WPS Chicago Stars FC

Red Stars Complete Department Head Hirings

Published on July 1, 2008 under Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)
Chicago Stars FC News Release


CHICAGO (July 1, 2008) - Veteran sports marketing executive Jeff Roth and women's soccer coach and internet executive Amanda Vandervort have been named to head up the Chicago Red Stars marketing department, team General Manager Marcia McDermott announced today.

Roth will serve as the team's Director of Marketing, Sponsorship and Communication. Vandervort will be the Director of Online Marketing, Website and Camps.

Roth most recently was principal of Hinsdale based sports and athlete marketing agency RISE Sports. His sports marketing experience also includes four years with Priority Sports & Entertainment as Vice President, Basketball and six years with AND 1 Basketball as Director, Sports Marketing.

"We are thrilled to have a professional of Jeff's caliber join us," McDermott said. "He brings tremendous experience and success in sports marketing and has great vision and ideas for the Red Stars. His experience on the property side and with players will allow us to hit goals for sponsorship, revenue and service," McDermott said.

As an early marketing executive with AND 1 Basketball, Roth contributed to the brand's evolution from a start-up t-shirt company to a $200,000,000 brand. In his role, Roth signed numerous NBA players, including several of the league's All-Stars as part of the company's effort to enhance its brand awareness. In addition, he created and managed several original brand properties including the highly touted AND 1 Mix Tape Tour, a ground-breaking experiential marketing initiative that enabled the company to take ownership over the "playground basketball" category.

Upon leaving AND 1, Roth served as the Vice President of Basketball for Priority Sports & Entertainment, a leading full-service athlete marketing and management agency specializing in professional basketball and football clients. While with Priority, Roth leveraged his prior sports marketing experience to augment the company's athlete marketing efforts. In doing so, he aligned his clients' interests with prospective partners, negotiated terms and activated numerous regional, national and international licensing and endorsement agreements. In addition, he uncovered new business opportunities including the development and growth of a leading international basketball practice. Through that experience, he gained vast international experience, recruiting foreign players as well as placing nearly 50 professional basketball clients in 20 different leagues around the world.

"I am thrilled with so many facets of this opportunity," Roth said. "First, the ability to contribute towards establishing a world class professional sports league, a league that will champion the global phenomena of soccer and in particular women's soccer, the opportunity to build a championship franchise in my hometown of Chicago and finally, to work with such an impressive collection of dedicated sports marketing professionals including Peter Wilt and Marcia McDermott," Roth said.

Vandervort joins the Red Stars from San Francisco-based Coach-Smart.com where she served as Business Development Director. She also brings tremendous soccer background as the Head Women's Soccer Coach at New York University from 2003 to 2007.

"Amanda is a rising talent who has great experience in both soccer and online marketing. She will extend our reach and further enhance our ability to be the community's team," McDermott said.

At Coach-Smart, Vandervort was the first employee of the innovative online start-up company with three main intentions: to publish coaches as authors, to aid in effective team organization through online tools and to develop a social networking platform for the sports community. Her responsibilities included collecting content, designing the website structure, investigating current market trends and promoting the product within the sports community. Additional tasks included interviewing and hiring employees, developing print media and creating marketing strategies.

At NYU, Vandervort was responsible for planning, organizing, conducting and evaluating all aspects of the Division III women's soccer program including recruiting, scheduling, traveling, fund raising, practice/game planning and coaching. She analyzed matches, prepared for opponents, purchased and monitored equipment, organized team travel and managed assistant coaches.

Vandervort's efforts went beyond the soccer field at NYU as she also started an after-school program on the Lower East Side for disadvantaged youth, actively encouraged players to participate in community service and was awarded President's Service Award for a Hurricane Katrina equipment drive.

The University of Wyoming graduate and former women's soccer team captain has significant soccer experience including her current roles serving on the NSCAA Technology and Women's Committees. She holds a USSF National "B" License and NSCAA Advanced National Diploma, awarded with distinction. Vandervort also is a Region 1 Senior Staff Coach and ODP, Director of Technology.

"Peter and Marcia have built a comprehensive vision to position Chicago Red Stars as an industry leader in Women's Professional Soccer, and I'm excited for this opportunity to work with such a talented and driven group of people," Vandervort said. "In my role, I'd like to positively touch as many soccer lives as possible through both the online experience at chicagoredstars.com and the Red Stars soccer camps. Chicago is an amazing city with a rich soccer culture that I'm proud to be part of," Vandervort said.

Roth and Vandervort complete the team's five department heads. McDermott previously named former Chicago Fire ticket sales manager Greg Zaskowski as Director of Ticket Sales, former Arsenal Ladies Academy Director and Assistant Coach Emma Hayes as Head Coach and Director of Soccer Operations and former Chicago White Sox executive Amber Simons as Director of Community Relations and Operations.

Red Stars President and CEO Peter Wilt praised the team's directors. "As a group, this is an incredibly experienced, talented and passionate set of leaders. I am confident that under Marcia's direction, they will fulfill the Red Stars mission to serve, entertain and succeed," Wilt said.

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