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Sarah, public speaking is something you work at.

I do work at, but for our guest today, it's a natural ability.

Yeah. So you might get a few tips here today.

Yeah, absolutely.

All right.

Today we're joined by a trailblazer in collegiate athletics and leadership. Currently serving as president of Arizona Athletic Grounds. She brings a wealth of experience from her time as vice President and Director of Athletics at Averitt University, where she transformed the student athlete experience, launched major capital campaigns, and championed a winning culture. Her impact extends far beyond the field. She's a passionate advocate for women and minority leaders in sports and has served as president of Women Leaders in Sports. With a Hall of Fame induction, national recognition, and a relentless commitment to progress, our guests knew she was destined for greatness. And today she's here to share her journey life. Let's dive in. Please welcome the one and only Meg Stephens.

Whoa. We should have like some round of applause things going on here. Derek, hit us up. Yay. Now we're talking. Now we're talking.

I need that button at work.

Uh huh. Yep.

No more buttons today, please.

But with that button, let's start with the other big button, the rapid fire button. Ready?

Here we go. Would you rather find your dream job or win the lottery?

Dream job.

What is your guilty pleasure?

I don't have one. I work.

Pass.

Yeah, sorry. I failed at that.

Would you rather host a party for all of your friends or enjoy a dinner for two?

Dinner for two.

Okay. And you're a public speaker, you know, I know.

So, yeah. Very public. But yeah, when I can turn off, I turn off.

Okay. Have you ever moved across country?

I did recently.

Would you ever appear on a reality show?

No.

What is your favorite dessert?

I'm just a sucker for ice cream.

Okay.

Plain old vanilla anything. It's Ben and Jerry's. Well, I feel like I'm on a commercial now. I feel like I should get credit for this, but yeah. No. Ben and Jerry's. You put it in the freezer, it won't be there long.

Yeah. Chunky Monkey. There you go.

Yeah. Just about anything.

What song makes you smile?

Anything upbeat? I Love a little bit of everything from oldies to what's new today. If it's upbeat, maybe what I should.

Say is like, what's your entrance song?

Unstoppable.

Okay.

Are you more cautious or bold?

Bold.

What is your favorite rainy day activity?

We have a lot of those days here.

Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna say it hasn't rained here in. Just moved to Arizona.

So what's something you like to do two to three times a year?

Two to three times a year? No, if I'm stuck in, I enjoy. I've got three dogs at home. Love just kind of spending some in time with them and being able just to kind of hang out.

Awesome.

All right, last question. Glass half full or half empty?

Oh, half full.

Yeah.

And kudos to Ben for asking that question correctly this time around.

You know, sometimes I have two glasses. One's half full, one's half empty.

That's not the point of the question.

I got it. Although I feel like you all have known me for, you know, not that long and you probably could have answered those rapid fire questions. Absolutely. Good.

Except for the ice cream one. I wouldn't have guessed. Ice cream.

Okay, Ice cream. Yeah, ice cream.

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We'Re excited to get to know you better and learn all about you and what makes you tick.

Great. Well, thanks so much for having me.

Yeah. So let's go to the roots of where it all began. Where'd you start? Where was the family at in the beginning?

So, only child, raised in upstate New York. And yes, I specify upstate. Cause a lot of times you say New York and people immediately assume Manhattan and downtown. I was the furthest thing from. I was surrounded by mostly cows and had a really good upbringing, but sport was an upbringing for me. So as an only you spend a lot of time on your own in a yard and that's where I spent my time. My parents.

Telephone basketball Goal.

Oh yeah. My parents were both athletic. I was lucky in that Way Mom. Competitive in a number of different sports. So was my father. And so sports was ingrained pretty early on. And it was my outlet was always kind of that C to B student and struggled just to do well. But I found a passion in sport. And it's not that I was ever the best at it, but I loved it. And it was for me very social. Right. Especially as an only in a suburb. So really enjoyed it. Enjoyed that time in upstate New York and. And then.

Did you live on a farm or.

Just suburbs of it? No, just suburbs of it. And just great small, kind of classic small town.

