Birkbeck graduate named future leader in Sports Industry
Emma Vetriano, who graduated with an MSc Sports Management and Marketing degree this year, has been announced as one of 30 Sports Industry NextGen Leaders for 2019.
A recent graduate from Birkbeck’s MSc Sports Management and Marketing programme, Emma Vetriano, has been named by the Sports Industry Group as a NextGen Leader for 2019. The initiative is aimed at industry professionals aged 30 and younger, and designed to better equip emerging talent for leadership roles within sport – and in turn to ensure the industry itself is fit to face the challenges of the future at a time of rapid change.
Emma began her career in sales, planning and executing new business activities across Bournemouth Sevens Festival and Viper 10 Sportswear, then led Brentford FC’s marketing department while studying at Birkbeck. Since graduating this year, she has moved to her current role of Account Manager at EA SPORTS FIFA Global Partnerships, where she manages EA’s global partnerships with the Premier League, EFL, Chelsea FC, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, as well as Manchester City player Keven de Bruyne. She is particularly passionate about equality and diversity in sports business.
She discussed her career so far: “While working at Brentford, I co-founded the Inclusivity and Diversity Committee and orchestrated the first showing of WonderKid, a film tackling one of football's biggest issues – homophobia, to professional football players.
“I also attended the 2016 Kick It Out #RaiseYourGame conference as a guest speaker, with the aim of sharing my career journey to inspire others to kick-start theirs. After graduating with my masters, I joined one of the biggest brands in football, EA SPORTS FIFA, where I am spearheading a campaign to encourage more women to become professional FIFA players.
“As there are so few women working in sport, I hope to use the Sport Industry NextGen programme to encourage more young people to consider sports business as a career path – an opportunity that has been afforded to me through the greater knowledge I gained whilst studying for my masters.”
Emma is part of a cohort of 30 NextGen leaders, who bring a range skill-sets including commercial partnerships and sales, content production, digital and data expertise, esports, finance and participation to sponsorship strategy, sports policy, talent management and emerging technologies.
A statement from the Sports Industry Group noted that a record 43% of the 2019 cohort of future leaders are women.