Jennifer Thurman

Journalism 271

Renie Anderson Story

            Balancing being a mother, NFL Senior Vice President of Sponsorship and Partnership Management, and personal writer is no challenge for super woman Renie Anderson. She said she knows she can do anything in business matters, but her children will always be number one. She doesn’t let the male dominated business faze her.

            Anderson’s father and growing up on a farm in Kentucky had a huge impact on her desire to strive. She said he was very driven and worked very hard for the things that she and her sister were able to do.

 “As a parent now, the sacrifices that you make for your career you also do because you want to raise your family the right way and because of money,” Anderson said. “Ultimately for me, I want to do the best I can so I can make sure I can take care of my kids. If they want to come to Ole Miss or wherever they want to go I want to be able to make sure I can help them do that.”

Anderson overseas revenue growth of all sales coming into the NFL by leveraging the rights of the NFL. The NFL shield is the logo, and she sells that right to companies so they can leverage it in their advertisement and marketing to sell their product.

Anderson said she doesn’t think of herself as a female executive; she sees herself simply as an executive. She said the NFL trusts her to do her job because they know she is best at. She gives 110 percent of her best each day. 

Anderson lives in Connecticut and commutes everyday by train to Park Avenue in New York. She originally attended Ole Miss to pursue a career as a journalist or a writer. Anderson still writes to this day. She said she writes on her commute from Connecticut to New York. She likes writing letters and reading.

She started as an assistant for David Baker for the AFL for eight years. An opportunity for a job in the NFL came up and she took it right away. She recently went to San Francisco for the 49ers game. She saw a sign for a latex conference that was happening at the hotel. She said she thought she could be at that conference selling latex like nobody’s business, but she gets to work for something amazing.

“Baseball is America’s past time, but football is America’s passion,” Anderson said.

Renie Anderson

 By: Maggie McDaniel

Renie Anderson, NFL Vice President and Business Development never thought she would have been in the job position she is in today if it was not for her hard work and dedication. 

Anderson has been working for the NFL for seven years. Her job is to sell the NFL logo to other companies, so they can represent the NFL on their own products. Anderson works from Monday through Friday and is constantly traveling to make deals. Her big work day is Sunday where she gets to see all the products she has made deals with on national television for everyone to see. 

When deciding on where to go to college Anderson and her parents both wanted her to get away from her small town in Kentucky to somewhere different and new. Anderson chose Ole Miss, because she knew no one and it was far from home, but not too far. 

While studying writing at Ole Miss in the school of journalism, Anderson enjoyed everything about Oxford and things around it from Oxford’s history and town, McAlister’s sweet tea, and traveling to Memphis for Memphis in May. Once Anderson graduated, she moved to California wanting to pursue a career in writing for a newspaper. 

Once getting to California she found herself working different jobs, none requiring writing. Finally after applying for several jobs and working as an assistant she got the job with the NFL. Since then she has loved her job and she knows as of now she is the best at it. 

Most people may say her job is hard, because she works with a lot of men, but Anderson thinks differently about it. “I give one hundred and ten percent of my job every day, but I just look fabulous doing it,” says Anderson. 

Anderson finds herself running at a fast pace from the train everyday minus her high heels to get home and fulfill her motherly duties, to her two daughters, ages 6 and 4. Besides days like these with the help of her husband and others she can stay on task with her job and tend to her children’s needs. “Every day is like drinking from a fire hose,” says Anderson.

Anderson still has a love for writing and likes to write letters, especially to her aunt Flo. However she still cannot believe where she is in the world today. Her job requires a lot of work, sacrifice, and travel, but she still would not want to work anywhere else. Anderson says she has no regrets in life and thinks everyone should find a job that they are good at. She says as a person you should think about your life goals and take every opportunity you get.

Kyle Hunter Journalism 271 OXFORD, MISS. -- When you think of sports or the NFL, you think of men. I mean, football is in fact a man’s sport. That might be true, but Renie Anderson is the brains behind the sport. Anderson is a mother, wife, and is the current senior VP of Sponsorship and Partnership Management for the NFL. Anderson grew up on a farm in Kentucky and went to Union County High School. She graduated from Ole Miss in 1997 with a degree in journalism. After graduation, Anderson went on a job search not knowing where she would end up. After two years of searching, she landed her job in the Arena Football League which would eventually lead her to her job in the NFL. Event though she was originally a writer or journalist, she found something she was great at. “I was just looking for any kind of job and I ended up finding my niche in sales,” Anderson said. Anderson has been with the NFL since 2006 and has received three promotions in the past seven years. She started out as the Director of Business Development and then moved up to the VP of Business Development. Senior VP of Sponsorship and Partnership Management is a newly created position. “My job will include new businesses as well as daily management of the NFL sponsors,” Anderson said. The NFL has their own mission. The NFL strives to grow through integrity, teamwork, tradition and innovation, diversity, and learning. It’s people like Renie Anderson whose job is to help fulfill that mission and its values. Anderson’s job requires her to target certain audiences, produce exciting new proposals for the company, prepare contracts for sponsors, promote the NFL’s business mission and to always be ready for new marketing strategies. Anderson always aims high. She has scored deals with companies like Bridgestone, Marriott Hotels, McDonald’s, Papa John’s, USAA and many more. Anderson has had many accomplishments including Sports Business Daily naming her one of the top sports executives under the age of 40. They call her one of the best and brightest of young sports industry executives. True love must really appear within similar likeness. Anderson is currently married to Chris McCloskey and he is the VP of Communications for NBC Sports. Anderson currently lives with her husband and their two daughters in Darien, Connecticut and she looks forward to what the future brings. Anderson’s best advice is to never settle and to fake it until you make it. WORD COUNT= 413