Yeah. So you had the smell of money everywhere. But at the same time.

Yeah, but. And it was, you know, great, great experience. Owe a lot to my parents and kind of paved the way. And obviously any parents who shepherd kids around to multiple places to play their sport and do what they love, then you have, you know, I've got a lot to thank for them for that opportunity. And then chose to go to college at the state. Fell in love with Cortland State. Typically a big physical education, sports management. Right. Fit for me. I went originally to play soccer and was recruited to play soccer after my first year. I played soccer and lacrosse in college. My first year. Chose to actually get good at one of them and have a chance at getting on the field. So chose just to play lacrosse for my last three. But enjoyed my college career. And again, it was one of those. I loved it. That was my friend group. That was where I spent time and enjoyed it. But really that's probably where I to find my roots in. It was sport, but it was sport leadership. It's what you could drive through sport. So I got involved at an NCAA level. It's called Student Athlete Advisory Committee. So I enjoyed leading student athletes. I think a lot of those things that are exciting about being a student athlete, the things that now I'm watching our youth learn, whether it's time management or discipline or all those things that we all now wanna hire. You gain that through sport. And I found that passion in college and got involved with the NCAA while in college, which is pretty atypical. And loved that experience and that kind of led on from there.

Yeah.

Well, that's why I think extracurriculars of any sort are so important for youth.

Absolutely.

Because those are the experiences that teach those workforce skills that we're looking for.

Absolutely.

You went through a lot, which is really good. But one of the things about our show here is everybody likes to learn about who helped you in those times. Who Mentored you and who kind of guided you through that? So as you think about that, I'm sure you discovered a lot of this on your own. But were there certain coaches, were there certain other mentors you had in your life that kind of guided you in that?

So I do think it starts with family. My grandfather, very early on, was actually a Hall of Famer at his institution at RPI in upstate New York. And watching what he had done was impressive. And he brought me up by going to hockey games and doing that kind of thing. By the time I had hit college, I. You know, I think I had very quickly figured out, well, what are those pieces I really like and what am I trying to figure out? When I went to school, I thought I might, like, run a ski hill someplace. Right. I wasn't quite sure what it was. I knew it was somewhere in sport. I found a female. Her name was Dee Bogart. And at the time, she was the senior woman administrator at Cortland. And she was the one who pushed me to say, hey, look, there's more out there. And she was the one who made me put in an application to be a student leader within the ncaa.

Okay.

She was a key figure for me. And that was a key turning point to be introduced to the NCAA and on Student Athlete Advisory Committee at 20 years old, when you really have no idea who you're surrounded by. Well, it turned out I ended up on the committee on Women's athletics. So I was exposed to the best female leaders in collegiate sport at the age of 20.

So what did she see in you? What made you stand apart?

I think, you know, it's not great advice. I don't think a lot of young professionals get this now. But I never said no. I was always the one who said yes to any opportunity that was out there. I wanted to learn. I wanted to do more. And I think the more opportunities you say yes to, I think that opens up doors for you. And she saw that.

Where did that drive come from?

I don't know. Right. A lot of that has to be childhood or the way that you were raised to say yes to opportunities.

I was gonna say, either your parents like that.

