Megan Eisenhard is the Vice President of Campus+ at Learfield IMG College, a position she has held since July 2018, where she is focused on creating best-in-class university partnerships for Learfield IMG College clients. She also plays a vital role in the Learfield IMG College female-focused initiative – The W.O.W. Factor.
Previously, she served as the VP of Talent Acquisition for Learfield and oversaw the development of the company’s new talent acquisition structure. From 2014 to 2017 she held the title of West Region Vice President, providing senior leadership and guidance to select collegiate partners.
Before her VP appointment, Megan spent five years as General Manager leading Learfield’s Buffalo Sports Properties team, representing CU in Boulder. Her experience prior to joining Learfield in 2009 includes working with UC-Berkeley and Cal State-Sacramento.
Megan resides in Plano, TX with her husband, Eric, and sons Owen (6) and Henry (4). Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Can you tell us more about the Campus+ program and your day-to-day responsibilities at Learfield?
Campus+ is a division that started three years ago because we were receiving questions from both our university and brand partners about ways we could use our experience in the sports space to develop partnerships and generate revenue for their institutions. In higher education there are a lot of federal and state funding cuts right now. Costs are escalating and universities are feeling a lot of pressure to reduce costs and increase revenues while still providing a meaningful educational experience for students, faculty and staff. Lately there have been more business minded people who realize they need to sharpen the pencil and be more creative when it comes to revenue generation.
We also heard of the need for campus-wide partnerships from our sports division – eventually our local sales team may run out of inventory to sell. So we started to think about how we develop broader and deeper partnerships and expand what we have available to offer. When our company started Campus+, I was a Regional VP, overseeing the sales staff, so I saw the need and the value of campus-wide partnerships. There was a change in leadership in Campus+ about a year ago, and in July I joined the Campus+ team because I missed the sales side of the business. We are a small, nimble team, with only three people running the program. With over 200 properties, we have to think carefully about what we’re prioritizing and how we are managing our time. I work with a portfolio of over one hundred schools, as well as our partner brands, to help to clarify and develop our Campus+ strategy. My priority is anything that generates revenue.
The fact that we’ve been on some of these campuses for ten to twenty years means we have a great connection. The brands want to be on campus, market to students, faculty, staff, and alumni beyond game day. We were already able to do that socially and digitally, but we as a company decided to develop a campus-wide marketing program to navigate through the waters of campus. Campuses are siloed and are not set-up to manage sponsorships, and brands need help to navigate those waters. Two examples of Campus+ partnerships are AT&T and Wells Fargo.
For AT&T, we’re not exactly doing marketing campaigns for their brand on campus, rather we’re making introductions so they can grow their business there. They’ve been a long standing partner of Learfield and they were looking to expand their campus sales. So we discussed their key markets and priorities, and then I worked with the local Learfield General Managers to get the campaigns up and running.
Wells Fargo sees the value in sports marketing and also being the official bank of the selected universities, including the University of North Carolina. Their presence on campus includes doing financial literacy programs, recruiting students, and creating meaningful relationships with students, faculty, and staff to best support them financially as they transition throughout life. Our team helps Wells Fargo decide what schools they work with, what those packages look like, and how they will execute.
You’ve helped to establish the W.O.W. Factor (Winning Our Way) at Learfield IMG which is focused on highlighting the success and sharing the stories of Learfield IMG College women. Can you tell us more about this program and why you decided to become involved?
I always had a passion for women in sports. When I became a salesperson I realized we needed more female sellers and I’ve been especially passionate about that. As a General Manager at Colorado, I was always looking to help on a grassroots level and I often put together calls with the other women GM’s and would mentor sales coordinators who may want to get into sales roles. When I moved to the corporate office as a Vice President I wanted to continue to do some grassroots things, such as meeting monthly or quarterly with women within our office.
The actual program hasn’t been specifically defined, as we’ve never really had an official person to manage it. However, it’s been a mix of networking, mentorship, camaraderie and professional development. Now that we’ve merged, we’re revamping that program so there’s more structure behind it. I’ve enjoyed it being grassroots and some of it’s just what the women involved want it to be – whether it’s coffee or just telling someone about being a parent. I’ve also been very vocal about our maternity policy – it seems as though whenever someone gets pregnant in the field, they call Megan! I love inspiring women and believe if you love to work, you’ll love to come back.
I’ve found that routines are key to keeping the family on track, no matter the time of year or the demands of work. What routines have you set for your family to keep things moving when life gets crazy?
I wish I had more routines and structure. Lately, what my husband and I have worked out is that I tend to get the kids ready for school and do the morning drop-off. My husband does the pick-up from school. A lot of time I have happy hours or meetings in the office that take a bit longer; however, my goal is to be at home in the morning and then back by 6:00 PM.
Our kids do have a routine at night: they take a shower, watch a little TV, brush teeth, say a prayer, and then go to bed.
It’s taken awhile for us to come to this place. I became Vice President when I was pregnant with my second child. It was December and I was due in March. I traveled a bit, then I had a baby, and three months later we picked up and moved from Colorado to Dallas. I had a two year old and a 3 month old and then I was on the road and gone a lot. We didn’t have any family in Dallas and it was really hard.
Eric, my husband, was in a career transition, so when we first moved here, he didn’t have a job lined up. He was taking care of two kids in a corporate apartment and then we rented a house for a year. It was a crazy, hard, time on our family, marriage and workload. But, it’s interesting, because I was so into climbing the corporate ladder. I was a seller, then a General Manager, and finally Vice President. I wanted to prove that a female could be a VP with a family and kids. That was my mindset.
