Keynote Speakers

Sport Marketing Expertise – why is it so important?

Guido Schafmeister
SMAB GmbH Managing Partner & Founder

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Dr. Guido Schafmeister served as a professor, vice dean, academic director, lecturer, research fellow, and member of decision-making bodies at public and private universities in Germany and abroad, including accreditations.

As a senior consultant, he worked on strategic marketing projects for global enterprises. Scientific activities in the field of sport management in countries such as USA, Canada, Australia, and many European Countries.

Creating Value in Women´s Football

Virginia Herrero
Manager of Women’s Football, La Liga

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With more than 10 years of experience in the Sport Industry, Virginia joined LaLiga in 2016 to support the direction of the department as the Women’s Football Manager.

She is in charge and fully engaged in the development, the professionalization, and the promotion of women’s football. Virginia has previously worked in several agencies being responsible of sponsorship as Microsoft or Mercedes-Benz. She has a degree in Advertising and Public Relations and is currently studying the FIFA/CIES Executive Programme in Sports Management.

Does the Live Sports Experience Matter Anymore?

David Ridpath
Associate Professor, Ohio State University

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Dr. Ridpath is often cited by major worldwide media outlets such as the New York Times, Time Magazine, CNN and ESPN as an expert on NCAA and intercollegiate athletic matters due to his research and practical experience in the industry. He has appeared before Congressional committees and has served as an expert witness in numerous cases involving intercollegiate athletics and college athlete rights.

He is an accomplished researcher, he has authored over 20 academic journal articles, 9 book chapters and monographs plus two books. His latest book Alternative Models of Sport Development in America: Solutions to a Crisis in Education and Public Health published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Books is available at all major bookstores.

Sponsoring Platform Management

Herbert Woratschek
Professor at University of Bayreuth

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Herbert Woratschek holds a chair in Marketing & Services Management at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. His research focuses are in the areas of service marketing, platform business models, actor engagement and sport management. His work has appeared in leading international journals including Journal of Service Research, Marketing Theory, Journal of Relationship Marketing and European Sport Management Quarterly.

He is Member of several editorial boards, among others European Sport Management Quarterly, Journal of Global Sport Management and Journal of Sport Finance.

Weak signals –
how to foresee the future?

Kari Puronaho
Principal Lecturer, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences

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Kari Puronaho is a specialist, researcher and teacher in the area of sport management. His interest areas are sport costs, national and international sport and cultural events, sport economics, financing and marketing, curriculum development in the area of sport management, sport business intelligence, legacy planning, smooth management and international cooperation in sport education and research.

Kari Puronaho has taught not only in Finnish universities but also in 22 European countries, in Maldives, in India and during the previous years especially in China. Since 1983 he has been organizing scientific sport management conferences and student seminars in different parts of Europe. Furthermore he has evaluated scientific articles for international sport management publications and during the years 2004-2011 he served as a Secretary General of EASM..

Partnership vs Sponsorship: How LaLiga has evolved commercially the recent years

Diego Sánchez
Head of Commercial Business & International Development Directorate of LaLiga

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Leading the Commercial Department, defining its strategy and looking for new partnerships at LaLiga’s Global HQ. He has previously developed business for the organization in Hungary and other neighbor countries, and was selected in a process of more than 12500 people. Lecturer and tutor at LaLiga Business School, Mentor at Carlos III University and former Member of Corvinus University Advisory Board.

Excellence in Sport Business Award by Corvinus University, Professional Excellence Award by Carlos III University, High potential program at Indra and Best Academic Record at school. Former VP of Atlético de Madrid Volunteers Association.

Focus: Sponsoring – Sponsees perspective

Markus Buser
Research Assistant at University of Bayreuth

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As a research assistant and doctoral candidate Markus Buser’s interest is in Sport Management and Marketing. Thereby he focuses on theoretical and practical implications of Sport Sponsorship as Engagement Plattform and contributions by different actors on that platfrom.

At the University of Bayreuht he is responsible for a broad range of lectures, seminars and projects in Services and Sport Management. Moreover Markus Buser is a guest lecturer at DHBW in Stuttgart (Germany) as well as University of Regina (Canada). Furthermore, he was in charge of the organization and lectured at the EASM Summer School 2016 & 2017 in Bayreuth.