9:41 AM ET
Associated Press
MIAMI -- Caroline O'Connor didn't cognize what her ceiling was erstwhile she entered the sports concern world, simply due to the fact that determination were truthful fewer examples of women who traveled her path.
Turns out, she had nary limit.
The Miami Marlins promoted O'Connor to president of concern operations connected Monday, making them the archetypal U.S. large sports franchise to person women serving simultaneously arsenic president and wide manager. The Marlins made past by hiring Kim Ng arsenic GM successful November 2020; 2 years later, they've made different important move.
"When I speech to young girls, I truly similar them to spot maine successful my relation due to the fact that I didn't consciousness similar I had that relation model," O'Connor said. "And I privation radical to spot themselves erstwhile they spot maine and cognize that it is simply a possibility."
O'Connor is conscionable the 2nd pistillate to service arsenic president of a Major League Baseball team; Seattle's Catie Griggs is the other. O'Connor was brought to the Marlins by then-CEO Derek Jeter successful 2017 arsenic a elder vice president and main of staff, past became the team's main operating serviceman successful 2019.
Ng handles the on-field business, O'Connor runs the off-field business.
"We are fortunate to person idiosyncratic with Caroline's concern acumen and imaginativeness starring our day-to-day concern operations," Marlins president and main proprietor Bruce Sherman said. "Her passionateness and thrust for occurrence is unmatched successful our crippled and the South Florida market. Her enactment volition proceed to usher the Marlins enactment toward our extremity of sustained occurrence portion strategizing further caller ventures to turn our concern and heighten our marque recognition."
O'Connor's way to this spot was, successful immoderate ways, unintentional. She was a precocious schoolhouse jock successful New Jersey -- playing basketball, tennis, shot and softball -- and went to assemblage astatine Rutgers and New York University, archetypal studying computers, past finance.
She worked for immoderate almighty places: IBM, UBS Investment Bank, Morgan Stanley. She wasn't reasoning astir a vocation successful sports.
And past Jeter called.
"A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," O'Connor said.
She's been with the Marlins ever since.
Miami has been trying to crook things around, connected the tract and off, for the amended portion of the past 2 decades. Jeter was portion of the ownership radical that took implicit successful 2017; he's gone, but 2 of his much important hires -- Ng and O'Connor -- are present tasked with finishing the job.
O'Connor has seen progress. Attendance this past play was up 12% implicit 2019, the past clip determination was a afloat play of shot without pandemic interruptions oregon large restrictions -- though determination is inactive a agelong mode to spell earlier Miami gets the crowds it is seeking.
O'Connor has overseen maturation successful season-ticket sales. With the 2023 World Baseball Classic coming to Miami for each 3 rounds successful March, including the title game, the Marlins cognize large crowds are coming. O'Connor is fixated connected however to get those radical to travel backmost arsenic Marlins customers.
"I deliberation it's a truly peculiar place," she said. "And I would accidental if we didn't consciousness truthful powerfully astir this marketplace and the accidental that is here, that would not marque america truthful excited to travel successful each day. I deliberation we person truthful galore radical successful this marketplace that emotion entertainment, emotion sports, emotion baseball, emotion getting unneurotic and going out. It's conscionable trying to make an acquisition that attracts everyone."
The increasing relation of women successful shot enactment isn't mislaid connected O'Connor. Griggs leads the Mariners; Laura Day is Minnesota's enforcement vice president and main concern officer; Kellie Fischer has a akin relation successful Texas, arsenic the Rangers' EVP and main fiscal officer.
"I've been incredibly fortunate successful that I've had a batch of enactment from a batch of antithetic people, careless of gender, my full career," Griggs said earlier this twelvemonth connected a sheet astatine Seattle University. "With that being said, I haven't been capable to spot a batch of radical who look similar maine doing the worldly that I do. ... I don't person a batch of relation models."
O'Connor feels the aforesaid way. She doesn't caput the "trailblazer" description. She conscionable goes astir each the details of her occupation -- including sitting down with assemblage groups and civic organizations, adjacent having luncheon past period with the Consul General of Japan astatine his Miami residence -- knowing that her occurrence present mightiness marque it easier for women to follow.
"It's taken a existent assemblage to get down me," O'Connor said. "The squad that I enactment with today, the squad that supports maine each day, I consciousness similar this is simply a reflection connected each of them and what we've produced together. I mightiness person the title, but of people I deliberation astir each the radical that assistance maine get it."
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