No, they both are. Right. They both had. And I think it wasn't just a pressure situation. It was a. I wanna. I want to do more. I think there's more out there. And how high can you go? Or what does that look like? And so, no, I was. Really had a great opportunity there. I also met. Right. This is also where I tell people, and especially Our young professionals and others. It is who you meet. So as a student at Cortland, they forced you to go to hall of Fame ceremonies and most just dreaded it. Well, where, in fact, I used the hall of Fame ceremony and the woman I sat next to at the hall of Fame ceremony, her name was Gail Maloney. And it turns out two and a half years later, I had kept in touch with her. Write handwritten notes to folks as you come across them. She would have been inducted into the Cortland hall of Fame. She called me two years later and said, do you want to come to Buffalo and be the head women's lacrosse coach here? And so it's relationship based. And I think you learn those relationships and those key mentors and signature folks along the way. But I do talk a lot about those were I mentioned two women in particular because for a long time, and my father was a coach when I was youth and growing up in soccer mostly. But I never thought I could be a college coach because I never saw any women coaches. So why would you think you could do it if you've never seen it? And so until I got to college, I didn't even think that was an opportunity to be able to do. And so it was really about my junior senior year. I said, that's something I hadn't really figured out yet. So to be a college coach. And then again, going through that process again when I spent 10 years at Buffalo as a college coach coach, wanting to then do more, becoming an assistant athletics director, wanting to take on extra programs. Again, a very supportive director of athletics there, Jerry Boies was wonderful for me, and he knew I wanted to be an ad. I wanted to continue to, you know, what are those pieces? What are those next steps? But again, when your percentages. And at that point, I was an extremely young athletic director. I was young looking to be an adult. And when you look at the national landscape in terms of our numbers, in terms of women in those positions, they're extremely low, and they're still low lots of years after Title ix. And so you wanted to make sure you were surrounded by. And again, that's where I had such great support. And probably one of the key groups and the reason I am where I am is women leaders in sports. So I've chosen to now give back because that was the group of women that I met that were so influential for me.

I think you hit on something, too, that resonated back with when you said you did a lot of connections and you met people and you kind of created those relationships. I think there's a lot of sense of a lot of people today that don't do that as much, whether that's an outcome of, let's say, the pandemic has kind of reversed things or what. But I know with my own kids, I'm constantly trying to get them to even answer the door these days. Right.

Answer the phone.

I think it's something we've learned through our conversations over time that leaders, notable leaders, typically set themselves up through expansive opportunity. So just continuing to say yes and not knowing who you're going to meet, but striking up that conversation, it plays out in a different way. I also. It occurs for me that your mindset is just very different in that while most people would say, I have to go to this banquet, you get to go to this banquet.

Very much so. And I do think it's a mindset, and I think that plays out today. You know, there are things. I'm brand new to Mesa. I'm brand new to Phoenix. I had never been on the west coast, so I lost basically everything. I knew. I could have stayed in intercollegiate athletics. Right. I spent 25 years. It was safe. I spent 25 years of my career. I could do it. I could do it well. I could do it someplace else. This was truly a complete leap of faith. So now when I get invited to places, yeah, I would love to go, and I want to meet new folks. So not only do I need to create a new network, but I also recognize I'm learning. I would be lying if I said, look, I'm the best president out there or CEO out there. I've got a lot to learn. And the way you're going to do that is by meeting people who are. Are in those seats and being able to say, I don't know.

Sarah says a lot of time she's just trying to tell herself, I suppose.

No, I actually do believe that everybody should believe there's someone behind them that could probably do it better. So stay sharp and keep working hard.

Absolutely.

She's working hard.

All right, so back to college. So after college, what opportunity presents itself for you?

Internships. I'll tell you what, whether you get. I think this is another frustrating. I was tired of students continuing to ask for paid internships. I was a. For a very long time, I was a free intern for those of us who remembered whenever that was legal or illegal or whatever it was supposed to be. But I had two key internships. I interned at the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Association. It was the ECAC at That time for a year in my junior year. But then the pivotal internship was out on Long Island. The year I was graduating, I got selected to be an intern at the Women's Sports Foundation. And at that time it was working for Billie Jean King and Donna Lopiano.

Hey.

