Laguna Hills-based Athletes First is promoting three individuals to executive positions to strengthen its sales, partnerships and events sides as the agency looks to expand its footprint in and beyond athlete representation, media and properties.
DAN GYVES, formerly the head of media partnerships, has been elevated to senior vice president of sales. In the newly expanded role, Gyves will oversee the agency’s centralized sales organization, uniting all sales teams under one structure while managing overall financial performance across offices. He will continue leading the media team as the head of content development in addition to managing athletes endorsement and event partnership sales. Gyves will report directly to CEO BRIAN MURPHY and is based in Athletes First’s New York City office. Gyves previously spearheaded original content series’ including “Exciting Mics” with Eagles DB COOPER DEJEAN and Texans S REED BLANKENSHIP and “House Rhules” with Nebraska HC MATT RHULE. Before joining Athletes First, he held sales leadership positions at NewsBreak, ViacomCBS, WhoSay, Twitter, NBC and Turner Broadcasting.
MATT SHULMAN has been promoted to the newly created position of senior vice president of partnerships and integration. He will also report to Murphy and be based in New York City. Shulman will collaborate with the sales team to identify and expand major brand and media partnerships, focusing on activation across the agency’s talent, events and media verticals. Most recently, Shulman developed commercial strategies for events like The Block at the Super Bowl, the Athletes First Tailgate Tour and the upcoming Summit in partnership with Entrepreneur Media. The properties department will continue reporting to him. Shulman joined Athletes First in 2018 and previously worked at Turner Sports, NASCAR and CBS.
DANIELLE SPENCER has been promoted to vice president of properties, reporting to Shulman. She is based in Laguna Hills and will lead the creation, development and execution of owned events and properties while growing revenue and partnerships. Spencer, who started as an intern in 2011, previously served as vice president of clients and events. She also played a key role in producing The Block, the Tailgate Tour, the agency’s golf tournament and its inaugural NFL Draft Night celebration.
