Meet Todd Moore, an OSU Alum who now works as a Partnership Marketing Specialist for the Portland Trail Blazers.  Todd consults with twelve of the Blazers’ corporate partners to develop, in his words, “integrated marketing campaigns that utilize the Trail Blazers as a platform to elevate partner brands.”  This can be a rewarding challenge.  “The twelve partners cover nine different industries,” he explains, “so it is fun to establish and cultivate unique marketing plans for each business’s objective.”  At its core, Todd sees his job as a chance to develop a positive association with the Trail Blazers’ brand.  “It’s an advertising effort with high standards,” he says.  “Meeting those kinds of expectations is the kind of positive stress that makes my job rewarding.”

Before Todd was a Partnership Marketing Specialist, he attended Oregon State University where he held three different jobs at Recreational Sports.  “It provided me so much direct transferrable experience.  I didn’t realize it at the time,” Todd  says, “but working specifically as a Program Manager was incredible preparation for a professional account management role.”  Through managing ten sport clubs and multiple Intramural (IM) Sport Leagues, Todd practiced project management, prioritization, and communication skills daily.  In fact, Todd credits the skills he uses in his job today back to lessons learned working at Rec Sports.  “My managers at Rec Sports, Mitch Wiltbank and Joe Schaffer, weren’t afraid to let student staff learn from failure,” he says.  “Every year they expected us to present new sport programs or to improve the process for existing programs.  If there was an idea we believed in, we had the opportunity to develop it into something real.  Within the framework of Rec Sports policies,” Todd continues, “I felt like I could run an event or a league as I thought was best.”  With the Blazers, “we’re always looking to create innovative partnerships, and we talk with partners regularly about ways to improve existing programs.  My Rec Sports experience helped me establish this mindset long ago.”  

Todd learned another lesson applicable to business working at Rec Sports: sportsmanship.  During his time as an Intramural Football and Basketball Official, he  had to deal with a diverse array of attitudes and emotions.  “By the end of the season you would have learned a lot about people,” he remarks. “Some teams you loved, and some you’d dread.”  What it comes down to though, is that “sportsmanship in everyday life is respect and generosity.  Sportsmanship in business is ethics and fairness.”  These qualities, Todd feels, “should be part of everyone's life, even if they don’t associate themselves with athletics or competition.” 

During his tenure at Rec Sports, Todd’s favorite position was as Program Manager for Sports and Special Programs.  “I probably drove Mitch Wiltbank crazy, Todd jokes, “because the same events I felt I could succeed at managing were the ones I wanted to compete in!”  As a Program Manager Todd enjoyed the measurable challenge of managing events and programs, and the more consistent schedule than as an IM ref and supervisor.  “I always wanted to outdo the registration numbers from the previous year, to have something to boast about to the other Program Managers on Monday morning.”  But more than that, Todd explains, “I enjoyed that role because of the numerous hours spent with really excellent people.”  He credits his co-workers for the competitive and positive culture that exists at Sports and Special Programs.  “When you’re working for and with so many people that you admire, it’s hard not to love your job.”  Today, Recreational Sports is a thriving community, serving 68% of the OSU population a year.  However, “defining the culture is tough,” Todd argues, “because every team within the department has its own personality.  I doubt I’ll ever work another place where the people exude more positivity  and camaraderie than the Rec Sports staff.” 

Nowadays Todd lives in Portland, Oregon.  He loves the Pacific Northwest and is an avid runner.