| Tom
Dickson |
Tom
started his professional career
with Leo Burnett Advertising,
the largest advertising agency
in the United States. In his 17
years with Burnett, Tom managed
several national and multi-national
businesses including Kellogg,
Procter & Gamble, Nintendo,
Hallmark, and Keebler, gaining
an extensive knowledge of all
marketing disciplines including
advertising, sales promotion,
database marketing and sports
marketing. Tom was an Executive
Vice President when he left Leo
Burnett in 1996 to pursue a full
time baseball career.
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| Sherrie
Myers |
Sherrie
began her career with the
Chicago Tribune in advertising
sales. Over the course of
the next 20 years, Sherrie
progressed through the world
of sales management and
publishing, working at several
national magazines including
Smithsonian, Sunset, and
Southern Living. In the
late 80’s and early
90’s, Sherrie was
part of start-up teams that
launched several national
magazines that were later
sold to Time-Warner and
ABC Cap Cities. In 1999
Sherrie was profiled in
Women Entrepreneurs
Only, a book featuring
12 prominent female entrepreneurs
in the United States.
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In 1996, Tom and Sherrie launched their first
minor league baseball team, the Lansing Lugnuts.
Playing in Oldsmobile Park, a new stadium
they developed and constructed in Lansing,
Michigan, the Lugnuts have been one of the
most successful professional sports franchises
in minor league history. The Lugnuts set the
Class-A baseball attendance record in 1996
drawing over 535,000 fans. The team’s
success is unwavering, as the Lugnuts have
averaged more than 400,000 fans per year over
the team’s first 11 seasons. Playing
a key role in the revitalization of downtown
Lansing, the Lugnuts have become an integral
part of the mid-Michigan community.
In
large part due to the success of the Lugnuts,
Tom and Sherrie were named “Entrepreneurs
of the Year in the State of Michigan”
in 1997.
In
2001, Tom and Sherrie purchased the Charleston
Alley Cats in the South Atlantic League
and began working with government officials
to put together financing for a new ballpark.
In October 2002, funding for the new $23.0MM
facility was approved. Like its sister team
in Lansing, the Charleston club plays in
a new state-of-the-art facility designed
by Kansas City based architects HNTB that
opened in April of 2005.
In
2002, as part of a nationwide competition,
Tom and Sherrie were selected by the City
of Montgomery, Alabama to bring affiliated
baseball to town. Montgomery, as part of
its riverfront redevelopment efforts, built
a new $26.0MM ballpark that opened in April
2004. Tom & Sherrie announced the team
name, “Montgomery Biscuits”
a year prior, and received an overwhelming
response nationwide. Internet retail sales
have brought Biscuits merchandise into 50
states and 7 countries. Attendance in the
first three seasons has averaged over 320,000,
placing the Biscuits (a AA
Tampa Bay Devil Rays affiliate), as
the #2 team in attendance in the Southern
League despite playing in one of the League’s
smallest markets.
In
addition to Lansing, Charleston and Montgomery,
Tom and Sherrie have been responsible for
the development of over $150MM worth of
new minor league ballparks over the past
eight years in markets such as Dayton, Ohio;
Joliet, Illinois; Gary, Indiana; and Eastlake,
Ohio.
Tom
and Sherrie have been very fortunate to
have not only received a variety of awards
for their entrepreneurial efforts, but have
been covered in a long list of national
media stories including The Wall Street
Journal, ESPN, USA Today, Southern Living
Magazine, Smart Money Magazine, Baseball
America and most recently featured on CNN.
In
addition to Tom and Sherrie’s sports
franchises, they own two other companies,
Professional Sports Marketing, a sports
consulting company, and Professional Sports
Catering, a food catering company. These
two companies were founded to provide wide-ranging
consulting and food services for professional
sports franchises around the country.
Tom
and Sherrie live in Wilmette, Illinois with
their son, Andrew, and Airedale Terrier,
Bonz.
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Consulting
Management Team
Managing
Your Finances |
| Jonathan
Harris |
 Jonathan
attended the University of Tulane
in New Orleans on an academic
scholarship, and graduated with
a degree in Science & Management/Accounting
in 1999. After
graduation, Jonathan moved to
Chicago and began his career
in finance. Jonathan spent his
first two years in Chicago at
KGN, a major accounting firm
in Chicago. Following that,
Jonathan moved to Jeff McClusky
& Associates, an entertainment
company in Chicago, where he
oversaw the entire finance operation
of the mid-sized, entreprenuerial
company.
