Revenue Above Replacement

Jason Sacks

Jason Sacks by Revenue Above Replacement

Tyler McQuality

Tyler McQuality is the Illinois Institute of Technology head cross country coach/head track & field coach. He arrived at the Scarlet Hawks in 2018-19 as an assistant cross country/track & field coach. Previously, Tyler was at North Central College where he was a four-time All-CCIW selection for the three-time NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country National Champion Cardinals (2014, 2016, 2017).
Tyler was also a member of the North Central squad that took home the 2017 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Championship on their home track.
Tyler obtained his bachelor's degree in business management/sports management from North Central College in 2018 and recently completed his master's degree in sports administration at Northwestern University.

Cheri Kempf

Cheri Kempf has long been at the forefront of women’s sports, specifically fastpitch softball - as a player, instructor, an industry marketing representative, a television sports commentator and as the Commissioner of National Pro Fastpitch.
A four-time National Champion and three-time Hall of Fame Inductee, Cheri has also represented the United States on the international stage as a National Team member for Team USA and 1992 World Cup Champion.
Off of the field, Cheri has supported softball athletes since 1999, when she built and began operating the largest training facility in the world for the sport, known as Club K.
In addition to creating instructional DVDs and software to assist softball players in perfecting their craft, Kempf is the author of the book “Softball Pitching Edge,” published by Human Kinetics. She is also the inventor and patent holder of the Spin Right Spinner, a device that teaches correct spin on pitch deliveries for both softball and baseball.
Cheri has been a color commentator covering NCAA softball for ESPN, and previously commentated for FOX Sports, Comcast Sports, YES Network and the MLB Network.
Cheri was the President and Commissioner of the National Pro Fastpitch from 2007 until 2020 where she led the women's professional fastpitch softball League consisting of 4 teams located in Akron OH, Washington, PA, Chicago IL, and Kissimmee, FL.
In her current role Cheri is the Vice President and Executive Producer for Broadcast Distribution at Athletes Unlimited - an organization that aims to empower athletes as leaders, promote inclusive ownership focused on long-term financial and personal well-being of athletes, and bring fans closer to the game by innovating on and off the field.

The Return Of Marquee Live Events

On this week's episode Adam and Brice take a break from the interviews and discuss with each other current headlines and trends in sports including some recent large sports events (Miami Grand Prix, The Kentucky Derby) and the in-person attendance of those events.

Kieran Kelliher

Kieran Kelliher serves as the VP, Finance (CFO role) for the Chicago Bulls, with a particular focus on business operations. He leads the finance and retail operations of the team, the business operations of the Windy City Bulls G League franchise, and is the Treasurer of Chicago Bulls Charities. He serves as a member of the NBA’s Risk Management Advisory Council, and previously on the NBA All-Star 2020 operating committee.
Kieran also serves on the faculty of Northwestern University as an Adjunct Lecturer, teaching ""Sports Business: Finance, Accounting & Economics"" for the Master’s in Sports Administration program, and is co-chair of the program’s admissions committee.
A licensed CPA in the state of Illinois and a member of the AICPA and Illinois CPA Society, Kieran graduated with Bachelors in both Accounting and Corporate Finance and a Masters in Accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Kieran is also serving on the national board of directors, the executive committee, and the local Chicago council for Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). FMSC's approach is simple: children and adults hand-pack meals specifically formulated for malnourished children; the meals are sent to approximately 70 countries each year where they are used to operate orphanages, schools, clinics and other building blocks of healthy communities.

LaKeisha Marsh

LeKeisha Marsh is a partner at Akerman, LLP. and serves as the chair of Akerman’s Government Affairs and Public Policy Practice Group, leading a bipartisan team of professionals providing strategic counsel on policy and regulatory issues in the United States.
With a comprehensive legal background serving the higher education sector, including as an NCAA staff member, LaKeisha also serves as the chair of Akerman's Higher Education and Collegiate Athletics Practice. She represents colleges, universities, and related institutions on federal and state regulatory compliance, accreditation, state licensure, institutional governance, and collegiate sports and NCAA compliance-related matters.
LaKeisha has structured and executed a broad range of transactional, restructuring, finance, and corporate governance matters for educational institutions. She holds numerous leadership positions at the firm, including a member of the firm's Board of Directors and Co-Chair of its Women Initiative Network.
LaKeisha received her Bachelors of Arts in Political Science from Clark Atlanta University and her law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. In addition, LaKeisha teaches the Legal and Ethical Issues in Sports course in the Northwestern MSA program.

