George Pollington
Managing Director, RGE
With more than 25 years of global event management and corporate hospitality experience, Pollington leads all operations of major global events for RGE. Throughout his distinguished career, George has worked closely with FIFA, IOC, LOC’s and various vendors in multiple global locations to successfully and seamlessly plan and execute integrated guest experience programs.
Before founding RGE, he served as Senior Vice President, Head of Global Event Operations at GMR, a global experiential marketing agency. At GMR, George was responsible for establishing in-country resources and operations for major global events, including the Olympics and FIFA World Cup. He played a major role in the planning, operations and delivery of 28 guest experience programs for the FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil for 12 clients, across 10 host cities, utilizing 20 hotels, a cruise ship, 29,000 tickets, 800 guest rooms, 300 vehicles and 400 staff in support of over 6,000 corporate guests attending the event.
During his tenure at GMR, he also served as Vice President, Global Event Management, for the Visa global event team with responsibility for strategy, design and implementation of guest experiences associated with Visa’s global sponsorship portfolio, including FIFA, Olympics, and the NFL.
With Visa, George provided oversight of the design, implementation and delivery of Visa’s London 2012 Olympic guest experience programs for 7,000 guests and 250 staff, in addition to Visa’s inaugural FIFA World Cup guest program in South Africa in 2010 for 4,500 guests and 200 staff. He also led a team of 300 staff to deliver programs for 5,000 global B2B and B2C guests at the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil.
RGE ADVISORY GROUP
JOHN ROWADY
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, REVOLUTION
There are player agents on one spectrum and brand-side agents on the other. rEvolution represents brands in the high-profile, high stakes, sports marketing industry. Conceived by entrepreneur John Rowady, the brand rEvolution and its integrated business model, signify world-class expertise and services in the sports business. A perennial all-star at bringing business, sports and relationships together, Rowady’s 25-year career in sports has traveled the world: from the NCAA, F1 and NASCAR, to the FIFA World Cup, and the Olympics. His vision for the industry has been brought to life in the tagline, “Communication Through Sport.” The Hoosier B-School Alum is a catalyst for helping clients win in the sports business. You’ll often find him across all forms of media promoting rEvolution’s advocacy towards a higher-quality sports marketing industry.
DARREN MARSHALL
EXECUTIVE VICE-PRESIDENT, CONSULTING AND RESEARCH, REVOLUTION
At rEvolution, Darren brings groundbreaking research and real-working insights to the forefront of the sports marketing industry. An Oxford graduate, who became an American in Connecticut, Darren relies on more than 25 years of sponsorship and brand research expertise to deliver the industry’s most effective, business building sponsorship research models and advice for companies and brands. Clients from Seoul and London to New York City, seek his recommendations on everything from global sponsorships to local team deals. When he is not advising brands, such as MillerCoors, Samsung and Home Depot, he can be found cheering on Arsenal and the Patriots, and yes, he does have a charming English accent.
CHRISTOPHER PEPE
VETERAN GLOBAL SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS LEADER AND GLOBAL FOOTBALL EXPERT
Christopher Pepe is a sports business leader and trained attorney with more than 20 years of experience specializing in negotiation, management, market activation and business development, including work with Visa, Major League Soccer, and Yahoo!.
Most recently, Chris Pepe was Head of Lifestyle & Travel Partnerships and Concierge Services in the Product Division of Visa Inc., where he spent ten years in various leadership positions, including also serving as the Head of US Sports & Entertainment Partnerships and Global Head of FIFA/Football Management in Visa’s Worldwide Sponsorships and Partnerships group. In these roles, Pepe had overall responsibility for the management and oversight of Visa’s largest sports investments and newly minted strategies in sports and lifestyle properties.
Prior to joining Visa, Pepe had been a founding executive staff member of North America’s most successful newly launched sports league, Major League Soccer (MLS). Pepe has also served at Yahoo!, Inc. as Director, Global Sales Development for the Yahoo!/FIFA World Cup partnership.