And so at 22, to be in that kind of just that type of environment, a women's network dedicated to not for profit, really incredible opportunity. They ran a banquet that I was a special events intern. That just was. It was a pivotal time that was also right around 9 11. Like there was a lot happening in that timeframe. And again, it was network. And I also figured out, you figure out what you want to do and you also figure out maybe what's not necessarily the right fit for you, which I think is just as important in an internship. That internship ended. And actually as well connected as I was, I didn't have a job. And I think a lot of days people figure like you think you're going to graduate and all of a sudden land in some miraculous job. And I left there and didn't have a job. I did move home for a little while and I was a high school physical education health teacher so that I could coach. And I spent the year coaching at my old high school and I fell in love with coaching. And lo and behold, the phone call comes from Gail Maloney, who I had met in college and said, hey, saw you've been coaching the team, happened to be very, very good at that point and was invited to be a college coach. And I was a college coach at 23, so I was a year older. In fact, I had two young women on my team that were older than I was when I was a first year head coach. And that took me to Buffalo. And it was again, the upper, the move, don't know anybody. And it was the just say yes. You know, you kind of always question, am I ready for that or what does that look like? Classic Division 3. I think when they hired me, I was supposed to be the women's lacrosse coach, women's soccer coach, champs, life skills coordinator, SAC advisor and fitness center director. Oh yeah, you know, just take that on. And I said yes. So, you know, you learn as you go. But again, a tremendous opportunity at Buffalo. Loved coaching. Really did. You know, watching 18 year olds go from 18 to 22, that gap is a really great gap gap. And I figured out, though, it wasn't necessarily about the 25 young women and watching them grow while I was coaching, it was watching 18 year olds grow into 22 year olds and I wanted to make a larger impact. And I really enjoyed my work, not just on the field, but it was outside. And I think as an assistant athletic director and as an athletic director, you see that size and scope be able to can I do this at a larger level and impact more lives? And I saw that opportunity and, and took it.

When you look back on those first few years of coaching, what's a greatest lesson learned and what do you wish you knew then that you know now?

I think you, you're. I was forced so early on to. I grew up really, really fast, so I still had 23. All right. My 23 year old friends were probably enjoying being 23, 24 and 25 much more than I was because I took it from really seriously. For me, it became about my career very, very quickly. And I took the word coach for me is the necklace I wear is a C on it. It's coach. Like once you're a coach, you're always a coach. And I think that separation was really good for me. I loved some of my first few teams and it's not that I didn't love my teams all the way through, but we had some really great times turning a program. That's the other thing I know about myself. I'm a builder. My lacrosse team, when I got there at Buffalo, we were 150th in the country out of 160 teams. I was like, well, if I can't do it, that's no good. If you could spell lacrosse, you made my team the first few years, but even then I made a few exceptions. But we really enjoyed it. I loved it. There are always things you can go back, but I can't look at them as regrets. I think I had some really good learning lessons and I continued to learn. And it's not that I didn't stumble through some of it, I stumbled through some of it. But again, you surround yourself with the right people to get back on board. But I actually love now I had a text message conversation with two of my old players from some of my original teams. It's watching those young women now grow up and what they're doing, which I really, really enjoyed.

Okay, this is a fun question, Sue. What's the first memory you have of like a championship or something? You won with those teams?

With those teams. So it took a little while in my career, but it was beating my alma mater. So we were in the same conference, which is an interesting. Right when you take a job against your old school and My Cortland was perennially extreme in the women's lacrosse community.

Of course, you were there, so.

Right. No, no, no. It was definitely not me. But we beat Cortland. I have a core key memory, and I bet you every young woman on that team, it was one of those. I sat on the field after the game and I refused to leave. You just don't want that memory to leave you. And so you remember lots of games and lots of times. That one for me is a. That's a big one. So I remember it well. Can't say I don't have the DVD of that. For those of you who don't know what a DVD is, you can look that up later and find out.

You can buy a player any.

There you go.

Indeed you can. Okay, what's next, then?

