Entrance Interview: Jim Sofranko, FEVO’s New EVP and Head of Attractions

Jim Sofranko recently joined FEVO as EVP and Head of Attractions, a multi-billion-dollar vertical into which FEVO’s expansion is already well underway. Jim will help FEVO expand the footprint of its Enterprise platform for sales productivity as well as the Social Checkout^TM, which allows consumers to browse, shop and purchase together directly on the websites of more than 800 leading brands in music, sports and live entertainment.

Below, Jim answers a few poignant questions about his new role, his past experience and FEVO’s plans to become a key player in the Attractions sector. 

Give us the Jim Sofranko elevator pitch — the person, not the FEVO employee.

I grew up in a small town in southern Iowa as the youngest of eight. After that, I attended Iowa State University, where I worked as a non-union stagehand at our arena and performing arts venues. From that first taste of the industry, I knew I wanted to work in sports and entertainment. I have been married for 23 years to my wife Monica and we have two wonderful children, Will and Ava. Ava just started her freshman year at Clemson and is on the rowing team, so I now have a second college team to root for. I love great food and wine and continue to hone my barbecue and pizza-making skills. I am an avid gardener and also enjoy feeding and watching the many birds that live around our house.

Where are you joining FEVO from, and what did you do there?

I’ve had essentially two jobs before joining FEVO. My first was with the Chicago Blackhawks, where I oversaw merchandise sales for the Blackhawks as well as the Bulls at the old Chicago Stadium. Over my 17+ years with the team, I added numerous responsibilities, and by the end I was overseeing all of the revenue-generating departments for the team, which included ticket sales, sponsorships sales, radio, merchandise, digital media and marketing. My second job was with Groupon, joining when the company was roughly 50 employees. I started in the business development group and fufilled a number of roles, including leading Enterprise Sales and then leading the Live and Attraction verticals.

Now for the good stuff: Tell us about your new role at FEVO.

I joined FEVO to build and lead the Attractions vertical. When I first started talking to [FEVO Chief Revenue Officer] Josh Rose, our conversation led us to the Attractions business and the reasons why brands in the business were not yet using FEVO to solve their problems. Operators in the Attractions industry have many of the same pain points that we help teams and venues solve on the live events side, and I thought there was a large opportunity to use the same playbook for the Attractions industry. After a few additional conversations with Josh and Ari [Daie, CEO], I decided to join FEVO. After my first few months of talking with reservation system companies, Attraction operators and industry contacts, I am even more excited about the opportunity and our ability to carve out a role for FEVO within the Attraction space.

Any particular goals you have for yourself or your team in the coming months?

Threefold: 1) come to an agreement with our first reservation system and begin scoping the work needed for an API integration; 2) introduce FEVO and increase awareness within the Attraction industry; and 3) onboard our first handful of operators and begin using those learnings to scale the business.

How do you define "Attractions" as it relates to FEVO?

When I think of Attractions I think of amusement parks, museums, zoos, aquariums, observation decks and many of the things tourists do while traveling or locals do when they want a day out in the cities where they live. Our goal is to start with Attractions and then as we build the appropriate infrastructure, begin working with activities and tour operators as well. For these additional areas of focus think about bowling, golf, indoor skydiving, skiing, holiday light shows, haunted houses, boat and bus tours, food and wine festivals, etc.

What are the challenges associated with this new division/role?

The biggest challenge is awareness of what our products help solve and showing operators how we can assist them in growing their businesses. 

What's your favorite "Attraction"?

So many, but one of my favorites is Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando — they do such an amazing job of turning sound stages into individual experiences with unique IP for each.

As someone who worked for some of the biggest teams in the country for almost two decades, do you have a most memorable game experience?

Again, so many, but I have to go back to one I shared recently on Linkedin … It was June 13, 1992, and the Bulls had just won their second NBA Championship. Two hours after the game ended we finished closing out merchandise sales for the night and I decided to walk over to the Bulls locker room, where I knew I could find myself a cold beer and some silence as everyone from the team had gone to the Hyatt to celebrate the championship. Little did I know silence was not what I would find, but instead MJ, Scottie and Horace [Grant] still in the room smoking cigars and drinking Champagne. MJ told me to sit down, so I grabbed his chair and a bottle of Champagne and spent the next two hours laughing as the three of them let loose.