Fanatics, Inc., an online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise, named Ryan Donovan as vice president, marketing. With more than 15 years of sports marketing experience, Donovan brings a wealth of expertise from the NBC Sports Group, where he oversaw multi-million dollar national marketing campaigns and was an integral part of launching NBC Sports Network in 2012.
Reporting directly to Jamie Davis, President of Fanatics, Donovan is responsible for directing strategic consumer marketing efforts to build awareness for the Fanatics brand.
Ryan joining the company as Vice President of Marketing is very exciting for us as he brings the kind of sports industry knowledge and marketing skill needed to build Fanatics into a well-recognized leader in the licensed sports merchandise space, said Davis.
Im thrilled to be joining the Fanatics team and look forward to working with such a dynamic and ever-expanding company, added Donovan. The companys growth in such a short amount of time has been remarkable, but whats really exciting is the opportunity to connect this brand to sports fans in a meaningful way and turn Fanatics into a household name.
During his time with NBC Sports and NBC Sports Network, Donovan managed all strategic marketing initiatives for the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Tour de France and other popular sports that the media company televises. Prior to the merger between Comcast and NBC Universal, Donovan was the VP, Marketing for Versus, during which time he helped the company make Versus the fastest growing cable sports network in the country. Donovan, who was credited with a 2012 Sports Emmy, has been awarded more than 50 PromaxBDAs awards and nine Sports Media Marketing awards, including the 2011 Titanium award.
Before his experience at NBC Sports, Donovan was VP of Marketing for the SS+K advertising agency where he developed marketing strategies for the LIVESTRONG Foundation. His resume also includes a marketing and communications background with Fox Sports Net, Streetball International and an internship with the National Football League.
Donovan has a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing from Boston College and a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College.
