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ABOUT SPONSORUNITED

Launched in 2018, SponsorUnited is the leading global sports and entertainment SaaS platform, delivering actionable data and insights to build stronger marketing partnerships. We provide unrivaled intelligence across the sponsorship and media landscape so brands and rights holders can make impactful decisions that drive business.

Trusted by

29+

Countries Worldwide Use SponsorUnited

2022, 2023 & 2024 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America

17.6M+

Data Points Tracked and Analyzed

150+

Top-Tier Publications with Media Coverage

PARTNERSHIPS ACROSS THE GLOBE

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Bob Lynch
Founder & CEO

In 2010, while VP of Integrated Media and Corporate Partnerships for the Miami Dolphins, Bob sensed an opportunity for stakeholders to partner more effectively in the complex universe of sponsorships. By capturing a comprehensive, real-time picture of the sponsorship ecosystem for teams and brands—information that was fragmented and largely inaccessible—he could create a solution that would be key to identifying trends and opportunities in the industry. As time went on, he realized this opportunity wasn’t limited to the NFL or even to just sports: Brands, properties, agencies, and media companies across industries would benefit enormously from a resource that demystified the sponsorship marketplace and provided greater accessibility to partnership deals. 

Inspired by this mission, and with the goal of providing unprecedented insight into every facet of the sponsorship universe, Bob devised the concept for the SponsorUnited platform in 2016. In 2018, SponsorUnited was launched. 

Bob’s previous roles include SVP of Global Partnerships at BSE Global, General Sales Manager of Westwood One, and management roles at iHeart Media and Audacy. He attended the University of Delaware, where he played football.

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Alain Benzaken
Chief Operating Officer

Having run technology teams at startups his entire career, Alain first joined SponsorUnited in October 2016 as an advisor and investor before partnering with Bob Lynch to build the SponsorUnited platform. He currently heads up both our developer and data operations teams. His former roles include SVP of Technology at Buddy Media and Salesforce, co-founder and CTO of food52, and SVP at Priceline. 

An 11-time Ironman finisher, Alain also competed in the 2022 World Series of Poker and is a marathoner and loyal Mets fan. He is a founding board member of NY Tech Meetup, is on the board of Doctors of the World USA, and holds a BA and MS in Physics from Columbia College and Yale University, respectively.

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David Mann
Chief Financial Officer

David joined SponsorUnited in December 2023. He has deep finance leadership expertise guiding software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies through significant revenue growth and operational scaling. Most recently, as CFO at Repsly, a Boston-based growth equity-backed company, he helped drive rapid revenue growth and capital raising efforts.  While at Constant Contact, a leading digital marketing and automation platform, Mann played a key role in managing the company through hyper-growth and supported its successful IPO.

David’s prior roles also include finance leadership positions at Tufts Health Plan (now Point32Health) and Raytheon. He also worked in investment banking at Citibank, research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and treasury at GTECH (now IGT). He received an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

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Rajiv Khanna
Chief Sales Officer

Having heard about the capabilities of the SponsorUnited platform from a client in pro sports, Rajiv knew he needed to reach out to Bob Lynch on LinkedIn. The rest, as they say, is history. Since joining the team in November 2019, Rajiv has grown the company’s client base from 150 to more than 1,000, built and leads a 20-person sales team, and broadened our market, both domestically and overseas, to include not just sports but also brands and media companies. 

His prior roles include VP of Teams at Nielsen Sports, Senior Director at Repucom, and Sales Strategy at Yahoo! Sports. A graduate of Syracuse University, Rajiv enjoys running and snowboarding, and he has never met a dog he didn’t like. 

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Margaux Miller
SVP of People

A longtime talent acquisition pro, Margaux held senior roles with the NFL, Starbucks, and Under Armour before joining the SponsorUnited team in September 2020. It was during her time at the NFL—where she recruited for the league’s sales, business development, and sponsorship teams—she started hearing that the SponsorUnited platform was a powerful tool for prospecting. 

