Career Path of a Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Marketing at Sports Thread
Keenan's career path is unique, beginning as one of the first employees at Sports Thread Inc., a company founded by their brother, where they "did pretty much every single job." This experience, starting as a college freshman and progressing through roles such as social media director, VP of UX and Marketing, and finally CIO and VP of Marketing, showcases remarkable growth and versatility within a single organization.
Entrepreneurship, Startup Experience, Rapid Career Growth, Versatile Skill Development, Multifaceted Roles
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Keenan
Chief information Officer and Vice President of Marketing
Sports Thread Inc
University of Northern Colorado
University of Northern Colorado
Marketing
Sports & Fitness
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. Keenan started at Sports Thread, a company founded by his brother, early on in its development, allowing him to gain experience across various roles.
2. He progressed from an intern to his current positions as CIO and VP of Marketing, demonstrating career growth within a single company.
3. His experience encompasses diverse areas such as social media, UX, sales, customer service, marketing, and data science, showcasing a wide range of skills relevant to business and technology leadership.
Transcript
Q1: Career path
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Please include any internships or jobs you had before your current role.
Absolutely. I started with Sports Thread, a company founded by my brother when he was playing college baseball. He brought me in to help out pretty much right when it started, so I've been involved since its origin. It was initially just him, me, and a couple of other people.
Since then, we've grown the company significantly. We now have over 20 employees, 100 independent contractors, and 200 plus partners in the US and Europe. Over our tenure, we've also reached almost three-quarters of a million users.
When this all began, I was a freshman in college. Through that time, I've done pretty much every job imaginable at the company. That's a major benefit of joining a small startup in the beginning – you get to experience and do almost everything.
I truly started off technically as an intern, being one of the few early employees. I've also served as the social media director. My official titles have included Director of UX, then VP of UX and Marketing, and now I'm the CIO and Vice President of Marketing. In addition to those roles, I've also worked in sales, customer service, marketing, and data science. I've done a little bit, or a lot, of pretty much anything that needed to be done at Sports Thread at the time.