What's Next Now: Future of Fandom

Kate Denton

Vice President of Brand Marketing at Pacers Sports and Entertainment

Kate Denton is an accomplished marketer and executive, with a career spanning 15+ years in consumer goods and music. Currently, Kate serves as the Vice President of Brand Marketing at Pacers Sports and Entertainment.

Her responsibilities include developing the brands and fandom for PS&E properties the Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever, Mad Ants and Pacers Gaming. A passionate sports enthusiast, she has participated in the sports industry throughout her career. She started developing sports partnerships for DiGiorno Pizza while at Kraft Foods and went on to lead the development of the Gatorade Fit line of products for Gatorade prior to leading Sales Strategy and Retail Marketing across Gatorade’s 42 international markets.

Megan Cantwell

VP of Integrated Marketing, Chicago Fire F.C.

With more than 15 years of B2B and B2C global marketing experience, Cantwell is a leader in integrated marketing, branding, sponsorship marketing and business development.

Prior to joining the Fire, she spent time with Cushman & Wakefield, BMO Harris, United Airlines and Leo Burnett.

During her time at United Airlines, she led integrated campaigns and activation with key sports properties across NFL, NBA, MLB, PGA, NHL and the London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Olympics.

Rob Schneider

Chief Content, Strategy & Development Officer, Learfield

Rob Schneider is the Chief Content, Strategy and Development Officer for LEARFIELD, where he is responsible for corporate development and strategy across the company’s portfolio of companies, driving innovation through new data-driven products and services as well as acquisitions and investments.

In addition to these responsibilities, Rob leads LEARFIELD’s content, analytics and advanced fan engagement businesses, which include the companies SIDEARM Sports (web and app development), MogoSME (digital marketing and creative/branding), LevelNext (college’s largest esports league) and the nation’s most comprehensive data and analytics platform in college sports, LEARFIELD’s FanbaseTM.

Lauren Fritts

Vice President of Marketing, Chicago Cubs

As Vice President of Marketing for the Chicago Cubs, Lauren oversees all fan engagement touchpoints for the Cubs & Wrigley Field inclusive of CRM, brand identity, activations/events, multi-platform advertising, promotions, broadcast relations, game-day entertainment, social media and Cubs Productions.

Previously, Lauren was Global Director of Consumer Engagement for Gatorade where she drove creative and media go-to-market strategies and had accountability for brand-owned experiential activations, influencer marketing and sports culture driving platforms.

Prior to joining Gatorade, Lauren spent time in lobbying & public affairs working with sports team owners, worked in the Kansas City Chiefs media relations department, and spent time in the Sprint corporate partnership group working on NASCAR.

Dr. Brandon Brown

Clinical Associate Professor of Sport Management, NYU School of Professional Studies

Dr. Brandon Brown is a Clinical Associate Professor of Sport Management in the School of Professional Studies at New York University. In addition to serving as a marketing consultant for several professional sport entities, Dr. Brown has spent a number years working with the New York Mets in Queens, New York.

He has spent his professional and academic career concentrating on the Sports Management field. He formerly taught a number of sport management courses at the University of Tampa as an Assistant Professor. He received his PhD, MBA, and BS at Texas A&M University, the University of Central Florida, and Florida State University, respectively.