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Erika Ayers Badan

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Erika Ayers Badan
Born (1975-11-06) November 6, 1975 (age 49)
EducationColby College
Occupation(s)Sports executive, public speaker and podcast host
Known forFirst CEO of Barstool Sports
Children2
Erika being interviewed on Front Office Sports's Shot Callers series

Erika Ayers Badan (formerly Nardini; born November 6, 1975)[1] is an American businesswoman and CEO of Food52.[2]

Ayers served as the first CEO of Barstool Sports from 2016 to 2024.[3]

Early life and education

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Ayers spent much of her childhood in New Hampshire and Vermont.[4] She received a bachelor's degree in sociology from Colby College in Maine.[5]

Career

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1998–2015: Early career, marketing

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Ayers began her career working at the legal department of Fidelity Investments, before switching to marketing.[6] She was the senior vice president of sales and marketing at Demand Media.[7] Prior to that, she held executive marketing positions at Yahoo! and Microsoft.[8] From January 2013 to December 2014, she was the chief marketing officer of AOL.[9] Ayers was then the president and chief revenue officer of New York-based start up Bkstg.[10]

2016–2024: CEO of Barstool Sports

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In July 2016, Ayers was named the CEO of Barstool Sports.[11] Ayers oversaw the company's expansion into multimedia, merchandising, streaming and pay-per-view programming.[12] The company's expansion into pay-per-view included the acquisition of amateur boxing league Rough N' Rowdy in 2017.[13]

The valuation of Barstool Sports doubled from $15 million[14] to $30 million during her first year as CEO. It grew to $100 million in 2018.[15] In 2018, Fast Company named Ayers as one of its "Most Creative People in Business", citing Barstool Sports' expansion into multimedia and merchandising during her tenure.[15] That same year, Forbes ranked her 25th on its "Most Powerful Women In U.S. Sports".[16]

In 2019, she was ranked as #19 on The Big Lead's list of "The 75 Most Powerful People in the Sports Media Business."[17] That year, she was included on Crain's New York's "Notable Women in the Business of Sports".[18] Adweek named Ayers as one of its "Most Powerful Women in Sports" in 2017 and 2020.[19]

In 2020, Ayers was elected to the WWE's board of directors and resigned from that position in September 2022.[20] Erika was also on the board of directors at Torchy's Tacos.[21]

In an interview with Digiday, Ayers discussed Barstool Sports' growth during her tenure, from a valuation of $15 million in 2016 to $450 million in 2020.[14] In September 2021, Ayers stated that the company's revenue was expected to exceed $200 million in revenue, doubling the company's $100 million revenue in 2020.[22]

In 2022, under Erika's leadership, Barstool Sports progressed more into live sports and streaming [23] by hosting and broadcasting its first College Basketball Invitational [24] and the first Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl.[25]

In 2022, Barstool Sports also launched its NIL marketplace platform, TwoYay,[26] which connects college athletes directly to advertisers.[27]

In March 2022, Erika joined the board of directors for the Premier Lacrosse League.[28]

Ayers has been named Forbes' Most Powerful Women in Sports,[29] recipient of Crain's Notable Women in Sports,[30] AdWeek's Most Powerful Women in Sports,[31] Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media,[32] a top player in the U.S. Betting Space and Podcasting by Business Insider,[33] and one of Variety's Most Impactful Women in Entertainment of 2023.[34]

In the September 2023 issue of Vanity Fair, Ayers was featured in a lengthy article about driving the success of Barstool Sports.[1]

After more than 7 years at Barstool, Badan resigned as CEO on January 16, 2024.[35]

On January 15, 2024, The New York Post reported that Ayers will be departing Barstool Sports.[36] The next day, she announced in a video on X that she was stepping down as CEO of Barstool Sports.[37]

2024–Present: Food52

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In April 2024, Ayers was named CEO of the culinary, lifestyle and homeware company, Food52.[2]

Erika currently serves as a board member on Malaria No More which is a nonprofit organization that seeks to eradicate malaria.[38]

Podcast host and public speaking

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Ayers hosts Token CEO, a podcast about business and sports news.[39] She was an early supporter of the Premier Hockey Federation (then National Women's Hockey League), and interviewed NWHL players Kelly Babstock and Rebecca Russo on her podcast.[40]

In 2023, Ayers began hosting a daily 1:1 social media series where she answers fan-submitted work-related questions and gives career advice.

She is a frequent public speaker, and has given talks at the Milken Institute, CAA World Congress, the MIT Sloan Sports Conference, the SALT Conference,[41] G2E Las Vegas,[42] and the Barrett Sports Media's annual summit.[43]

Personal Info

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Nardini is divorced after allegations of cheating on her spouse with her squash coach.

