RSR Partners Strengthens Global Sport & Entertainment Practice
November 30, 2018 – Greenwich, Conn-based RSR Partners has expanded with the addition of Drew Cloud to its global sport & entertainment leadership practice.
He will work alongside Dany Berghoff, managing director and head of the firm’s practice.
Based in the search outfit’s New York City office, Mr. Cloud will concentrate on finding senior leaders and providing human capital advisory services across the global sport ecosystem. He will also contribute to the hospitality and leisure and marketing services practices.
He has more than 20 years of relevant experience, most recently as chief business officer for Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment and as chief sales and marketing officer for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has held leadership positions across many professional sports leagues, including the National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer, where he devised and executed strategies for revenue growth, partnerships, marketing and sales, and team/venue operations.
Welcome Addition
“There aren’t many people in the executive leadership search space that have the type of practical experience that Drew has specific to the human capital side of sports, and we’re excited to be able to provide our clients with access to his depth of knowledge,” said Barrett Stephens, CEO of RSR. “Drew will help to further expand our range of advisory insights and assessment skills in the sport and entertainment industry and handle the high stakes talent needs of those clients.”
“The most rewarding aspects of my career have been leading organizations to growth, building teams that lead with culture, and advising extraordinary leaders on advancing their careers,” Mr. Cloud said. “I am excited to have the opportunity to focus on all these aspects on a daily basis at RSR Partners.”
Sports and Entertainment Expansion Elevating Search Business
Over the last 25 years, the sports sector has grown into a formidable global industry. Historically, professional sports teams operated on a relatively modest level, with league officials, team owners, managers, and coaches surrounding themselves with people they knew and trusted from their own small worlds. College sports teams relied on in-house search committees and word-of-mouth recommendations. Familiarity, however, can also breed contempt.
Teams with huge followings like the Dallas Cowboys, Real Madrid and Manchester United have seen their valuations soar into the billions of dollars. That’s attracted search firms – big time. Seasoned recruiters now provide strategic planning advice, in addition to talent identification services, with the capability of applying their findings to speed along the process in the hunt for talent. Here’s some further reading from Hunt Scanlon Media.
The firm’s global sport & entertainment leadership practice is operated by respected sports industry consultants who have personally started, built or turned around complex businesses and have experience with sport- and mission-focused organizations and across a variety of industry sectors.
“We see an opportunity to deepen RSR Partners’ well-regarded advisory services across our sport and entertainment practice to bring together transformational leaders to world-class organizations,” said Mr. Berghoff. “Drew’s extensive operational design experience will be attractive to clients who are looking to ensure their talent is aligned with business strategy and culture.”
Veteran Recruiters
RSR Partners, founded by Russell S. Reynolds Jr., is an executive, board and leadership recruiting firm with offices in Greenwich, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Cleveland and Los Angeles. Mr. Reynolds previously founded Russell Reynolds Associates in New York.
In recent months, RSR Partners has continued to strengthen its services as well as make key placements for its clients. In August, the firm promoted Mr. Berghoff to managing director. Mr. Berghoff, who took over as head of RSR’s global sport and entertainment leadership practice from Joe Bailey in May, focuses on working with clients across the sports, media and entertainment industries. He is also a member of the firm’s hospitality and leisure practice.
“Dany has expanded our global sport and entertainment leadership practice beyond traditional areas of focus, and is now working with a growing key client base in eSports and gaming,” said Mr. Stephens. “He has done a terrific job staying on top of trends in this dynamic and developing industry, and his promotion demonstrates the firm’s commitment to providing clients with a unique mix of skills to match and manage their multifaceted talent needs.”
At the beginning of the summer the search firm expanded its asset management practice with the addition of industry veteran Michael D. Fitzgerald. In his role as a managing director, Mr. Fitzgerald is charged with launching the firm’s presence in Boston, a strategically important expansion of RSR Partners’ geographical reach. Previously, Mr. Fitzgerald was a managing director and distribution practice leader at a search firm specializing in financial services.
Earlier, this year, the firm announced an alliance with OnPoint Consulting, an organizational and leadership development consulting firm, to deliver leadership assessment capabilities to their clients.
The partnership creates an integrated but independent platform, separating search and assessment to ensure clients are provided with objective and unbiased advice, said the search firm. In addition, OnPoint Consulting’s open architecture approach to leadership assessment offers a customized success profile tailored to the unique leadership needs of each organization. The result is a comprehensive, data-driven picture of those who could become an organization’s future leaders. The assessment offering will help candidate selection, facilitate onboarding and support talent development and succession planning, said the firms.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
