“Put Me In, Coach! Financial Branding in Sports”

Michael Robichaud joined MasterCard in 2008 and is currently the SVP, Global Sponsorships at MasterCard.  He is responsible for the development and execution of MasterCard’s global sponsorship strategy.   Some of MasterCard’s sports platforms include Major League Baseball (MLB), multiple National Football League (NFL) teams, the US PGA Tour, the Rugby World Cup, and the UEFA Champions League.  Over the last few years, Michael has led an expansion of the portfolio into the entertainment space.  Entertainment partnerships have included The Recording Academy, with the Grammy Awards, the Brit Awards in the UK, as well as global partnerships with Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani and Justin Timberlake. Prior to joining MasterCard, Michael spent 9 years working at Nextel and Sprint Nextel, holding a number of marketing positions that included managing new product development, national promotions, the launching of new products, and overseeing Nextel’s corporate account marketing activities.  Beginning in the fall of 2001, he created the first national sports and entertainment sponsorship department.  Over time the group managed programs with Song Pictures, Disney, MLB, the National Hockey League (NHL), the NFL, United States Tennis Association (USTA), and the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. Michael has a BS, Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Virginia Military Institute and an MBA from the College of William & Mary.

A fitness enthusiast, sports marketer and business strategist, Michelle started at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in 2014 and is currently the Head of Global Sports Sponsorships.  TCS is one of the world’s top three IT services and consulting ­firms. TCS combines industry expertise and inventive technology to create business-changing digital solutions for our clients. Michelle is responsible for the strategy and execution of TCS’ Premier Partnership with New York Road Runners and title sponsorship of the TCS New York City Marathon in addition to oversight of all of TCS’ global sports sponsorships. TCS’ global sponsorships include 22 races and events such as title sponsorship of the Amsterdam Marathon, Mumbai Marathon and Lidingoloppet (the world’s largest cross-country running event in Sweden).  TCS is a supporting level sponsorships of the Boston Marathon, Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Virgin Money London Marathon and the Singapore Marathon. Michelle works with both local marketing teams and global innovation specialists to leverage cutting edge technology to add value to TCS sponsored events for participants, spectators and TV viewers.  The TCS New York City Marathon Mobile App has won numerous awards for its ability to track runners in real-time, allowing spectators to know where their runner is every step of the race. Prior to joining TCS, Michelle worked in the sports marketing field for over 18 years, as Director of Sponsorships for New York Road Runners and Sales and Event Manager for Disney Sports in Orlando, Florida. Michelle has a BS degree in Sports Information from Ithaca College and a Masters’ Degree in Sports Management from the University of Massachusetts. 

Tad Ehrbar is a senior member of Citi’s Media, Advertising & Global Entertainment team, which is focused on creating and implementing high impact consumer programs and campaigns that engage and drive the long-term brand loyalty for millions of Citi cardmembers. The team oversees Citi Private Pass, Citi’s award winning consumer access program, which offers unique access to thousands of events annually for Citi cardmembers. He has been with Citi since 2011. His teams oversee US Social Media, Content and Sports Access. His sports access team manages key partnerships that include PGA Tour player Justin Thomas, the American Airlines Center (Maverick and Stars), the Miami Dolphins, Citi Field / New York Mets, ESPN, ProCamps, multiple PGA Tour event sponsorships and The Presidents Cup. His social media and content team oversees the strategy and execution of 50+ campaigns annually which are positioned to amplify Citi’s entertainment content, product and services via organic and paid social media channels. His team manages strategic partnerships with Facebook, Instagram, Buzzfeed, Twitter and Snap. His team’s recent accomplishments include Citi’s first ever Facebook Live execution in partnership with the Global Citizen concert and Citi’s first Snap geo-filter in partnership with No Kid Hungry which promoted Giving Tuesday. Formerly, Mr. Ehrbar spent 5 years at the National Football League as a key member of the marketing team, most recently as the Director of Entertainment Marketing and Promotions. In his role, Mr. Ehrbar worked on numerous sponsorship activations focused around key calendar initiatives such as the Super Bowl, the NFL Draft and the NFL Combine. Mr. Ehrbar also led the development and marketing effort for the NFL’s annual consumer activation, which was “Super Ad”. It was a first of its kind effort by the NFL that offered fans and players the opportunity to share their best ideas for a Super Bowl commercial. The 2002 effort led to the critically acclaimed Super Bowl commercial, “Mr. Oboe”, which was the number one “most liked” ad in Super Bowl XLVII, according to Nielsen Research. Mr. Ehrbar also worked on several marketing and content initiatives that were positioned to enhance the brand across entertainment. The initiatives included the ‘Lombardi’ show on Broadway (NFL’s first partnership on Broadway), ‘The Blind Side’ (highest grossing sports film ever) and a partnership with celebrity chef Guy Fieri, which led to an NFL themed television series (“Tailgate Warriors”) on the Food Network. Prior to the NFL, Mr. Ehrbar was with Sony for five years on their Corporate Marketing team. He worked on numerous cross franchise marketing efforts, which included the Sony Open in Hawaii PGA Tour event and the “World of Sony” consumer brand marketing effort. Mr. Ehrbar spent the previous three plus years as a Sales and Marketing Account Executive for Princeton Video Image, a virtual advertising technology company best known for its virtual first down product, which is seen widely across NFL broadcasts. He was responsible for selling the first ever branded first down line to Visa for the NFL’s World Bowl. Mr. Ehrbar is a graduate of Lehigh University and lives in CT with his wife Kristina and their two children. He’s an avid sports fan rooting for the Yankees, Raiders and Tar Heels.