Movers & Shakers
The Aspire Group Announces Promotions for Garrett and Cardinal
December 20, 2019
The Aspire Sport Marketing Group has promoted Tony Garrett to Senior Vice President and Chad Cardinal to Vice President of Fan Relationship Management Centers.
Tony and Chad, Aspire veterans of a combined 12 years, bring 28 years of collective sport industry experience. They will continue to serve as primary liaisons for many of Aspire’s long-term partners, focused on enhancing relationships, communication, and results across their respective FRMCs.
Tony Garrett joined The Aspire Group in 2011 and has been responsible for 30 Fan Relationship Management Centers during his tenure.
In 2019, Garrett led The Aspire Group to multi-year partnership extensions at The University of Kansas, The University of Maryland, Loyola Marymount University, The University of Toledo, Long Beach State University, and The University of South Florida. Garrett commented, “A great standard of success cannot be possible without our great partners and our greatest asset, my fellow Aspire F.A.M.I.L.Y. members.”
Prior to moving to Aspire’s Headquarters as a Regional Vice President, Tony was the Director of the Tulane FRMC where he was responsible for overseeing ticket sales and service efforts, including premium sales and box office operations. During Tony’s tenure, the Tulane FRMC increased total season tickets sold by 850%, group tickets sold by 219%, and achieved average season ticket retention rates for Football, Basketball, and Baseball of over 85%. In addition, Garrett was responsible for managing the department’s CRM system and intelligent e-marketing campaigns, which led to immediate cost savings and generated an average 115% return on investment.
Before joining Aspire, Tony was a Senior Account Executive for Group Sales at the Memphis Grizzlies (NBA) where he led his team to back-to-back franchise group sales records, and held the same position with the Atlanta Hawks (NBA), Thrashers (NHL), and Phillips Arena. Tony has also previously worked with the New Orleans Hornets (NBA), now the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Memphis Redbirds (MiLB).
Chad Cardinal, hired by Tony Garrett, joined The Aspire Group in 2015 and has become known for staff retention, long-term thinking, and a relationship-driven approach. This is Cardinal’s third promotion since joining the Aspire F.A.M.I.L.Y.
Most recently, Chad served as Regional Director for Aspire, and was responsible for 10 Fan Relationship Management Centers. Chad’s accomplishments to date include promotions of 7 direct reports, the delivery of over 100 hours of “Raise Your Game” trainings, and twice being named by his peers as MVP during Aspire’s annual Rookie & Leaders Retreat.
Cardinal, who is currently an Executive MBA student at the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, will continue to be based out of Santa Clara as he takes on more FRMC oversight.
Additionally, Jesse Moreno will be promoted to Manager, Sales & Service for the Santa Clara FRMC. Jesse joined the SCU FRMC in 2015 as a Sales & Service Consultant. This marks Jesse’s third promotion during his time with Aspire.
During his tenure at Santa Clara, Jesse has generated over $1.2M in new ticket and donation revenue for the athletic department. He has been the top monthly ticket and revenue producer across all of Aspire’s properties numerous times, been recognized as employee of the month, and completed over 90 “Raise Your Game” trainings. Jesse’s work ethic and interest in helping others set an excellent example for the team at SCU moving into 2020.
The entire Aspire F.A.M.I.L.Y. congratulates Tony, Chad, and Jesse on their respective promotions and are excited to continue delivering the best service possible to client partners in 2020.