The Future of Sports Marketing in Financial Services

Tom Clifford is currently the Associate Director, Sponsorship Marketing at Invesco US. Tom joined Invesco in January 2020 and in his role, is responsible for leading sponsorship marketing, experiential marketing, live events, and brand experiences for Invesco US.  

Tom manages brand partnerships for Invesco, including the brand’s NCAA corporate partnership, collegiate athletic partnerships, MLB partnerships, and community sponsorships. Tom also leads Invesco’s live brand experiences and experiential marketing strategy and programs, creating and producing impactful and award-winning activations and sponsored programming for the Invesco brand.   

Prior to joining Invesco, Tom served as Director, Business Development for Lagardere Sports and Rootop2 Productions (currently SportFive) where he was responsible for creating sponsorship and activation programs and driving commercial impact for brands such as the PGA TOUR, Metro PCS, Citi, and the agency itself.  

Tom started his career at Octagon, a global sports marketing agency, where he managed accounts, events, and activation programs for blue chip brands such as Toyota, Sony, BMW, All-State, and Kaiser Permanente.  

Tom earned a BA degree in Sport Promotion & Operations from the University of Connecticut.  

Dan Pincus is currently the Assistant Vice President of Sponsorships and Promotions for MetLife. Since September 2011, Dan has been accountable for leading global partnership marketing and the team responsible for activating promotions to create energy and enthusiasm for the MetLife brand.

In his position, Dan manages several of MetLife’s most important brand assets including MetLife Stadium. Other MetLife partnerships include the . In 2015, Leaders recognized Mr. Pincus as finalist for its 40 under award, a celebration of the best talent in the business of sport globally.

Dan has a long and successful track record in the sport’s industry. Before coming to MetLife, he was VP, Group Account Director at STRATEGIC, a leading sports and entertainment agency in New York City. While at STRATEGIC Dan developed key brand activation platforms for clients like New York Life, Lipton Iced Tea, Labatt and Constellation Energy.

Prior to STRATEGIC, Dan was Director of Marketing Strategy and Communications at the NBA. During his tenure he developed brand strategies for NBA, WNBA and NBA Development League across a variety of business initiatives and disciplines. He was also part of the leadership team responsible for the ‘Where Amazing Happens’ campaign launched in 2007.

Additionally, Dan worked for 5 years at Nike Inc., in their subsidiary’s division, managing both sports and brand marketing for the STARTER and DUNKMAN brands. This activity included national advertising programs, athlete endorsements and professional/collegiate partnerships

Jon Tuck is President of Publicis Sports, which he joined in 2023.

Over two decades of experience in high profile roles leading teams and building businesses across sports media and sports rights holder businesses. Has worked with major Fortune 500 to build impactful sponsorships that break through the clutter to connect with passionate fans, achieve brands objectives and deliver ROI.

President of Publicis Sports

Lead the Publicis Sports team. Publicis Sports is a full service, 360 degree sports marketing agency with unique assets and leverage via Publicis Media, the dominant Agency holding Company in the US and #2 Globally. Publicis Sports consults with brands to provide strategic direction and take a data driven approach to identify, negotiate, execute, measure and optimize impactful sponsorships across the sports landscape. Clients include – Samsung, Anheuser Busch, Best Buy, Tik Tok, Chick Fil A and Stellantis. Publicis Sports manages relationships at all levels of sports – global, national and local – including the Olympics, NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, College Sports, etc

CRO of NASCAR.

Led the team at NASCAR to build sponsorship programs across all assets of the sport inclusive of IP, Broadcast partners(Fox and NBC), Digital properties, social, content, talent and experiential activations at tracks. Reimagined the sponsorship model from one naming Rights partner to the current model with 4 Premier Partners. Introduced many new partners into the sport including multiple Fortune 500 companies such as Verizon, AWS and Geico.

CRO of NASCAR Digital

Built the digital practice within NASCAR from the ground up. Led the build out of the digital and social content, operations and monetization teams. Increased engagement and followers dramatically across the sport at a critical time when the sport needed to attract a more diverse, younger fan base. Brought 30+ new brands into the sport across all platforms.

CRO of PFL

C level executive and equity stakeholder in a VC backed, global start up league which in 5 years has become the #2 organization in the world behind UFC in the third largest global sport. Built the commercial model working hand in hand with ESPN and other key stakeholders. Built impactful programs for major brands targeting the young diverse audience including Anheuser Busch, DraftKings, Bose and others.

Head of Business at Sports Illustrated, Golf, Golf.com and related properties

Led a team of 60 professionals as Head of Sales at Sports Illustrated, Golf and Golf.com, and a portfolio of sports properties. Launched / acquired multiple new businesses across digital and experiential. Worked closely with all of the stakeholders in the golf space including the USGA, PGA etc.

Julian Ahye is Head of Brand Partnerships at The Athletic. In this role, Julian leads the Sales and Partnerships Teams at The Athletic focused on building advertising and brand collaborations. A strong leader of people and teams, Julian is helping bring the best of The New York Times to The Athletic, transforming how it thinks about major sports moments, audiences, franchises, and expanding into new formats. Prior to joining The Athletic, Julian had a distinguished career at The Times, ascending to leadership roles and winning multiple awards throughout his tenure including being a Ad Age 40 Under 40 nominee in 2021.