Margaux oversees all human resource functions at SponsorUnited, including the recruitment and onboarding of all employees and more than 500 interns annually. Besides learning to golf, she also enjoys cooking and staying fit. Margaux graduated from Newbury College.

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Claudia Hoeffner
SVP of Marketing

An award-winning marketing leader, Claudia Hoeffner joined SponsorUnited as SVP of Marketing in September 2024, with a focus on helping to fuel the company's next phase of growth. Her responsibilities include expanding SponsorUnited’s brand presence in new and emerging markets, increasing its total addressable market (TAM), and capitalizing on branding opportunities in high-growth segments.

Hoeffner brings a wealth of experience to her new role. Prior to joining SponsorUnited, she led marketing efforts at Nexthink, where she played a pivotal part in driving market leadership. Her career also includes senior positions at Eloqua (acquired by Oracle), Acquia (acquired by Vista Equity Partners), VTS, and Automattic. Hoeffner’s notable achievements have been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Moxie Award for Women in Tech (2021). Her work has been featured in major publications including Forbes, USA Today, and eMarketer.

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Arjun Nadkarni
Chief Technology Officer

Arjun Nadkarni is a distinguished technology leader with over a decade of experience in driving operational excellence and technological innovation across several industries, including Travel, Finance, and Healthcare. Prior to rejoining SponsorUnited, Arjun was at Teladoc Health, where he led a team of engineers in significantly enhancing and improving the overall software development lifecycle to increase product velocity and quality across the company. Arjun also led key initiatives that led to a fundamental change in how Teladoc approached scheduling for their network of mental health and general medical providers.

His first stint as CTO at SponsorUnited and a tech cofounder, Arjun set up a technology team from scratch and developed a SaaS-based web application for top-tier sports teams that is in use in almost every one of the major sports teams across the country. Arjun has had wide experience as a senior technology executive across a wide group of industries and startups. He has been CTO at eCommission Solutions, where he led a major migration to a Hadoop-based platform and played a key role in making ECS a leading data analytics company in travel management. He worked at Tudor Investments Inc, where he managed projects across multiple strategies, contributing to the hedge fund’s industry-leading status. He worked at Priceline.com, where he led the launch of the travel company's vacation package and research and review product streams.

Arjun Nadkarni's career is marked by his strategic vision, leadership in technology, and commitment to innovation, making him a pivotal figure in the tech and healthcare sectors.

OUR STORY

2010

Challenge Identified

While working at the Miami Dolphins, Bob Lynch recognized a lack of widely available sponsorship data for rights holders and brands to identify opportunities and trends in the industry.
2015

Opportunity Verified

The challenge was not limited to the NFL or even pro sports. Properties, brands, agencies, and media companies all had the same problem: a lack of transparency and accessibility to partnership deals.
2016

SponsorUniversity Launches

SponsorUniversity was launched with the goal to give students real-life experience in the sports and entertainment industry and provide them with tools for success, all while also compiling first-party sponsorship data for the platform.
2016

Scouting Tech Buildout

A one-of-a-kind opportunity for college students was launched. This unique scouting program allows us to compile first-party partnership data for the platform while giving students real-life experience in the sports and entertainment industry.
2017

Beta Testing Commences

Soft launch was initiated, and two US pro sports teams tested early stages of the SponsorUnited platform.
2018

Product Launches

In January 2018, one of the top revenue-generating teams in the NFL became our first client partner.
2019

Milestones

Twenty months post launch, over 100 teams, event organizers, agencies, and media entities had signed up for the platform.
2020

Building the Team

Rajiv Khanna joins as SVP of Partnerships to build the business development team, resources, and infrastructure. Margaux Miller is brought on as SVP of People to run human resources.
2022

Continuing to Grow

We reached over 1,000 client partners, Michelle Harmon-Madsen joined the team as our first CMO, and SalesUniversity was launched so young sales professionals can learn to sell sponsorships.

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