Rob DiGisi is a veteran sports marketing executive, who has created new profit centers, distribution channels and branding platforms for a variety of organizations including start-ups, pro-sports leagues and multi-billion dollar corporations. Rob has packaged this expertise into his own consulting firm, Iron Horse Marketing.
From 2003-05 and since 2018, Rob is an affiliated faculty member at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania where he teaches both undergraduate and MBA-level sports management courses and oversees student consulting projects. In 2004, he was a co-founder of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative. He also has a regular sports business column on MediaVillage.com entitled, “Sports Unbundled” and OpEd contributor to the Sports Business Journal.
His pedigree includes senior marketing and business development roles for IMG, the National Basketball Association, Bank One, Diamond Resorts International and as an entrepreneur. The common thread throughout his career is generating new revenue streams through sports and partnership marketing. For example, at the dawn of the digital age, Rob founded and built the NBA’s first online store and its direct-to-consumer marketing platforms. In recent years, as the head of national marketing for Diamond Resorts, he was the Founder/Chief Operating Officer of the Diamond Resorts Invitational, a nationally televised PGA TOUR event and experiential marketing platform that both increased brand awareness of this travel and hospitality company and generated enough event and vacation ownership revenue to completely fund this initiative.
Iron Horse Marketing made its initial mark from 2002-2008 and was reignited in 2017. Select clients and engagements include market leading pari-mutuel wagering technology leader Autotote, $25B automotive re-marketer, Copart, Northeastern retail bank, Citizens Bank, upstart Tailgate BBQ food brand, Famous 58, mobile ticketing platform, Experience, sports technology start-up, ShotTracker and for Turner Sports in a blockchain/NFT venture.
He is a summa cum laude graduate of Boston College and earned an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. A father of two, he and his wife live in Northern NJ.
