Erika Ayers Badan
Born (1975-11-06) November 6, 1975
EducationColby College
Occupation(s)Sports executive, public speaker and podcast host
Known forFormer CEO of Barstool Sports
Children2

Erika Ayers Badan (formerly Nardini; born November 6, 1975)[1] is an American businesswoman and former CEO of the digital media company Barstool Sports.[2]

Early life and education

Erica Nardini's father's name is Richard Wendell Ayers and her mother's name is Mina Katherine Limoges. [3] 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

1998–2015: Early career, marketing

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 2013 to 2015, she was the chief marketing officer of AOL.[9]

2016–2024: CEO of Barstool Sports

In 2016, Ayers was named the CEO of Barstool Sports.[10] Ayers oversaw the company's expansion into multimedia, merchandising, streaming and pay-per-view programming.[11] The company's expansion into pay-per-view included the acquisition of amateur boxing league Rough N' Rowdy in 2017.[12]

The valuation of Barstool Sports doubled from $15 million[13] to $30 million during her first year as CEO. It grew to $100 million in 2018.[14] 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.[14] That same year, Forbes ranked her 25th on its "Most Powerful Women In U.S. Sports".[15]

In 2019, she was ranked as #19 on The Big Lead's list of "The 75 Most Powerful People in the Sports Media Business."[16] That year, she was included on Crain's New York's "Notable Women in the Business of Sports".[17] Adweek named Ayers as one of its "Most Powerful Women in Sports" in 2017 and 2020.[18]

In 2020, Ayers was elected to the WWE's board of directors and resigned from that position in September 2022.[19] Erika was also on the board of directors at Torchy's Tacos.[20]

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.[13] 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.[21]

In 2022, under Erika’s leadership, Barstool Sports progressed more into live sports and streaming [22] by hosting and broadcasting its first College Basketball Invitational [23] and the first Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl.[24]

In 2022, Barstool Sports also launched its NIL marketplace platform, TwoYay,[25] which connects college athletes directly to advertisers.[26]

In March 2022, Erika joined the board of directors for the Premier Lacrosse League.[27]

Ayers has been named Forbes' Most Powerful Women in Sports,[28] recipient of Crain’s Notable Women in Sports,[29] AdWeek’s Most Powerful Women in Sports,[30] Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media,[31] a top player in the U.S. Betting Space and Podcasting by Business Insider,[32] and one of Variety’s Most Impactful Women in Entertainment of 2023. [33]

In the September 2023 issue of Vanity Fair, Ayers was featured in a lengthy article about driving the success of Barstool Sports.[34]

On January 15, 2024, The New York Post reported that Ayers will be departing Barstool Sports.[35] The next day, she announced in a video on X that she was stepping down as CEO of Barstool Sports.[36]

Podcast host and public speaking

Ayers hosts Token CEO, a podcast about business and sports news.[37] 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.[38]

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,[39] G2E Las Vegas, [40] and the Barrett Sports Media's annual summit.[41]

Publications

On June 11, 2024, Erika Ayers Badan's Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure Is Good, the Great Ones Play Hurt, and Other Hard Truths will be published by St. Martin's Press.[42]

References

  1. ↑ 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. ↑ "Barstool Sports Names New CEO and It's Not Who You'd Expect". Fortune. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  3. ↑ Richard Wendell Ayers (18 January 2024)."Erika Ayers Parents Name". Savedaughters. Retrieved 18 January 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. ↑ 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)
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ "Barstool Sports expands into pay-per-view amateur boxing". Digiday. November 9, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  13. 1 2 "'We're an anomaly': Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers on building a 'lifestyle brand'". Digiday. January 30, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  14. 1 2 "100 Most Creative People in Business 2018". Fast Company. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  15. ↑ "25. Erika Ayers". Forbes. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  16. ↑ "The 75 Most Powerful People in the Sports Media Business". The Big Lead. January 7, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Notable Women in Sports - Erika Ayers". Crain's New York Business. November 11, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
  18. ↑ "Adweek's Most Powerful Women in Sports 2020". Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  19. ↑ Weprin, Alex (October 5, 2020). "WWE Adds Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers to Board of Directors". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  20. ↑ "Erika Nardini Resigns From WWE Board, Citing Barstool Acquisition". sports.yahoo.com. September 16, 2022.
  21. ↑ "Barstool Set To Top $200 Million In Revenue, Enter New Categories | Barrett Media". September 23, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  22. ↑ "Live video: Barstool Sports CEO on the future of live sports, betting and NIL deals". Ad Age. January 12, 2023.
  23. ↑ Christovich, Amanda (September 22, 2022). "Barstool Will Host Its First Men's College Basketball Tournament".
  24. ↑ Greenberg, Doug (January 4, 2023). "Barstool Sports Feels It 'Delivered' on Arizona Bowl".
  25. ↑ "TwoYay: Influencer Marketplace & Creator Partnership Platform". TwoYay.
  26. ↑ Caron, Emily (September 14, 2022). "Barstool Joins NIL Marketplace Race With Massive Athlete Network".
  27. ↑ Caron, Emily (March 8, 2022). "Barstool CEO Nardini Joins Premier Lacrosse League Board of Directors".
  28. ↑ Belzer, Jason. "The Most Powerful Women In U.S. Sports 2018". Forbes.
  29. ↑ "Notable Women in Sports - Erika Nardini". Crain's New York Business. November 11, 2019.
  30. ↑ "Adweek Releases Its Second Annual List Of Most Powerful Women In Sports". www.sportsbusinessjournal.com. June 27, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
  31. ↑ "Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards - Nominate before May 5th". Cynopsis Media.
  32. ↑ Rodriguez, Ashley. "Meet the 22 power players leading the explosion of the US sports betting space". Business Insider.
  33. ↑ "From Drew Barrymore to Jenny Han: These NY Women Made an Impact on the Entertainment Industry the Past Year". Variety. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  34. ↑ Jane Fox, Emily. "Dave Portnoy Bought Barstool Back. Can Erika Ayers Badan Keep His Pirate Ship on Course?". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  35. ↑ Glasspiegel, Ryan; Marchand, Andrew (January 15, 2024). "Erika Ayers leaving her Barstool Sports CEO job". New York Post. New York Post. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  36. ↑ @erika_ (January 16, 2024). "Viva (see video on X)" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  37. ↑ "Token CEO | Blogs, Podcasts and Videos | Barstool Sports". www.barstoolsports.com. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
  38. ↑ "NWHL criticizes Barstool Sports CEO for video". ESPN.com. January 26, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  39. ↑ "SALT — Erika Nardini". SALT. March 30, 2021.
  40. ↑ "G2E Las Vegas: The Nardini effect – Barstool Sports". www.gamblinginsider.com.
  41. ↑ "Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini to Speak at the 2020 BSM Summit". February 10, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2022.
  42. ↑ Ayers Badan, Erika. "Nobody Cares About Your Career". Macmillan Publishers. Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
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