So I was very open and honest with my boss about what I wanted to do. I loved him. I loved where I was. But I wanted to continue to move up. And I asked for more. And I was always again that person, like, what else can I be learning? What else should I be doing? So I asked for sports supervision. I wanted to become an assistant director of athletics. So I wanted to supervise other coaches and learn how those things worked. And then it was things that weren't in my job description. I didn't ask for more money. I didn't ask for more titles. And I'm sure there was lots of people out there who said, you did it in the wrong way. But I sat, for example, in football and learned how they did. Equipment issue. I knew what things cost. I knew what they were. I had very quickly figured out I needed to learn fundraising. I asked to sit on those meetings. Even if I just sat in the back, I wanted to learn it. I knew I needed to learn finance. And I knew how to finance for a team, but I didn't know how to finance for a department. And again, I had those people, yeah, you can absolutely come to this meeting. You can continue to learn. And the last big one was facilities. And I was the one out there, and they may have made fun of me at the time, but I was the one in the hard hat. We were installing a turf field, we were building buildings, and I was getting with those site managers. I wanted to know, how does it work? How is it done? Well, it turns out all of those things put you in a much better position. Just because you didn't ask for those extra responsibilities or get paid for them. It wasn't part of your job. You were continuing to learn. And I really Wanted to learn those key things that were outside of my wheelhouse. I knew what I was good at, but I also knew what I wasn't good at and just taking opportunities. So for example, recruiting as a college coach, your life revolves around recruiting. Every time I would recruit someplace, I'd find the local institution and ask to meet for coffee with their athletic director. And so even if I just buy him a cup of coffee, which is about all I could afford at that point, I'd spend a half hour and just ask for advice. Those types of meetings were things that just start to set you up and you figure out it's about people. But those people will give you the advice you need and the knowledge you need. But these are the things that will take you to that next step.

So long as you ask.

As long as you ask, no one is going to just give it to you. You have to ask for it.

And you probably are making their day just because you asked.

People do enjoy talking about themselves. And so yes, if you go in and you ask, tell me about your career, tell me about what you learned, what advice do you have for someone who's coming out? People enjoy that conversation. Just like I love talking about the past, if that's an opportunity to help someone else along the way, I take that opportunity to this day with either young men or young women who call and want to. That's important time. That's a way to give back, I think in our industry. And then it was about when was the right time to find the right fit and what was the right fit. And I met a college president I had interviewed at a few different places and met a college president that I hit it off with. And a lot of times I say it's not what you do, it's who you work for. And very quickly I figured out it's who you work for. And I hit it off with Dr. Tiffany Franks. And I had never been to Danville, Virginia. Anybody who knows where that is gets a sticker. The first time I was there was on my interview. I couldn't have found it on a map. So again, that leap of I'm willing to uproot and get in a U haul and I'm going to go be a first time athletic director in my young 30s at that point. And she was willing to take that kind of leap with me as well. She made it clear on what she saw in athletics. I read her dissertation before I took that job. So I knew very much it matters what your boss thinks and where their vision lies. And she believed in sport. And to your point, extracurricular. Like, what are those life skills you're going to learn in those extracurricular pieces? And we wanted to build an athletics program. So at that time, it was fun for me. And again, I call myself a builder because I enjoy. It was a little bit like going into a team that was 150th. Averitt had a wonderful history, but it was, how can you build it? And I found so much joy in setting vision. Here's where we are now. We had 250 student athletes and 13 teams. We grew that in 10 years to over 500 student athletes, 24 teams, teams competing for nationals. Really had a great time and really enjoyed building the athletics program. So had a great time.

Okay, so this school, though, as an athletic director, what were the. Some of the bigger roadblocks you had going into that? Because that seems like you're building it, but there's gotta be some tape there. Yellow, red, I'm not sure what color. Right?

All of it. Yeah, it was all of it. Again, that's where your support matters. And that's why I did have a wonderful president in that way. And again, the university in general, where did it see athletics? What were some of those important factors? It was hiring the right people.

Okay.

You know, hiring coaches. Coaching is not a job.

Who helped you figure out that? Let's go to the hiring real fast, because that's a skill on its own, right?

It is. And I'm not saying that's perfect. I'm not saying every once in a while you can still get snowed. So I think you get better at it in your career. I've made some good ones. I've made some not so good ones. I think you have to be fast to say, oops, made that, made a mistake. But I think it's an art and a science. I think there's a lot of homework that needs to be done. Very seldom are you hired on a resume just to call it what it is. I reminded our assistant coaches all the time. Every time you go on an away game, you're on your interview. All I would do is sit there and watch the other team. Yes. I went to every home sporting event. I would watch other coaches. I knew eventually if my coach was good, my coach would leave. Well, who is it I'm interested in hiring? I don't care how they interview. Anybody can come into a suit and lie to me for an hour. You can't lie on the sideline for three. And I'm very Quickly gonna figure that out. When you find your allies, you also want to help one another. And I will say, especially women within the industry, you want to make sure that you are successful within the industry. So we do want to help each other. So there is that women's network out there. And I think that's a key, important part of it. But for me, you are always on an interview, your interview.

