Erin Blecha-Ward

With over 10 years’ experience in the healthcare, sports and entertainment industries, Erin’s roles have included heading up marketing, PR, community relations and fan experience teams in college, pro and agency settings. Erin has extensive experience managing marketing, communications and event strategy for global, national and regional brands focused on comprehensive program development for community and sponsor partnerships, customized culture and service training, research and analytics and traditional, digital and social media marketing campaigns.

Erin’s experience leading events and fan experience teams for professional sports franchises as well as heading up Fan Experience & Community Relations for Stanford University, includes overseeing teams responsible for marketing of premier sports brands and executing over 250 activations annually ranging from high-touch VIP experiences to large productions for 55,000+ guests.

With expertise in research, psychology and communication, she uses data and analytics as an integral piece of all she does. Erin has been published in several research-based academic publications focused on media depictions of athletes and the effects of sociocultural stereotyping which utilize various data capture methodologies, empirical research measures and analysis tools. Erin utilizes these skills to develop and evaluate best-practices for campaigns and events. She built an automated tracking tool that aggregates data streams to provide instantaneous feedback on fan enjoyment, experience and event success which was adopted by collegiate and professional sports teams to assess their game day experiences, the first tool of its kind in the industry.

A Disney Institute graduate, Erin has been instrumental in developing and integrating the culture and service model, SMILE, a customized, comprehensive adaptation of the Disney Elevate model which has been rolled out to over 1,000 full and part-time employees across professional sports franchises, redefining their service standards and company fabric. Previously a communication and public speaking instructor, she has an extensive background in leading speaker training and presenting to large audiences.

Erin is an avid sports fan, fitness enthusiast and adventurer. She enjoys traveling, hiking, exploring the outdoors and spending time with her husband Andy and their dog.