The 2013 SEME conference has its first two keynote speakers! See below for their profiles.

Mark Waller-Chief Marketing Officer, NFL

Mr. Waller is a graduate of Duke University, and a 25 year veteran with extensive international business experience, including positions in the United Kingdom, Spain, the Canary Islands, Greece, and the United States. He joined the NFL in 2006, and became Chief Marketing Officer in 2009. In his role as CMO, Mr. Waller overseas all of the leagues marketing efforts, as well as international activities. In addition, he is responsible for developing the NFL’s long-term fan development and brand strategy, and also is a member of the league’s Business Ventures senior management team.

David Abrutyn-Senior Vice President, Global Head of Consulting, International Management Group (IMG)

Mr. Abrutyn is a graduate of University of Hartford Barney School of Business and joined IMG in 1999, and was named as Managing Director, Senior Vice President and Head of IMG Global Consulting in 2009. He has more than 16 years of industry experience, having worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies in development and implementation of sports and entertainment marketing strategies. During his time at IMG,  Mr. Abrutyn has managed client business for 24 Hour Fitness, AT&T Broadband/Comcast, Churchill Downs, DHL, Harrahs Entertainment/World Series of Poker, Philips Royal Bank of Scotland, Starwood and Verizon.  In this capacity, he has worked on initiatives for clients with teams and league offices of the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, NASCAR, NCAA, Olympics, and FIFA. Prior to IMG, Mr. Abrutyn worked in corporate marketing at the NHL, managing relationships with major sponsors.

Stay tuned for more updates on speakers and news for this year’s SEME Conference!

Ahh, Super Bowl XLVII. Once a year, it gives football fans the opportunity to congregate with friends and family while having good food, mass amounts of beer and to actually watch the commercials that went for $4 million per 30 second time slot. This year was monumental to the Baltimore Ravens considering that it’s their 2^nd Super Bowl championship and also the last season for seasoned veteran Ray Lewis. Also, that their star quarterback Joe Flacco earned the MVP award. Who could forget that the head coaches of both teams are biologically related? Talk about sibling rivalry on a grand scale. I’m sure both Jim and John Harbaugh were rooting for each other but when it came to game time, it was all business.

On the other hand, the San Francisco 49ers made history for themselves even though they were 4 points shy of victory. Not only have they won 5 Super Bowl championships with legendary players such as Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Steve Young but having a young quarterback with only 11 starts in the season is remarkable. Colin Kaepernick was outstanding even though he lacked the experience that most players have but with his 15 yard touchdown run in the 4^th quarter, he set a Super Bowl record of longest touchdown run by a quarterback. We also can’t forget his right hand men, wide receivers Michael Crabtree and Randy Moss, as well as tight end Vernon Davis who assisted in making those touchdowns in the 2^nd half of the game. Ironically when Kaepernick was a child, he wrote a letter that was submitted in a time capsule which predicted that he would be 6’4 and would play for the 49ers or Packers, even if they aren’t good in the next 7 years. Amazingly enough, his dreams came true and I’m sure that he was astounded when he found out that he would be the starting quarterback for the 49ers at a Super Bowl championship game. Although the 49ers probably analyzed every move, every pass and every play that might have caused their defeat, Kaepernick and his team put up a good fight. The Ravens didn’t sweep them off their feet completely and faced a challenging team for the trophy. Good for you Ravens but ultimately Niners, there’s always next year!