You're always on display when you're on the field too, Right.

Very easy to find. And I always really enjoyed that part. And there's a lot of time, game days, I'd go in at a base, you couldn't tell I was an ad. And just interacting with coaches in the hallway, I think you can tell pretty quickly. Yeah. Who folks are and what they look for. You know, there's the old adage, you know, I think I did it maybe once or twice in my career. But your fun note for the day, in case anybody ever does this with you. So taking somebody out to a meal, right. A lot of times you'll go out to dinner, you'll go out to lunch. Well, of course I'll take them to a place where I know the place very well. I can't ever say that I had the wrong meal delivered to the table. And I was very interested how people would react to that. Right. All it is, whether you're in sports, whether you're in college, or whether you're a coach, whether you're in. Now I'm on the corporate side of things. It's how you are going to react to situations that are presented. All I do all day long. As much as I would love to be proactive, there are times you're going to see how somebody reacts under stress when you put them in those uncomfortable conversations and situations. It's very interesting to see how people react and what it looks like to sending a graduate student to go pick them up at the airport.

When you think back over all of the individuals who've influenced you, and obviously you've received a lot of advice over the years from others and now you share your own. What is one piece of advice that you found true to carry throughout the years?

For me, I think that it was okay to take risks even when it's scary. And I think there's a big conversation around who's willing to take risks or what point in your life are you in, or who are you, your significant other or whatever, that ability to take risks. And I had people encourage me to take some leaps that I might not have otherwise taken. I Could have taken a number of safe routes. I could have stayed in the state system. Right. I could have stayed in Virginia. I could have stayed in intercollegiate athletics where it was extremely safe. I came to something completely unsafe and completely unknown and really hoping it's not a midlife crisis, but.

Right. Time will tell.

Yeah, I guess we'll see if we have this conversation again in a year. We're good. So I think it's that the best people around you and some of my best friends that were athletic directors and are to this day that get those text messages are the ones that encourage you that, hey, what? You've got one life to live. And I think in the personal side of that is I've watched my mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and watching that progression and who she was and what she wanted. And I think what I very quickly have taken from that over about a five year journey now is, man, what are we waiting for? Go all in. If you're gonna go, go all in and take some of those risks that you might not otherwise have taken. And I think it' been good perspective for me. But I've got a number of friends and a lot of folks in my life that can encourage me and allow me to take some of those jumps where other people might not be like, yeah, that's a bad plan. So you're going to where? So what does that look like?

You're so right. Having people around you who value you enough to tell you the truth to push you out of your comfort zone or take your call at 2 in the morning. You need that collection.

You do need that. You do definitely need that. And I will say I have a number of friends that continue to pick up the phone at 2am and say, what have I done? Those are really good friends. Those are really good family members. Those are the people you want around you. And obviously your spouse matters. I have a wonderful wife. She has agreed on a crazy journey that involves risk and that involves. Right. She knows what she got into. I'm a workaholic. I don't hide behind it. I speak on a lot of topics across the country. I don't speak on work life balance. So I. Right. I think you read those books though. Yeah, man, I can read the books.

I don't actually think I.

Exactly.

That's not a fair topic.

It's called work life integration. I think they've got it all wrong. But again, I think it's. You have to love what you do. And that doesn't mean every day, every hour, but I think that it's been a heck of a journey and I'm excited to see, I'm excited I'm here and to be able to again, build again here. I think the common themes I'm starting to find is it's a build. And even though Arizona Athletics Grounds was here under a different name and it was, it's a build. And that part of it is really exciting for me.

So talk a little bit about that. Share what you're doing now. Arizona Athletics Ground.

