The Turnaround League: Innovation Lessons from the CFL Commissioner
Presenting in partnership with:
Keynote: Mark Cohon
We are pleased to announce that we will co-present the CFL Commissioner, Mark Cohon, together with the BC Lions and the 102nd Grey Cup Festival.
The CFL is a storied sports league, a cultural institution, and an outstanding national brand. But, like any other business, it faces daunting challenges. How it stays relevant, and how it thrives in the face of many obstacles, makes for a powerful lesson in reinvention and innovation. Today, the CFL is doing better than ever. Why? And what can your company learn from its triumphs?
On Tuesday, November 25, the league's dynamic commissioner, Mark Cohon, explains how he's turned the CFL into a world-class organization, admired by business schools, rival leagues, and leading corporations alike. Any audience—whether sports fans or not—can learn new marketing, leadership, and customer service strategies from the way the CFL continues to do more (and to do better) with less. With magnetic appeal, Cohon talks about how to innovate in any environment, under any circumstances, to tremendous results.
About the Speaker
Mark Cohon is preparing to preside over his eighth and final Grey Cup as Commissioner of the Canadian Football League.
This November's championship game – one of the most watched events of any kind in Canada -- will cap a remarkable run that has seen the CFL's business model transformed and its brand elevated.
Strong attendance, high television ratings, new stadiums, strengthened corporate partnerships and growing revenues are all part of the league's stronger foundation, one that has been forged by Cohon and the league's Board of Governors, and made possible by its' fans.
Cohon is routinely listed among the most influential people in Canadian sport. He is a former executive with Major League Baseball International (MLB), where he was Director of Corporate and Game Development, and the National Basketball Association, where he was recruited by then Commissioner David Stern to serve as Director and Group Manager of International Marketing, Managing Director of NBA Europe, and Vice-President of Business Development.
Former Chief Development Officer for Petopia, a multi-channel retailer in the United States, Cohon was the President and CEO of AudienceView, an event ticketing firm that grew under his leadership to claim such prominent international clients as the Toronto Blue Jays, the new Wembley Stadium, Churchill Downs and MGM Inc.
In 2013 Cohon was appointed to the Order of Ontario, the most prestigious official honour in Canada's most populous province. He serves on the Board of World Wildlife Fund Canada, the Canada Post Community Foundation, and is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. He is past Chair of the Ontario Science Centre, one of the world's largest centres devoted to science and its impact on our lives. A member of the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), he is a graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago.
Expressing a desire to take on new challenges, Cohon announced this summer he will not seek a third term as the league's Commissioner, when his contract expires in 2015.
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