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Welcome to Episode 29 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring J.D. Kershaw, Vice President of Marketing for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Today's podcast combines a little of everything from our last few episodes: J.D. was a former hockey player who learned quickly that he wanted to move to the business side of the sport. One of my favorite parts of the conversation was about this transition; since he was still in shape and a strong player, he would work out with the San Jose Sharks - the club that offered him his first off-ice role - and he said that he was immediately pegged as a "hockey guy." J.D. was more interested in the business side than "hockey ops," however, so he had to make a conscious effort not to pigeon-hole himself early in his career.

After a later stint with NHL Europe overseas, J.D. - via an assist from his wife! - relocated to the U.S. to help launch the Columbus Blue Jackets. He hasn't looked back since. It was great to hear about Columbus the city, and how it surprises and impresses the national media and visitors every chance it gets (All-Star Game, NHL Draft, etc.). J.D. was a blast, and his insight into marketing a team without a consistent tradition of winning (yet!) and in a smaller, non-traditional hockey market was fascinating.

Big thanks both to J.D. and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at jake@frontofficeexchange.com and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 28 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring Josh Brickman, Vice President of Strategy for the Boston Bruins and TD Garden.

I met Josh through Russ Scibetti, and if you listened to the latter on Episode 21, then you know what to expect here: Josh is super bright, and the Bruins and TD Garden are clearly in good hands with him as it relates to their business intelligence and strategic marketing efforts.

Josh is not even five months into his role there, so we discussed his relocation to Boston and what makes that city not only special but also different from his previous stops. He talks about his early career with Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, which equipped him with broad-based sports business strategy and research experience that he leveraged later in his career with Monumental Sports & Entertainment in Washington, D.C., and now in Boston as well.

Big thanks both to Josh and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at jake@frontofficeexchange.com and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 27 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring Jarrod Dillon, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Jarrod was a referral from previous guest Doug Warf, and he's nearing his two-year anniversary with the Lightning. I tell him a story of a recent trip of mine to Tampa, where in meeting with several sports business executives in the area, they all raved at the Lightning organization, both on the ice and off. Jarrod acknowledges that on-ice success definitely doesn't hurt, but he also discusses how the Lightning's strong front office leadership has bred a team-wide winning culture.

Jarrod was previously a west-coaster, so he chats about his family's move east, and with stops at the Raiders, Padres, San Francisco Giants and in minor league baseball, he offers a unique all-sports, all-leagues perspective on careers, advice and much more.

Big thanks both to Jarrod and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at jake@frontofficeexchange.com and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 26 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring Malaika Underwood, Vice President of Licensing for The Brandr Group, and six-time USA Baseball alum.

Much like our previous podcast with Casey Crawford, this episode features a star athlete, but what makes Malaika unique is that she's still an active player. She walks through her career on the field and off, and discusses the unique work she's doing for Brandr. On the personal side, Malaika and her husband are set to relocate from Atlanta to the Jacksonville, Florida-area soon, as her responsibilities at Brandr have grown.

As a former USA Baseball employee, I did my best to not talk too much red, white and blue, but Malaika said her experience with Team USA has helped make her successful in what has become a progressive career in sports business. She's a Tar Heel as well, so there may or may not be several shameless Carolina plugs here as well. Hopefully I haven't lost most of my listeners at this point!

Big thanks both to Malaika and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at jake@frontofficeexchange.com and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 25 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring Casey Crawford, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Movement Mortgage. Yes, you heard that right. I'm interviewing the head of a mortgage company for this episode.

Casey's background is unique, however, as he is a former NFL tight end, having spent time with the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and winning a Super Bowl ring in 2003 with the latter. Upon retiring, Casey entered the mortgage and real estate business, and over the last 10-plus years, he's grown Movement into one of the fastest-growing private mortgage companies in the country with a perennial listing in the Inc. 5000.

On top of that, today - Feb. 1 - marks my first day with the company; I'm joining Movement as its new Vice President of Content and Social Strategy. He's also my brother-in-law, so yes, this episode is a little unique. We talk about my role at Movement - and don't worry, I have plans to continue this podcast! - but my main focus is on Casey's career and thoughts in general about the challenges many professional athletes face when their playing careers end and they look to transition to a new career.

Big thanks both to Casey and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at jake@frontofficeexchange.com and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.

Welcome to Episode 24 of the Front Office Exchange podcast featuring Corey Breton, Executive Vice President of Sales for the Los Angeles Football Club, an MLS expansion team which is set to begin play in 2018.

Thank you for the thousands of emails and comments about when I will finally bring on someone from professional soccer. Your voices have been heard. OK, maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but I was excited to bring someone on from that sport. Corey's in a unique "hurry up and wait" type of situation in L.A., while they work on building a stadium and launching a team, and since he joined the club last year, L.A. has added not one but TWO NFL teams.

Corey talks about that increase in ticket-buyer competition and much more over the course of our conversation. He was FULL of great advice, with a couple of things standing out to me: 1. Render more services than your paycheck calls for, and 2. If you focus too much on the next step, it never comes - put blinders on and do great work now. He shared what it was like to move his family to the west coast as well, after an earlier career that saw him spend much of his time in the southeast and midwest.

Big thanks both to Corey and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at jake@frontofficeexchange.com and on Twitter at @jakefehling.

This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.