Embracing Risk in Pursuit of Your Passion: Lisa Ferkul’s Story
How to take a leap of faith — and make a perfect landing.
Using your passion as a compass will often serve you well in your career journey — just ask Lisa Ferkul.
In her role as Director of Hockey Sponsorship at Scotiabank, Lisa oversees the strategic planning, negotiation and overall relationship management on key Scotiabank partnerships. This includes the NHL, all 7 Canadian NHL Clubs and the Rogers Media Hockey business, as well as core kids community hockey programming and their digital hockey strategy.
Considered a dream role for many of us in sport business, Lisa didn’t quite envision herself overseeing the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs as clients just months prior to joining Scotiabank.
After five years at the Toronto Argonauts I had accepted a role at a small sponsorship and experiential agency and had only been there about six months when I was contacted by Scotiabank regarding a contract position on the Hockey Sponsorship team. The agency had more long-term security since it was full-time and I had just become a partner, but I knew that such opportunities like the Scotiabank one didn’t come around every day. I took a leap of faith and joined one of the best sponsorship brands and portfolios in the country. This experience taught me the importance of taking risks. Being part of the Scotiabank team has been the best decision I could have made in my career and I have never looked back.
Scotiabank has now served as the Official Bank of the NHL for 10 years — and it’s arguably one of Canada’s most formative relationships in Canadian sport business.
As we enter a new era of innovation in sports, Lisa has come to appreciate the rapid pace of change in the sport sponsorship landscape in Canada.
More and more brands are recognizing the value of sponsorship as a differentiator and a key component of the marketing mix. As an example, the emergence of technology and evolution of activation is forcing brands to step up their game. Whether it be through Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR), consumer expectations are changing — they expect more for less, consume media in different ways and require much more personalization.
Personalization — you’re going to hear that word a lot more often in next year’s sports business panels. Brands like Scotiabank who champion the next wave of fan engagement technology will help innovate the fan experience in all sports, and not just hockey.
As a young sports professional, this may all sound daunting to you. Just when you thought you had the handle on all things sports marketing, technology such as AI and VR come into the limelight, adding another level of expertise to for you to master. However, don’t forget that you are a digital native — these new fan engagement experiences are being effectively designed for you and your peers. Who better understands the digital era than those who were brought up in it!
To truly make a impact in your field, Lisa underlines the importance of adopting a ‘learn-it-all’ mindset as you enter the sports industry.
Never discount the importance of hard work and passion. As you grow and develop in the industry, you will be required to lean in on different skill-sets and competencies. As a young professional entering the industry, I did whatever job I was asked, no job was too big or too small. As director managing a team of 10, I’ve adapted from execution to a more strategic role with a huge focus on leadership and managing people. My role now is to enable my team to be the best they can be and do the best work possible. Throughout my journey to date, my passion has stuck with me. My passion for sports, for marketing, and for people has been present throughout and has motivated me each and every day to work harder to achieve my goals.
At the end of the day, there is no discovery without risk. Arriving to the position that Lisa is in today would not have been possible had she not trusted her gut.
In May 2017, Lisa joined an esteemed class of sports business professionals as she was announced as one of the five recipients of this year’s 5 To Watch Canada’s Sports Business award. When asked about the significance of the award, Lisa expresses gratitude to her team for being a source of motivation.
Being recognized as a 5 To Watch winner is truly an honour. I am very humbled to be acknowledged amongst such an esteemed group of colleagues, each of them possessing very diverse skill-sets across multiple disciplines of the sports industry. As much as it’s an individual award, it’s truly a reflection of the team, partners and leaders I work with day in and day out. I am extremely thankful to all of them for challenging me and making me better every day.
Congratulations, Lisa!
Lisa Ferkul is the Director of Hockey Sponsorship at Scotiabank. To learn more about Lisa’s story, you can connect with her on LinkedIn.
Will you be attending this year’s 5 To Watch?
The 5 to Watch Awards are presented annually to five Canadian sports business professionals who have achieved remarkable career success prior to their 40th birthdays. Canadian Sport Business Network is proud to be a community partner for the 2017 5 To Watch Awards, taking place on Thursday, June 22.
For more information about the event, please visit the event website.