After a year of it, I took a step back and was wondering if it was really worth it. I love being a leader of people, but I also needed to lead my family, so I shifted to a VP role in Talent Acquisition, which was just as challenging but didn’t require as much travel. It’s funny, the higher up you get and the more you think you want something, you realize it’s not always what it seemed as you sit there in that position.
When I was in Talent Acquisition I was in all these leadership meetings and in the know with what the company was doing. However, it was super intense, and while I loved the opportunity, it was stressful and not where I saw my future career path headed. So, last summer I moved to the Campus+ team and am back in sales.
I love being back in a sales leadership role, but this time it’s different. My boss is not based in Plano, I don’t have a team to manage and I’m not going to be in all these leadership meetings. I was okay making another lateral move and I’m sure at some point I’m going to want to get back up there and have a seat at the table. There are times in your career where you can take a step back and take a break.
What project or professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
One is my time leading the Talent Acquisition team. I’m proud on one hand because the leadership of the company thought I’d be a good fit for a role outside of my background and that was flattering; but, I had to build an entirely new department. This included the team, our processes, figuring out metrics to measure, and managing up. It felt like I was building a plane while it was flying in the air, as recruiting never stops. There’s always turnover and jobs that need to be filled. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had. I’m glad I did that, and no one probably knows what went into that. I was glad I was able to do something totally outside my comfort zone, and do it well enough to leave it in a good place when I moved to Campus+. I was able to hand it off to someone that I hand-selected to run the program. There aren’t a lot of times when you’re able to do that within a year and a half.
In addition, while at Colorado, we developed a partnership with Safeway to increase breast cancer awareness at a football game. It’s been done a million times since, but it means a lot to me because my Mom died of breast cancer when I was eighteen. Anyone who sells sponsorships has put together an idea, executed, and seen it come to life – it’s an amazing part of our job. I was able to sell the game, activate, and have survivors meet the team and be on the field. I have a picture of all the survivors lined up on the end zone and it’s an experience I will always cherish.
Do you have other “Mom Mentors” or Moms working in sports to help guide you through parenthood and professional life?
I wish I had more. I’ve actually talked to my husband about this. I have a few mentors, but they’re more like colleagues.
I am on the executive board of the WISE (Women in Sports & Events) chapter here in Dallas. There’s a group of us that have been meeting unofficially for two years. There’s a few Moms on our board, and when we meet every month, I’ll end up talking to them about life and work outside of WISE. They’re becoming my sports Mom group. I’ve met some really cool Moms working in sports that I wouldn’t have met without my involvement on the WISE board.
Within Learfield there are a few women’s leaders in Director or VP roles. They’re dealing with the same challenges, so we do sometimes get together in a safe space to talk about what it’s like.
I love seeing women thriving in sales. I think it’s a very big corner of the industry most women don’t automatically gravitate toward. Have you seen more women starting in Account Executive and General Manager roles since you first started? If not, how can we encourage more women to pursue this track?
From a global perspective, Learfield IMG is involved in Women Leaders in College Sports, and we’ve developed a revenue generation track for their convention. We make sure to focus on telling women there are opportunities other than being a SWA (Senior Woman Administrator) in college athletics. The goal was to get more women to understand the opportunities available in revenue generation positions – including sponsorship sales, ticket sales and fundraising. It’s such a necessary skill if you want to be a leader.
I personally encouraged two women within Learfield whom I love dearly to take sales jobs – I saw a lot of my younger self in them. Originally, I didn’t think I would be in sales. I was comfortable in activation, but someone pushed me outside my comfort zone and I’ve been in sales ever since. Women are great salespersons. So these two women in our corporate office left to take sales positions at two of our Power Five schools; however, neither of them liked it. One came back to corporate and one took a job elsewhere. I then realized that sales is not for everyone, but I’m going to keep encouraging others to try it.
We absolutely need more women in sales and I know there are many that could be very good sellers. You do have to like and enjoy sports and be excited about the sales process. I took the Talent Acquisition role because I wanted to hire more women in these roles.
How has being a Mom made you better at your job?
Number one, I’m more protective of my time, and that forces me to be more efficient and prioritize better. Number two, I love working. Being a Mom has forced me to not work so much. It’s given me the balance to have a happy home and a happy marriage, but it’s helped me realize that value in my life. You can still be really good at your job, but you don’t always have to be working all the time.
What non-traditional benefits do you think would help to make the sports industry more family-friendly?
It’s all down to your leader and how they’re going to set that expectation. It’s about flexibility and autonomy. I’ve been so blessed that my bosses have given me the flexibility to do my business. Whatever the case may be, having a culture of flexibility, autonomy and trust is extremely important. If you have that, I don’t think anything else matters. Clearly, maternity leave matters, or maybe providing some additional perks like a housecleaning service for a newly returning mom; but, I think a boss that trusts you and knows your family is most important.
No matter what industry you work in, that’s going to make it more family friendly. The ability to bring your kids to a game and have your boss come over and meet your family, and really get to know them. That’s why I’ve stayed at Learfield for ten years. I’ve been lucky to have great bosses and work at a company with a great culture.
Being a Mom who works is not easy, no matter the industry. However, the competitiveness and irregular hours can make sports extremely challenging for parents. What motivates you to continue to pursue professional growth amidst some of these challenges?
Feeling like you’re making a difference and having sanity because I’m not dealing with six and four year olds all day. God Bless the stay at home Moms! It is not in my DNA to stay at home.
It’s also about doing something bigger than yourself and trying to teach my kids the right thing, especially with everything going on right now between the male and female culture. I’ve always thought I’d be a cool girl Mom and now I have boys. It’s so important to tell the boys (if not more than the girls) that your Mom is working in a really cool industry because she can do what she wants. This is what a healthy family looks like and you can have two jobs in your family. When you find your mate he/she can have a job, and you can treat women like the equals they should be.