Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2019 - 25

Venezuela, it was natural for Julio Ramirez
to fall in love with the game. As a kid, he
played at Christie Pits Park, was offered
scholarships to play at the varsity level and
ultimately did play on Ryerson's men's
team during his third year studying marketing and communications. That same
year his professor, Cheri Bradish, introduced Ryerson's sports management program. "That's when I crystallized I could
have a career in sport," says Ramirez.
Bradish would go on to introduce him to
Andrew Tinnish, the Blue Jays vice-president of international scouting and now his
boss. Today, Ramirez is assistant of international scouting for his favourite baseball
team and travels regularly to Dominican
Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama
and the U.S. to compile information about
prospective future players. "I pinch myself
every day."
On technology: "It helps you make better
decisions, faster. On the player development side, we use virtual reality simulations, bat sensors collect real-time data,
and slow motion cameras break down the
mechanics of how the ball is being hit or
thrown. To help build fan engagement,

ANALYSTS ARE FINDING
WAYS TO MAKE THE F A N
EXPERIENCE BETTER

cameras placed around the stadium track
the location and movement of the ball and
every player, apps tell you how far and how
fast the ball went and how hard it was hit."

LEAH MACNAB (Marketing certificate '06)

From politics to the NBA in Canada

Leah MacNab remembers distinctly the press
conference when then-NBA Commissioner
David Stern stood with Magic Johnson and
they announced Johnson was HIV-positive.

"That changed the conversation about
AIDS," says MacNab. It also changed her
career trajectory. She'd worked in politics
but learned quickly if your candidate doesn't
get elected, you're out of a job. In 2005, the
NBA in Canada announced a newly created
position. MacNab applied, was turned down,
but her persistence (7 a.m. voicemails every
day for two weeks) earned her the last interview for the job. Fourteen years later, she is
senior director, marketing partnerships for
NBA in Canada and has helped grow the
game nationwide.
On technology: "The whole discipline of
customer data relationship management
has really blown up since 2005. We now
have analysts that evaluate database inputs
from various promotions and geographies
to find the best ways to make the fan experience better. Social media has led to new
jobs being created around producing
branded content - for students coming up,
it's an interesting space to look for work.
The NBA 2K League is a professional competitive gaming league that would not have
been possible without technology. We love
everything going on with the Future of
Sport Lab. We think it's great."

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Ryerson Alumni - Summer 2019

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