Renie Anderson

Strolling in an with her head high, a posh red dress and nails to match; only to be assembled with a nice set of heels and a designer bag. You would never expect what that the glamour queen was none other then VP, Business Development of NFL Renie Anderson. Not only does she work for one of the nations biggest cooperation but she is also an alumni of the Ole Miss. Born and raised in a small town in Kentucky, Renie’s love for story telling led her to the journalism department. “I learned to use and effective pitch from my love for story telling.” Says Ms. Anderson, she continues. “I think I took advantage of everything the school (Ole Miss) had to offer me.” Getting her big break came as a surprise however. Graduating from college and heading to California, she started working for a temp service as a secretary. She landed a job of eight years with the Arena Football League, starting as assistant to then-Commissioner David Baker. She left Arena football and took the NFL’s senior vice president of sponsorship and media sales. When asked how she feels about being a prominent female figure in a mans world she responds: “I don’t think of myself as a female executive but as a VP executive and I do a good job. I know the men I work with I just look good doing it.” The modest and savvy businesswomen is in charge of the leagues 26 official sponsors and making sure they all have an authentic brand. Leveraging the revenue and the rights to sell to companies so they can use the NFL logo in commercials. “Baseball is America’s pastime, football is America’s passion.” Says Ms. Anderson. So what does the powerhouse do when she’s not working, running behind her two gorgeous girls that are 6 and 4 years old and of course her husband. “They are my favorite people in the world. Everything in life is replaceable but the aren’t to me.” She lights up with a smile on her face. In her article by Sportsbusinessdaily she goes more into detail about their favorite songs by Taylor Swift and her youngsters love for Rock n roll. It’s no wonder how she does it all in one day. You can see that it obviously takes a nice stiletto pump to be the driving force in a world of men.

Renie Anderson Profile

Randall Haley

Deidra Jackson

JOUR 271

October 18, 2013

Renie Anderson Profile

            Renie Andereson has worked as the vice president of the Business Development for the NFL for six years.

            Anderson grew up on a farm in Kentucky where she had no intentions of having a career in sports. She graduated from Ole Miss in 1997 with a degree in journalism. She then spent eight years with the Arena Football League, starting as assistant to David Baker.

            Anderson says overseeing the sponsorship deals for the NFL is a tough job that entails a tremendous amount of responsibility. 

            “Retailers love the NFL,” Anderson said. “They know fans want authentic NFL products for their Superbowl parties.”

            Anderson has to be creative in the things given to the retailers in order to bring in revenue. For example, if they were to create a logo, they would have to spend money to execute the logo, make a commercial, pay a player, pay a club, buy the commercial spots and more. Anderson has to make sure that it’s worth their while to spend those dollars with the NFL.

            “If I’m selling you something, I want to be very specific and very clear with what I have,” Anderson said. “I have the National Football League, 185 million fans.”

            Anderson says it is critical to be crystal clear on what the buyers are getting for their dollar or they aren’t going to spend that money with you.

            Anderson’s favorite part of the job is negotiating the deals.

            “It’s tough because we don’t say yes to everything,” Anderson said. “It’s really hard to get a deal done.”

            Anderson says she does enjoy the perks of being part of the NFL, such as going to games. But even then, she is usually dressed professionally and working while everyone else enjoys the game.

            She says that she has been to several games, but probably only watched seven of the numerous games she has attended.

JOUR 271 – News Reporting looks forward to welcoming Renie Anderson, VP of Business Development for the NFL and 1997 Ole Miss alum, to our class. Journalism students, please post your profile stories on this site. Remember, they need to be here by 5 p.m. Friday, 18 Oct.

Make them good!

As we begin discussing the social media aspect of journalism, let's turn to Twitter. For journalists, reporters and others wanting to increase their "Twitter-ship," tweeting negative statements about your dislike of broccoli, Justin Bieber or Washington politics may not win you any followers. Poynter.org's article, "Science reveals what really increases Twitter followers," is revealing. Post your reaction, due before we meet again on Tuesday, Oct. 15, below.