Publications

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Ayers's debut book, Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure Is Good, the Great Ones Play Hurt, and Other Hard Truths, was published on June 11, 2024, by St. Martin's Press.[44]

References

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  1. ^ a b Jane Fox, Emily. "Dave Portnoy Bought Barstool Back. Can Erika Ayers Badan Keep His Pirate Ship on Course?". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Fleming, Kirsten. "Ex-Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan has a surprising new job: old one was 'a heart attack every day'". NY Post. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  3. ^ Spangler, Todd. "Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan Resigns: 'I Gave You My All'". Variety. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  4. ^ Bryant, Adam (July 14, 2017). "Erika Ayers on the Value of Leading '10 Percent' Players". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  5. ^ "Erika Nardini". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  6. ^ GmbH, finanzen net. "The CEO of Barstool Sports made an early career move that was 'the worst decision' and knocked her salary down $34,000 — here's why it was actually brilliant". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  7. ^ Chen, Angela (November 25, 2014). "AOL Marketing Chief Erica Nardini to Step Down". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  8. ^ Swisher, Kara (November 24, 2014). "AOL Loses Ad CMO Erika Ayers". Vox. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  9. ^ "AOL Advertising CMO Erika Ayers Steps Down". Ad Age. November 24, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  10. ^ Spangler, Todd (July 19, 2016). "Erika Nardini, Ex-CMO of AOL, Joins Dude-Focused Barstool Sports as CEO". Variety. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  11. ^ Shontell, Anna Mazarakis, Alyson. "How the CEO of Barstool Sports beat out 74 men to land her dream job". Business Insider. Retrieved February 2, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Kang, Jay Caspian (November 14, 2017). "Spurned by ESPN, Barstool Sports Is Staying on Offense". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  13. ^ "Barstool Sports expands into pay-per-view amateur boxing". Digiday. November 9, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  14. ^ a b "'We're an anomaly': Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers on building a 'lifestyle brand'". Digiday. January 30, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  15. ^ a b "100 Most Creative People in Business 2018". Fast Company. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  16. ^ "25. Erika Ayers". Forbes. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  17. ^ "The 75 Most Powerful People in the Sports Media Business". The Big Lead. January 7, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  18. ^ "Notable Women in Sports - Erika Ayers". Crain's New York Business. November 11, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  19. ^ "Adweek's Most Powerful Women in Sports 2020". Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  20. ^ Weprin, Alex (October 5, 2020). "WWE Adds Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers to Board of Directors". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  21. ^ "Erika Nardini Resigns From WWE Board, Citing Barstool Acquisition". sports.yahoo.com. September 16, 2022.
  22. ^ "Barstool Set To Top $200 Million In Revenue, Enter New Categories | Barrett Media". September 23, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  23. ^ "Live video: Barstool Sports CEO on the future of live sports, betting and NIL deals". Ad Age. January 12, 2023.
  24. ^ Christovich, Amanda (September 22, 2022). "Barstool Will Host Its First Men's College Basketball Tournament".
  25. ^ Greenberg, Doug (January 4, 2023). "Barstool Sports Feels It 'Delivered' on Arizona Bowl".
  26. ^ "TwoYay: Influencer Marketplace & Creator Partnership Platform". TwoYay.
  27. ^ Caron, Emily (September 14, 2022). "Barstool Joins NIL Marketplace Race With Massive Athlete Network".
  28. ^ Caron, Emily (March 8, 2022). "Barstool CEO Nardini Joins Premier Lacrosse League Board of Directors".
  29. ^ Belzer, Jason. "The Most Powerful Women In U.S. Sports 2018". Forbes.
  30. ^ "Notable Women in Sports - Erika Nardini". Crain's New York Business. November 11, 2019.
  31. ^ "Adweek Releases Its Second Annual List Of Most Powerful Women In Sports". www.sportsbusinessjournal.com. June 27, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  32. ^ "Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards - Nominate before May 5th". Cynopsis Media.
  33. ^ Rodriguez, Ashley. "Meet the 22 power players leading the explosion of the US sports betting space". Business Insider.
  34. ^ "From Drew Barrymore to Jenny Han: These NY Women Made an Impact on the Entertainment Industry the Past Year". Variety. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  35. ^ Spangler, Todd (January 16, 2024). "Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan Resigns: 'I Gave You My All'". Variety. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
  36. ^ Glasspiegel, Ryan; Marchand, Andrew (January 15, 2024). "Erika Ayers leaving her Barstool Sports CEO job". New York Post. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  37. ^ @erika_ (January 16, 2024). "Viva (see video on X)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  38. ^ Ayers Badan, Erika. "Erika Ayers Badan". LinkedIn. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  39. ^ "Token CEO | Blogs, Podcasts and Videos | Barstool Sports". www.barstoolsports.com. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  40. ^ "NWHL criticizes Barstool Sports CEO for video". ESPN.com. January 26, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  41. ^ "SALT — Erika Nardini". SALT. March 30, 2021.
  42. ^ "G2E Las Vegas: The Nardini effect – Barstool Sports". www.gamblinginsider.com.
  43. ^ "Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini to Speak at the 2020 BSM Summit". February 10, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  44. ^ Ayers Badan, Erika. "Nobody Cares About Your Career". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
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