Tennessee Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics John Currie announced Friday that Janeen Lalik (last name pronounced: LAHL-ick) is joining the UTAD leadership team as Senior Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Initiatives.
A native of Troy, Michigan, Lalik boasts deep relationships across intercollegiate athletics and currently serves as Senior Vice President of College Athletics for Ticketmaster, a post she has held since early 2016.
Her responsibilities at Tennessee will include leadership of UTAD’s fan experience department (formerly known as athletic marketing & promotions), ticket operations, broadcasting and VFL Films, corporate partnerships, merchandise and licensing, and game production. Lalik will also serve as the UTAD liaison to IMG College/Vol Network.
“To be able to recruit an executive with Janeen Lalik’s experience and credibility throughout the intercollegiate athletics world speaks volumes about the momentum of both the University of Tennessee and Knoxville,” Currie said. “Janeen’s fingerprints are all over intercollegiate athletics, as she has made a remarkable impact in creating partnerships and revenue to enhance both the student-athlete and fan experience over the last 20 years.
“I am excited about the impact Janeen will have across the department and university as a key member of our senior leadership team and know that her ability to collaboratively develop ideas and solutions will further enhance and strengthen our brand as well as our fan and corporate partner relationships. We aspire to be the national leader in fan experience and customer service, and Janeen’s fresh perspective will benefit our fans, student-athletes and the University of Tennessee community as a whole.”
Lalik officially begins her duties in Knoxville on July 24.
“I’ve worked closely with collegiate athletic departments for nearly 20 years, so I’m looking forward to immersing myself inside a department and working to make a difference from within,” Lalik said. “To have this opportunity at an institution like the University of Tennessee, with its revered brand and rich history, is very humbling. This is a department headed in the right direction, and I’m thankful to John Currie for the opportunity to join the outstanding team already in place at Tennessee.”
Prior to joining Ticketmaster, Lalik spent 18 years overseeing incredible collegiate partner growth at IMG College/ISP Sports (ISP Sports was acquired by IMG College in 2010).
With Lalik occupying one of the company’s executive posts, IMG College evolved into the leading multimedia, marketing and licensing/brand management company in America.
In her role as Senior Vice President for New Business Development, Lalik used her gifts for relationship development to grow IMG’s collegiate partnerships to more than 100—in addition to multiple conferences and bowls.
Prior to ISP’s acquisition, Lalik’s productivity at ISP landed her a spot on Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” list in 2009. In 2008, she was named a Woman Extraordinaire by Triad Business Journal.
When she joined North Carolina-based ISP in 1997, the five-year old company had just three university clients. Lalik’s leadership saw ISP’s pre-acquisition client list grow to more than 60 university partners, including Alabama, Duke, Georgia, Notre Dame, Syracuse and UCLA. She was named a vice president in 2005 and a senior vice president in 2007. The growth that took place under her direction led to ISP’s evolution from a regional presence to a national force on the intercollegiate multimedia rights landscape.
Lalik’s career in sports began with the Palace of Auburn Hills and the NBA’s Detroit Pistons in 1991. She served the organization until moving to ISP Sports in 1997.
A 1991 Central Michigan graduate with a degree in Business Administration/Marketing, she is an active mentor for women throughout the athletics industry through Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly NACWAA).
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“John Currie has made a home run hire for my alma mater. Janeen is the rare person in this business with ample experience in both sponsorship/media/marketing and ticket sales. The fact she knows these businesses from the outside contractor perspective will be extremely valuable as John crafts strategy for the future. Plus, she’s one of the finest people I’ve known in more than 40 years of association in the college sports world.”
– Mark Dyer – Executive VP, IMG College Business Ventures (and VFL)
“What a tremendous team addition Tennessee has made with longtime athletics industry executive Janeen Lalik. She has a heart for what a campus and institution of higher learning mean for students and those who provide them with a competitive, academic and leadership development experience. Janeen can lead the conversations that compel individuals and business partners to support collegiate athletics. She has forged relationships and friendships throughout her career and is considered an industry trailblazer, mentor and role model.”
– Chris Plonsky – Women’s Athletics Director/Executive Senior Associate AD for External Services, University of Texas
“This is a remarkable ‘get’ for the Vol Nation! Janeen Lalik is one of the most talented, trusted professionals in the college sports industry. Her work ethic is unparalleled, and she is a proven leader. She was a key to much of the growth and success of ISP Sports and IMG College and a large part of the reason we were able to build four national market-leading companies in our enterprise. I am really happy for her and for your terrific athletic director and my friend, John Currie.”
– Ben Sutton – Chairman Emeritus, IMG College, LLC (founder of ISP Sports)
“Janeen Lalik represents nothing short of a ‘grand slam hire’ at the University of Tennessee. Janeen’s entire body of work speaks perfectly to this appointment as Senior Associate AD for Strategic Initiatives. Again, Janeen’s career has been dramatically underscored at ISP, IMG, and Ticketmaster, by both innovation and futuristic modeling. Janeen is a very rare professional commodity, whereby John Currie made a very thoughtful, if not artful, leadership acquisition.”
– Kevin White – Vice President, Director of Athletics & Adjunct Professor of Business Administration, Duke University
“I couldn’t be more excited for UT, the SEC and our relationship with both. Janeen and I started our careers together almost 30 years ago, and the impact I have seen her make wherever she goes is nothing short of remarkable. The results she drives are hard to articulate, as they start with each co-worker, client, innovation, strategy and organizational goal. I have never seen a more humble person leave a bigger impact with each interaction. Her fingerprints are all over some of the most impressive media rights deals in college athletics; to see her return to that industry in such a significant role is an incredible move for her personally and for college athletics, most especially UT. John Currie should be commended for this hire—absolutely tremendous!”
– Sean Henry – President, CEO & Alternate Governor, Nashville Predators
-UT Athletics
