As I wrote earlier, the Chicago Fire have hired Julian Posada to be the new team President.
He replaces Dave Greeley. If you Google search 'Dave Greeley', there's an article about how he was hired... and an article about how he resigned. Let's just say that sums it up pretty nicely. On second thought, we should visit a famous blog post from former Fire Team President Peter Wilt on Dave Greeley's hiring. I've always been surprised Greeley lasted as long as he did. Be sure to check out Wilt's prior confrontation with Greeley.
Julian Posada's previous gig was Founder/President/Publisher of Cafe Media, a website for "exploring the contemporary Latino lifestyle". Since May 2008, the company has grown to more than just the Chicago market and seems to have a positive reputation among Latinos. Before Cafe Media, Julia Posada was the General Manager of the daily Spanish newspaper owned by the Chicago Tribune, Hoy, for 5 years. Clearly this guy is web savvy, press savvy, knows the contemporary Latino market, and has great business development skills.
On the negative side, it doesn't seem like he has made a cent from any sport related venture - courtesy of Linkedin,
More after the jump...
Experience
Non-Profit; Non-Profit Organization Management industry
June 2009 – Present (1 year 4 months)
Privately Held; Publishing industry
May 2008 – Present (2 years 5 months)
Company targeting English Dominant Hispanics
Educational Institution; Higher Education industry
December 2007 – Present (2 years 10 months)
Non-Profit Organization Management industry
September 2006 – Present (4 years 1 month)
Non-Profit; Non-Profit Organization Management industry
March 2005 – Present (5 years 7 months)
Non-Profit; Non-Profit Organization Management industry
January 1998 – Present (12 years 9 months)
Non-Profit; Non-Profit Organization Management industry
January 2002 – December 2009 (8 years)
Public Company; 11-50 employees; TRB; Newspapers industry
February 2003 – May 2008 (5 years 4 months)
Newspapers industry
January 2004 – April 2005 (1 year 4 months)
Julian has 1 recommendation (1 report) including:
- Jeb Trowbridge, Marketing Manager, Hoy Newspaper
Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Consumer Goods industry
September 2000 – November 2002 (2 years 3 months)
Public Company; C; Banking industry
August 1997 – September 1999 (2 years 2 months)
Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Newspapers industry
1994 – August 1996 (2 years)
Non-Profit Organization Management industry
April 1991 – August 1993 (2 years 5 months)
Before Hoy, he was the Director of Business Development for what looks like two newspaper/daily shopper type publications, www.ethinicgrocer.com and www.querico.com, although they aren't linked because they currently don't exist. Going even further back, he had a couple of corporate marketing jobs and a stint at Public Allies mixed in there. If you see some sports in there, be sure to point it out. I don't see any. His job experience doesn't 'wow' me and his non-sports experience worries me.
However, Julian Posada could be just what this team needs. The man clearly knows how to talk to people and make them buy into whatever product he is selling. You can not doubt his track record as a man who sets out with a raw product and turns a profit. Any decent businessman can be put into a well defined role and succeed to the point of 'things not going badly' Posada doesn't strike me as that type at all - in fact I think he bolts from situations where he gets too comfortable or just has a bunch of templates to fill up from 9-5. This could certainly be a problem in a year or three but I look forward to his energy and eye for risk/reward.
Many Fire fans complain that our club doesn't get enough press. We need to get more free media and be in front of more faces. I'm not sure you could find someone with Posada's media savvy who also has strong business development experience AND is interested in the job of Chicago Fire President. The Fire media critics should be dancing in the streets.
One thing I haven't mentioned is the numerous board of directors he sits on; Taproot Foundation, National-Louis University, AUSL, YMCA Metropolitan Chicago, and Public Allies. To me that shows he is committed to Chicago - you know my love of this city if you read the intro post - people want his opinion on how they should direct their organization, and he knows a diverse group of individuals who also care about this city. Contrast that with Dave Greeley who knew other people in the sports community. Even if Posada takes on somewhat of an ambassador role and leaves the day-to-day operations to trusted staff members, this seems like it has great potential. Watch out for bad decisions that a common sports executive would not make and don't expect Julian Posada to stay for too long... but if he stays for 10 years, the team must be in a real special situation with great success and ever growing risk and reward.
My next post on President Posada will try to look at his own words and in that spirit I'll leave you with the vision for his company Cafe Media:
"Do your best work with no regrets. That has been my guiding principle whether I was working in the private sector or in the non-profit field. Café Media is a step in that direction.
Why Café Media? As a business executive, I noticed that the media industry treats Latinos as an either/or proposition: either Latinos are spoken to in Spanish or they are lumped into the mainstream audience. But I am not an either/or proposition. I am fiercely proud of my heritage and, more often than not, I communicate in English in both business and social circles. Considering that acculturated Latinos are the largest and fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, are our interests being catered to? I believe not."
Game on Julian Posada - Welcome to Chicago Fire Soccer Club!