S3 Board Member Spotlight: Kris Katseanes, FC Dallas

S3 Board Member Spotlight: Kris Katseanes, FC Dallas
by Travis Martin – January 2013

Kris Katseanes, Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service for FC Dallas, has been an invaluable member of the S3 Advisory Board. Because of Kris’ leadership and willingness to mentor the careers of young people entering the profession, Baylor’s S3 program annually places interns and new employees with FC Dallas.

Kris Katseanes
Kris Katseanes

Each fall semester Katseanes visits the Baylor campus to interview S3 students for internships the following summer. For most juniors this is the first real interview with a team. Katseanes helps calm the tension as students walk into the one-on-one interviews. As with other on-campus interviews with board members, students meet with the S3 Program Director, Dr. Darryl Lehnus, to help learn for the next interview.

All the students who meet with Mr. Katseanes quickly learn about his opinion of the value of hard work. His strong work ethic was instilled in him since he was a boy. Growing up on a potato farm, hard work was the only way to go when your day starts at 4:00 am.

One demonstration of this kind of dedication came one afternoon when Katseanes found inefficiencies in the team’s database. Salespeople were wasting time and it was clear the system needed organizing. Since the team did not have a specific person assigned to the database, Katseanes took it upon himself to work from 7:00 pm that night to 7:00 am to clean up the leads in the system. This not only helped them gain more sales, but gained admiration around the office for making everyone’s life easier.

Along with integrity and networking, work ethic represents part of the Baylor S3 W-I-N acronym instilled in students. Katseanes believes we reap what we sow and luck finds people who work hard. For young professionals, the best way to improve your career is to volunteer for anything and everything. This puts you ahead of the person next to you and gets you noticed by the right people.

“But, you have to be careful,” Katseanes says. “I see young professionals always looking to the next step so much that they can’t be content with the current. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, so find a place where you can be happy.”

Vice President of Marketing, Communications & Strategic Planning FC Dallas
Kelly Weller

“He’s fair, creative, solution and result oriented,” said Kelly Weller, Vice President of Marketing, Communications & Strategic Planning with FC Dallas. “Everyone has a chance to succeed with him.  They are given all the tools, resources and time to perform their best to not only hit their individual goals, but to help achieve the overall objectives of the company.  He’s one of a kind in my book!”

Katseanes loves working with the S3 program because of the leadership the program offers to its students. At FC Dallas, Katseanes has developed a leadership development program that helps employees set written goals with measurable results and deadlines. Katseanes enjoys working with the the S3 professors and S3 graduates, because the emphasis is on preparing to enter a career and not just get a job.

S3 Alumni Spotlight: Jay Kinderknecht, Order My Gear

S3 Alumni Spotlight: Jay Kinderknecht, Order My Gear
by Blake Cargill – January 2013
Jay Kinderknecht

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Transitioning from college into the work force always poses challenges and growing from them is necessary for success.

Jay Kinderknecht (S3, ’12) first interned with the New York Mets following his junior year in the S3 program at Baylor. “It was great getting exposure to several areas of the Mets organization,” said Jay. “While I started in a CRM position, I grew into sales, marketing, and gameday operations roles as well.”

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”275px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]”Jay was our first intern specializing in working with our newly launched CRM database.  He was an integral part our team, providing assistance in training, prospecting, and lead generation for our sales team.  Jay was a top performer in his intern class and has been able to translate the skills he learned into a successful professional career.”

Brian TowersBrian Towers Inside Sales New York Mets
Director, Inside Sales
New York Mets

 

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After considering offers from professional sports teams during his senior year, Kinderknecht  decided he wanted to work in the college sports environment. Jay started working for IMG at the University of South Florida as an Account Executive in June of 2012.

Raised in Columbia, Missouri, Kinderknecht had to make many adjustments when living in South Florida. “Professionally I knew what to expect, but personally it was hard,” Jay shared recently. “The culture was a lot different from my experiences living in Missouri, Texas, or New York.”

While working at South Florida, Kinderknecht gained valuable lessons in the selling of sports. As an account executive, he was the point of contact for customers buying tickets. Jay said he learned through this, “how much preparation and thought should go into the product before you sell it.”

Using leverage is an aspect of ticket selling Kinderknecht gained when South Florida hosted Kansas State University in football. South Florida required groups to double-up on purchases in order to get tickets for this game. If a group brought at least 20 people to the Kansas State game, the purchase also required them to do the same for any other game. The high demand for tickets enabled South Florida to do this. They had no problem selling tickets even with the tie-in requirement for group sales.

Timothy Riva, a co-worker, said of Jay, “His unquestioned work ethic was proven  by the results he was able to achieve with our USF staff.” Another co-worker, Bryan Mathis, added, “Jay displayed a strong work ethic and incredible attention to detail. But most importantly, he had a sincere desire to make our team as strong as it could be.”

Bryan Mathis
Bryan Mathis

After fulfilling his initial contract with IMG, Kindernecht was hired as a sales executive for Order My Gear, a software company that works for different sporting goods companies. The company’s objective is to simplify the supply chain between sporting gear companies and high school teams, groups, or organizations.

Kinderknecht is excited about the new opportunities this position presents, as well as the leadership in place. “I know I am working with someone who has my professional and personal best interests in mind.” Kinderknecht will also be given more responsibility through the position. He will travel more and sell a broader range of products than at IMG.

Kinderknecht says that he now welcomes challenges. The new position will pose different challenges and present new opportunities. He believes working with Order My Gear will strengthen his track record and help him become successful in the future.

The Chevrolet S3 2012 Awards

The Chevrolet S3 2012 Awards
by Kirk Wakefield – October 2012

Thanks to Chevrolet and S3 Board Members Dave Nottoli, Steve Flynn, and Jeff Busch, the 2012 S3 Board Meeting marked the first year of the S3 Awards for Outstanding Board Members (Corporate & Team), Outstanding S3 Alum, and Outstanding S3 Writer. Selections were based on those who exemplify the S3 motto of WIN (work ethic, integrity, and networking) and their contribution to the program.

Steve Flynn presented the awards, a bronze Baylor Bear, along with S3 faculty Dr. Darryl Lehnus and Dr. Kirk Wakefield. The names of each winner will be placed on a perpetual award plaque located in the S3 classroom.

This year’s winners:

Outstanding 2012 S3 Corporate Board Member: Eric Fernandez, with Darryl Lehnus, Steve Flynn, and Kirk Wakefield

 

 

Outstanding 2012 Team Board Member: Joe Clark, with Kirk Wakefield, Steve Flynn, and Darryl Lehnus
Outstanding 2012 S3 Alum: Todd Pollock (S3 ’06), with Darryl Lehnus, Kirk Wakefield and Steve Flynn
Outstanding 2012 S3 Writer: Bill Boyce, with Darryl Lehnus, Steve Flynn, and Kirk Wakefield