Kristin Kane Herbison

Kristin Kane Herbison joined the MSA faculty in the spring of 2021. Kristin has spent all of her career in college athletics and higher education. Most recently, Kane served as the Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Academic Services and Student Development at Northwestern from the spring of 2013 to the fall of 2021. In that role, she oversaw operations of the department's academic services and student development programs, managing a team of seven full-time staff members and an intern.
The Academic Services and Student Development office works to ensure that student-athletes on all 19 of Northwestern's varsity teams receive a full range of support in academic advising, time management, and life skills, goal setting, financial aid, and various other academic and developmental services needed in their pursuit of excellence on and off the field.
Kristin served as the main liaison from the athletics department to the academic community on campus and served on the university’s Undergraduate Council. She was also a member of the Department of Athletics and Recreation’s senior staff and worked as a sports administrator for the cross country and women’s tennis programs.
Prior to joining Northwestern, Kristin worked at the University of Illinois for 15 years, most recently as Director of Academic Services where she managed 12 full-time counselors and two graduate assistants. She started her career as a graduate assistant in 1999 at Illinois' Irwin Academic Center before being hired as a full-time academic counselor in 2001.
Throughout her time at Illinois, she had various duties including oversight of study hall and tutor programming for all teams as well as academic counseling for a variety of sports including cross country and track, softball, gymnastics, football, and men's basketball. Before her promotion to director of academic services, Kane spent eight years as the lead academic counselor for the Illinois football program.
Kristin graduated magna cum laude with double majors in sociology and physical education from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1998, where she was a member of the women’s basketball team. She obtained her master's degree in kinesiology in 2001 from Illinois, where she also worked as a teaching assistant for the Department of Kinesiology.

Zack Oliver

Zack Oliver is the Chief Financial Officer at MatchPoint Connection. He previously worked at Citigroup as an Associate Vice President in the firm's Merger Arbitrage trading team. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Market Associate at JP Morgan Securities.
Zack attended Northwestern University where he played quarterback on the university's football team. He earned a Masters in Management Studies from Kellogg School of Management.

The Evolution Of College Sports

This weeks episodes features a panel discussion put on by the MSA program as part of the Northwestern University School of Professional Studies Thought Leadership Series. This series is a program of online events featuring a wide range of compelling topics and thoughtfully led conversations throughout the academic year. Our topic – The Evolution of College Sports.
In recent years, there has been a fundamental shift within the college sports landscape. We have seen changes to the core of college athletics that will have lasting effects for decades, from Name/Image/Likeness to content rights and distribution to conference realignment and new transfer rules.
All this change has come amid a global pandemic, which has forced universities to adjust approaches and business models and fans shift the way they interact and consume. These rapid changes bring enormous promise to athletes and fans alike but also bring questions about how that evolution will continue. To discuss that evolution, we have three experts that bring a wide array of experience across the collegiate sports landscape.

Alex Kerr

Alex Kerr is the CEO of Trajektory. In that role he brings a blend of quantitative, strategy, and marketing expertise. Trajektory is an award winning B2B SaaS solution revolutionizing the way organizations interact and leverage their sponsorship data and insights throughout the sports, media & entertainment industry.
Prior to Trajektory, Alex oversaw growth marketing and business intelligence at Shop Your Way, an internationally acclaimed loyalty and e-commerce platform.
Prior to Shop Your Way, Alex helped build both a marketing analytics and business intelligence department at Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the largest integrated sports and entertainment company in the country.
Alex earned a bachelors in Economics from Kenyon College and an M.B.A. from Duke University’s, Fuqua School of Business. It was there he discovered the importance of effectively building teams and operational efficiencies.