From Retail to the Boardroom: Tom Rowell Guest Speaker Session

Transitioning from working in retail to leading marketing for some of England’s largest sporting organisations and beyond, Tom Rowell joined us on a recent webinar to offer GIS students some real-world advice for those looking to start a career in sports marketing.

Currently working as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for World Snooker Tour, where he is also a board member, Tom studied International Relations with Politics at university before working for a few years in retail. Wanting to switch his career path, he then went back to university to complete a masters in Marketing Management and Strategy at the University of Plymouth. 

Finishing his masters at 26 years old, he landed his first job at Leicester City FC as a Data Marketing Executive, despite having no prior marketing experience apart from his degree. Attributing this to his interview skills, Tom told GIS listeners that “showing ambition is the easiest way of winning people over”, which is why he was able to progress so quickly throughout his career.

He further advised GIS students on the importance of LinkedIn and networking, which he explained led to his next role at Wolverhampton Wanderers after just over a year at Leicester.

“It was so important to me to keep a good network on LinkedIn, keep an eye of what’s happening, look at trends, look where people are moving, see where jobs are coming from, because it’s not like there’s an Indeed.com where you can go and see football jobs. It doesn’t really work like that in football. It’s very much LinkedIn based.”

The stresses of the football industry often mean the enjoyable side is overlooked, and this early stage of Tom’s career was one of his favourites.

“The funnest bit of your career is the start. As an executive, you’re paid to have ideas and bring energy, replacing the freshness that the higher ups don’t have. As an executive you offer newness, and that’s what people want in interviews, they want someone to give a bit more than admin.”

This aspect of bringing energy to interviews is one that Tom sees as just as important as having a good CV, and he now encourages job applicants to tell him what they’d do differently if they were in his shoes. Often afraid to criticise him as an interviewer, Tom encourages students to do their research about a company and what it can do better before heading into the daunting interview room, so that you can show what it is you’d bring to the organisation that they don’t already have.

Tom then continued up the ladder by working for Birmingham City and Hull City, which were his first experiences as the head of a marketing department. 

The largest jump in his career then arrived when he was headhunted for a role at Everton FC. 

“There’s probably a point in your career where that will start to happen which is probably around the head-of level where you probably start to fall into the radar of recruitment companies who tend to do executive searches rather than putting a job ad out and you apply for it. They get to a point where most companies will want them to find someone rather than waiting for people to apply.”

Between 2017 and 2021, Tom progressed from Head of Marketing at Everton to overseeing Marketing, Ticketing, and International — a progression achieved by his willingness to proactively seek out greater responsibility.

“That comes through being ambitious, working hard, asking questions, putting yourself out there and showing that kind of drive and ambition.”

This responsibility resulted in Tom managing a team of 42 staff, meaning people skills were everything. 

“I would definitely say from my experience that the people at the top level aren’t always the best in the room, and they would probably say that themselves, but it’s the right combination of intelligence, drive, ambition and the people side of stuff. Like I said, people are very, very important. 

“You can be the smartest person in the world, but if you don’t get along with people or understand how people work and how to manage people, you’re going to struggle, because a lot of businesses are about people and management.”

After leaving Everton, we welcomed Tom to GIS as our Head of Global Marketing and Communication, a role he also fulfilled at UCFB. In 2022, he briefly worked for West Ham United, before being offered a role as the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at World Snooker Tour, who he works for today. In his first full season at the organisation, Tom achieved great things, such as increasing ticket sales by 18%, boosting global viewership figures by 23%, and more than tripling their instagram followers.

Tom then went on to speak about what it takes to achieve your goals, recalling that his career required relocating nine times – conveying the personal sacrifices involved in building a successful path, though he emphasised that it is simply “part of the commitment” required at the top level.

Towards the end of the webinar, Tom was asked by listener Michael, a former Paralympian, what benefits retired athletes can have when pursuing a new career in sport. Explaining these benefits, he said:

“The fact that you’ve been the product in terms of performing in the sport is a fantastic insight. I would say it gives you a leg up.

“Straight away, you have a kudos and you have a relatability that I think people would find interesting. I think what you want to then use is the idea that you’re transitioning from playing it to helping other people enjoy that sport and then perhaps remove the commercial element from it so it’s just about getting people to enjoy the sport, because ultimately that’s the same language as selling tickets, right? It’s people coming along and enjoying the experience. So I think you know what makes a good show.

Tom finally commented on the skillset that athletes already have that could make their transition to another career easier.

“Anyone who’s been an athlete clearly has a massive drive to succeed and a huge amount of ambition and self-determination which is attractive to me as an employer. If you’ve trained your life to be an athlete, you’ve got that spark that I look for in people in terms of being very dedicated.”

At GIS, we are proud to have a wide array of athletes, both retired and still competing, on our courses, such as Olympic gold medallist Shona McCallin MBE and former Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan. 

Inspired by Tom’s story? At GIS, we offer two programs that can help you kickstart your career in the sports marketing industry: MSc Sports Marketing & Media and MSc Football Communications & Digital Marketing.

Article by Zakaria Anani