In
2002, Jonathan began is career
with Professional Sports Marketing.
At PSM, Jonathan is reponsible
for all corporate finance and
human resource functions. During
his tenure at PSM, Jonathan
has developed an experitise
in all matters relating to the
finance of minor league baseball
franchise including on-going
operations, taxation, insurance,
lease negotiation and investor
relations. Additionally, Jonathan
has been integrally involved
with several new business start-ups,
as well as team acquisiton,
refinancing and divestiture.
Following the formation of Professional
Sports Catering,
LLC in 2005, Jonathan took over
as Director of Finance for PSC
as well.
Jonathan and
his wife Cara live in Chicago.
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Retail
/ Promotional Management |
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Pam
Hastalis |
 Pam
joined the PSM team in February,
2003, bringing years of retail
experience. She is responsible
for overall team retail operations
including the purchase of retail
merchandise for the Lansing
Lugnuts and Montgomery Biscuits.
Pam is in charge of communication
with retail vendors, ensuring
that all merchandise is high
quality, attractive, exciting
and represents the brand of
the teams. She recently directed
the start-up of the Great Lakes
Loons’ retail operation
and managed the creation of
holiday retail stores in both
Montgomery and Lansing. A graduate
in Marketing from Northern Arizona
University, she also manages
the retail section of the teams’
websites. Pam is also in charge
of purchasing staff and player
uniforms and items for promotional
giveaways for both teams.
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Building
Your Brand |
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Richard
Corelitz* |
| Dick
has over 30 years of advertising
and marketing communications experience.
He began his career in the Client
Service Training program at Leo
Burnett, where he worked in various
positions with clients that included
Nestle, Procter & Gamble,
and Kellogg. Dick also spent several
years in Burnett’s International
division, including two years
as EVP Director of General Services
in Milan, Italy, as well as a
year as Assistant to the Chairman
in Chicago. Following Burnett,
Dick was Managing Director at
Bayer, Bess Vanderwarker, and
Managing Partner at Bozell. Clients
included Helene Curtis, National
Pork Producer’s Council,
and Loyola University / Medical
Center, and responsibilities included
oversight of agency departments
and of Public Relations, Food
Service, and Retail marketing
in addition to advertising. Dick
joined the Carpet & Rug Institute
in Dalton Georgia as Director
of Marketing, and led the creation
and launch of a national program
designed to increase awareness
of and interest in carpet. He
then served as COO of eCreativeSearch,
an internet-based company serving
the television commercial production
industry. Most recently, Dick
was Managing Director of 141 Communicator
in Chicago, where he partnered
with Percy Wang to lead the interactive
marketing group.
Dick
is a native of New York and
a graduate of Dartmouth College
and the University of Virginia
Business School. |
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Building
Your Brand |
| Percy
Wang* |
| Percy
has over twenty years advertising
and integrated marketing experience.
Some of his prominent clients
include Microsoft, Fujitsu ICL,
Motorola, AT&T and Kraft Foods.
Most recently, Percy served as
the EVP Creative Services for
141 Communicator in Chicago. His
primary focus was on leading the
creative strategy for digital
marketing programs. Prior to joining
141 Communicator, Percy was the
Creative Director at Wang Idea
Works, an integrated advertising
agency in Chicago, Illinois. He
led the agency to becoming only
one of two Midwest agencies to
be added to the ChannelSeven.com
Top 100 U.S. Agencies in 1999.
Lighthouse Global Network acquired
the agency in January 2000. Percy’s
background also included working
at Elliott/Dickens Advertising
in Silicon Valley where he led
the creative team to create award-winning
work for technology companies.
Percy
is a native of Chicago and an
alumnus of Grinnell College
and the Illinois Institute of
Technology. His work can be
found in Creating Killer Web
Sites, 2nd Edition, Great Web
Architecture and the Website
Graphics series of books. He
is active in the education community,
teaching kids how to design
and develop web sites.
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*
= Dick Corelitz and Percy Wang are owners
of Simple Studio in Chicago. They are strategic
partners of PSM for brand identity work.
For more infomration, see
www.simple-studio.com
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