneapolis. MN; San Francisco; and New York. ON Partners was named one of the fastest growing search firms this year by Hunt Scanlon Media. The firm is now ranked as one of the 20 largest search firms in the nation.
Related: ON Partners Assists Papa John’s with CFO Search
Ms. Flickinger focuses on C-level executives across functions in private equity/venture capital, consumer technology, and industrial/manufacturing. She places C-level executives across functions, including sales, marketing, operations, technology, and human resources. Based in the ON Partners’ Atlanta office, Ms. Flickinger works closely with clients to understand their hiring needs and to ensure an efficient search process, said the firm.
Financial Services is Booming, CFO Role Continues to Evolve
The global financial crisis has brought increasing scrutiny from regulators and investors across the world. Combined with digital disruption, new technologies, and a high profile conduct agenda, financial institutions face a number of challenges to continued growth, according to Odgers Berndtson. The firm notes that today’s boards and executives need to foster a culture of transparency and reduced risk, while leveraging new technologies to improve operational efficiency and cut costs.
Mr. Mooney, based in Atlanta, has more than 25 years of experience in executive search. He has placed over 400 executives in C-level, general management, and board leadership positions across his consulting career. The sectors he has served include technology, consumer products and services, financial and professional services, and industrial. The organizations he has partnered with include public, private equity, venture capital and growth equity. Mr. Mooney has helped build over 25 executive leadership teams at public and high growth organizations.
Increasing Importance
ON Partners’ internal data shows the CFO role has seen the most significant increase year over year in diversity hiring compared to other C-level roles. Additionally, the data shows that not only is the position proving challenging to recruit for while the role continues to be in high demand, but total compensation for CFO positions over the past two years has increased. “There is a high level of interest in diverse CFOs and a high demand to fill CFO positions overall,” said Baillie Parker, partner at ON Partners. He notes that 56 percent of CFOs placed by ON were diverse executives.
“Companies are very interested in attaining experienced sitting CFOs with the knowledge base to perform the assigned tasks,” Mr. Parker said. “This may mean finding someone who has led a buy-and-build strategy or a CFO who has taken a company public. Only so many CFOs have this specific gained expertise, which creates a supply and demand issue within the current talent pool.”
“Companies are realizing how critical a CFO is to the future state of the business,” said Joe Olson, Partner at ON Partners. “There’s no stage where finance is not mission critical, and when a CEO or investor sees the impact that a strong CFO can have on all critical value factors, the cash compensation is very easy to justify. Furthermore, the role is evolving. CFOs are now viewed as strategic partners to the CEO and not solely an accountant. This too is reflected in the compensation, as the competitiveness for these candidates with the experience is increasing the total compensation package, and clients are very aware of it.”
Related: ON Partners Recruits CFO for Bushel
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
