Katie Carew '12

Warning: Undefined variable $page_cta in /var/www/vhosts/dev.fastspot.com/httpdocs/clients/siena/templates/basic/content.php on line 10

Katie Carew '12

Director of Corporate Partnerships, New York Football Giants

Hometown: Airmont, NY Current Town: Ramsey, NJ

Major: Major in Philosophy and minors in Business and Communications

Current Involvement: Women’s Golf Association of New Jersey, Habitat for Humanity

Involvement while at Siena: Siena Swimming & Diving Team, Student Athlete Advisory Committee, Special Olympics, Relay for Life

How do you involve yourself in your community?

Sundays are a big day in my community! I buy local and support the Local Farmer’s Market, attend Mass, and support the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, and of course, work Giants home games and cheer for them if they are on the road.

Describe a typical day in your life.

My day always starts with a morning walk with my Mini Goldendoodle, Ellie. She and I get in good exercise and playtime before I head to the Giants Training Center across from MetLife Stadium. Usually, my day is filled with Zoom calls, lunches, or meetings in NYC or at the facility/stadium, and prospecting new potential partners for the New York Football Giants. I’ll finish the day with a workout in the Team training room. After picking Ellie up from daycare or her grandparents house, we go for a walk. Sometimes, I’ll meet friends and family for week night trivia or watch a show on Netflix.

How did your Siena education prepare you for the work you’re doing today?

My experience at Siena College set me up for success. It helped me come out of my shell, find my passion, and ultimately, lead me towards a career in the sports industry.

Describe your professional progression since leaving Siena.

When I left Siena, I was offered a fellowship to continue working with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) after serving as their Student-Athlete representative to the Division I National Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). Two months into my new role, I was offered a full-time position as Director of New Media for Broadcast and Marketing after a position opened. As a Philosophy major, I didn’t know anything about broadcasting and marketing, but Rich Ensor, Whitney Swab, Marshall Foley, Ken Taylor, and Barbara Church taught me everything in my 20 months there. In my time at the MAAC, ANC Sports became the sponsorship arm for the conference, and I was ANC’s liaison to the MAAC. After working with ANC for 6 months, they offered me a job to handle accounts like Hankook Tire, Lucas Oil, and Lumber Liquidators across MLB, NBA, and NHL. I worked there for three years and at first, I was hesitant to get into sales. My boss at the time, John Obropta, frequently brought me on his sales meetings, and I quickly realized sales was the right fit for me! I started selling while I still managed our current clients. Often, I needed to provide brands like Hankook Tire, an end of season recap so they could see the value in the assets purchased through ANC. I found a new start up called GumGum Sports, which used AI technology to help in that valuation. After GumGum Sports pitched us their product, I was sold on them and a month later I applied to a sales role in their New York office. It was exciting to watch a small start-up grow from 5 employees to over 50 in my two and a half years with GumGum Sports. I brought in new clients like ESPN, NBA, and the New York Mets. One day I took a meeting at MetLife Stadium for a colleague who was on vacation. It was the only time they could meet. Luckily for me, Pete Guelli, Chief Business Officer at the New York Giants was in that meeting, and he called to offered me a role on their Corporate Partnerships team shortly after. In my time at the Giants, I’ve learned so much about sales and how to represent one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. With the team’s success on and off the field this season, I’m excited to see what’s next for our team, department, and new partners.

SIENA FAVORITES

Siena Professors: Todd Snyder, Josh Alexander, Jenny McErlean, Fr. Dennis

Class: Public Speaking / Communications Class. My voice used to tremble, and I would turn bright red talking in front of a group of people. After this class, I spoke in front of over 800 athletes my senior year with grace, and now, I work in sales where I present to CEO’s daily! What change!

Location: SAGA

Study-break Food: Chicken Finger Wrap with honey mustard and lettuce with Miss Vickies chips

Residence Hall: Hines 415, Paddy 217, Hennepin 612, Townhouse 6 – lived all four years with one of my best friends and teammates, Emily Schultz. Senior year, I lived with 7 other girls (4 of them I had never met until then) and I am still close friends with all of them today! I am now the godmother to Arielle (Sicluna) and Karl Miras’s daughter, Delilah. Lauren McGuire and I are doing a girl’s trip to Hawaii in February. Allison Barbini and I live the closest and get together in Nyack! Meg (O’Mara) Lindsey, Rachelle (Grover) Schoenig, Jessica Greth, Arielle and I all get together for girls’ trips, birthdays, weddings, and just a good old mani/pedi!

Class Years: Spring semester of sophomore year and senior year

During spring semester of my sophomore year, our team placed 3rd at the MAAC Swimming & Diving Championships (the highest Siena had ever finished). I also made a ton of new friends during Siena Fest that year and all throughout the springtime. This was also the first time I went on a MAAC SAAC trip. Ultimately, on my return, I became President of Siena SAAC and the MAAC’s representative to the NCAA SAAC, which set up my future career in sports, and helped me find my path at Siena. This is when I found my passion and came out of my shell.

Senior Year was loads of fun! This was also one of my favorite teams. The Swim Team had 9 incoming freshman and they were such a wonderful and down to earth group. I was already very close with the rest of the team, and they were such a fun addition. I’m still friends with many of my old teammates today! Following the swim season, I spent more time with my 2012 classmates – many who I never met!

Food: Cupcakes … one of my roommates would lick the icing off of the cupcakes I would bring back to my dorm room to tease me!

Favorite Memory: SAGA Sits, Siena Fest 2010, Senior Week 2012, Swim Formals, SAAC Trips, Applebee’s Trivia Nights, BINGO in Student Union, Dapps, Siena Basketball upsetting Ohio State, Siena Basketball MAAC Champs 2009/2010, and Swim Team Training Camp visit to Magic Kingdom

Advice for current Saints:

Enjoy where you are in the moment; Enjoy being a college student. If you only work 42 years instead of 43 years after college, it’s going to be OK. Chances are you won’t find your dream job right out of college, but you can start building your network in college to help you along your career path. Find the balance of having a good time and doing extracurriculars to set yourself up for success in the long run.

Career advice for current students:

Build your network. Identify a few people who have your dream job and look at their career path to learn how you can get there. I’m sure you’ll see they all have a very different path to get to the top. Try to connect with these people or people who work for them so you can build your network and learn about their career path and current role.