So it's one of those again. I got a phone call out of the blue. I wasn't looking. And when I came out one, I talked to the owner and got along very, very well with the owner and understood what he was looking for and what the organization kind of needed. And you do your research. But it's also, if you have not been to AAG or you haven't been there recently, you walk onto the site. It's very different from seeing it online on a website than it is from actually being there. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. I walked into the place and looked around and said, this is an opportunity of a lifetime. It is one of the largest, not just youth sport, but in general sport complexes in the United States. That is one crazy undertaking. Right. And a lot of people might look at you and go, really? You really want to. That's the plan. 24 fields, 50 indoor volleyball courts, 41 pickleball courts, 8 diamonds, gymnastics cheer dance performance center that basically looks like an Olympic training center.

Did you say pickleball?

Oh, yeah, big time pickleball. So it's almost completely overwhelming in a lot of ways. And I saw it as a challenge and I've enjoyed it. It's the largest game of Tetris I've ever played.

Yeah, that's a good way to look.

At it and have a great staff. Inherited some staff, bringing on staff who's on board. A lot of those same visions I had as both coach and ad, I think travel through that it'll take a village to be able to lift a business. So, yes, some of the vernacular has changed. Higher ed runs very, very differently, not surprisingly, than a business and a business run in private equity or, you know, learning, I cannot say. And it's okay to be able to say, look, can't promise I didn't chatgpt some of those first few questions I had and some of those first few months and meetings where I knew I needed to learn. I knew what my strengths were. I knew where my weak, where I've got To figure out that weakness part really fast and hire great people in some of those weakness areas that I just hadn't been exposed to yet. And now it's an awesome opportunity. I don't know if people here understand what they have in Arizona athletic grounds. That is an incredible place. And when it gets going to its potential, it's unbelievable. It's a lot of fun in this role.

When you look back, what would you consider to be a success for you?

I think so far it's building team and it's an interesting way to build team out of a place that has even though it's a short history, but the history that it does and bringing in new and having some of old and making sure that those folks are aligned and trust with what is moving forward. I have 250 employees and getting those folks to all head in the right direction and understand what it's about. Where are we really? And when you start talking about things like guest experience. We want our guests to have a great. That is a front facing guest experience place. So yes, it is fields and it's sports but there's a lot that goes into that and the world. We continue to use a few keywords and getting people. We want to be world class. We want to be world class. We'll bring in 2.4 million people to Mesa in the Phoenix area next year. We will have 2.4 million people on site. Well, that's heads and beds and that's great experiences. And whether that is just sport and youth sport, which a lot of people think of us for those things. Or is it the country line dancing that we now host on Monday nights? I think we've started to branch out in some very different directions. RV shows. We do a little bit of everything and I think that's been a ton of fun. But we've had those wins in building people where they start to trust again and that we're headed in the right direction and that we're bringing things on board. The restaurant's open again. We just signed a lease with another vendor. In terms of food space, we're filling some of those empty spaces. We hired a strength and conditioning coach head strength and sports performance is online again. I think getting all those things up and running. We're not there yet. I don't know if I'll ever say I'm there someplace in a job. But that's the point. I probably leave. But it's that build. Who are those people you're creating relationships with and are we meeting our full potential? We've definitely had some huge wins. Signing with P 1440 who is Kerry Walsh Jennings beach volleyball not for profit side. So getting to interact with her. And they're now on the court signing with NBC and sports engineers. So you can now watch for those grandparents that can't get to those weekend events. You can now watch online. You know, it's not like we just signed with somebody. We signed with NBC. Right. So you get is who you align yourself with. And now bringing in and being able to say again, it's not just youth sport. The fact that we're in the running for FIFA and FIFA 26. I will fully admit when I saw this job, I had my eyes on LA 2028. It's the West Coast. We're a very large sports complex. What are those things we're doing to set ourselves apart? And I just saw that as untapped potential. And so we are trying to hit on all cylinders really, really fast.

Yeah, you got some universities there too now too, right?

Yep, we do have, we're happy to say, actually, we're talking continuing. We've been home to Park University. We'd like to continue that relationship. So those are some of those great relationships. And again, having pros on site, having that's where kids want to play too. What does that look like? We've had some MLBers there. We've had pro Women's volleyball. Athletes Unlimited was out there for two months. So we've got a really good mix of folks. Please keep an eye on the website. We'll be announcing another few pretty major partnerships here and some other events that people will be able to come to out on the ground soon. And those are great. So, yes, we're home. And we're home to some of our largest sports. You know, Arsenal Soccer is there Monday through Friday and Altitude Volleyball and those. Those folks. And we know we hit that local regional. It's also our job to think national and international. And what's really interesting is there's people on the east coast who know more about us than some of our folks in our own city because of how that facility is an incredible facility and incredible opportunity.

Well, I do spend Monday and Thursday nights there, so I'm.

A number of people do country line dancing. There you go.

Well, how did I know I could country line dance while my daughter was in dance? I could.

You could now. Yeah. We could figure out that timing.

So last question for you. You're a transplant to Arizona. What is the biggest surprise in your experience so far?

I have epically failed at Arizona. So I.

Say more.

What does that mean? So I am a workaholic.

Okay, so you have an experience spent. Right.

So I. Right. When I picked a place to live, I literally looked on a map and was like, okay, where it's closest to Arizona athletic grounds. So I spend a significant amount of time there. Much probably to my staff's dismay. Right. And when you work Monday through Friday and then your events, I mean, everything we do is on the weekends. So we're gonna have 25,000 to 100,000 people there on a weekend. I'm there and I'm still in my first year. And so Arizona looks great out my office window. Like it's a wonderful place to be.

I am committed to changing this for you and your wife over the next year.

Thank you. I appreciate that. She will probably appreciate that I will work on doing more in the area. But people have been wonderful, right? The staff has been wonderful. Everyone we talk to has been absolutely great. She is very, very happy. And so I'm excited to be able to do more. And I know that will come after I've been here a year. And I feel much better about where we are. But I think anytime you're in the position I'm in, you're all in.

Have you had your first summer here?

So my first day was July 10th last year.

So that was a good eye opener.

Yep. That was warm.

It's okay to lock your in like June, July, August, lock yourself in.

Right. So we're currently. My staff is on a mission right now to. It's the solve for summer. How do you solve for summer? And so what does that look like? Right. We're not expecting a lot of folks to be out on the field at 2pm in July, but we also have three or four of the largest air conditioned spaces. And I can tell you that because we pay the utility bill in Arizona. What are we doing to have people and have that we have that space. Maybe it's not just sport. What does that look like? And I think we have to think outside the box for what some of those solves are. And I think that's where our staff is getting creative. And heck, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask for suggestions. What are those things that we should be doing and that folks in Arizona want to do to beat the heat? Because we have a space that we can do that in. And so we've got markets, books, we will have some bounce houses and some other fun things for parents to be able to drop little ones off to do during the day and what it looks like. But I think we've got a lot of potential. But it's been a little warm and if one more person tells me, well, it's a dry heat, I'm still trying to figure that piece out. It feels a little bit like an oven.

In 10 years, you'll know what a dry heat is because you'll acclimate and then all of a sudden you'll go back east and you'll be like, oh my gosh, it's so.

It's too humid. Yeah, I got it.

Yes, absolutely. We'll give you some time on that one.

Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I do still enjoy though, if I can get out of the office, what makes the job so fun is right. Who else can leave your office and watch a million different sports happening at the same time? So I do try to get out there as much as I can. And you take a meeting and then you go out, you get to watch a practice. And I don't care if it's six year olds or pros. That's a really cool industry.

Yep, that is fun.

Well, we're excited to have you and your leadership at AAG and just to see where this goes and how you serve the community. So thank you for being here and taking that leap.

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

And as a dad of nine kids, I will see you a lot, I'm sure.

Fantastic. Come swing by nine times out of ten. I'm there.

Okay, good. I know you've enjoyed this episode. We certainly have. It's been fun to learn about this facility and the journey that she's been on. And we have lots of these conversations. So if you want these in your inbox, subscribe to our tribe and we'll send them to you right away. Thanks for listening. Guiding growth conversations with community leaders Live Northgate, located in Gilbert, Arizona, offers resort inspired living with modern amenities, spacious floor plans and a vibrant community atmosphere.

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