FIFA Master Alumni - Where are they now? - Adrienne Lerner
Adrienne Lerner
Current Position: Commercial and Broadcast Operations Manager at UEFA
Year of graduation: 2016 (16th Edition)
Nationality: American
What does your current role involve?
My background has always been in broadcasting and media for sporting events. Before the FIFA Master, I started my career at US broadcaster NBC Sports. After the Master, I worked at the US Olympic Committee, working on media operations and communications. Through those jobs, and in some freelance work, I was able to work on-site at the 2018 FIFA Men’s World Cup, 2016 Summer and 2022 Winter Olympic Games and the 2019 U-20 World Cup, amongst other events. I landed at UEFA in 2020 where I now work as a Commercial and Broadcast Operations Specialist.
In my current role, I am responsible for the commercial delivery of men’s national team competitions, including Nations League, European Qualifiers (for World Cup and Euro) and international friendlies. My team works with the national associations and broadcast partners to ensure the commercial concept of these matches is delivered properly. We recruit, train and manage Venue Operations Broadcast Managers (VOBMs) who go on-site to make sure everything runs as planned. I also work as a VOBM myself in Club Competition matches.
I enjoy how diverse my job is. Every match week presents new challenges, and attempting to deliver a consistent product across fifty-five different national associations with 100+ different broadcast partners presents interesting situations. I also love how many motivated colleagues I get to work with across UEFA and beyond – from the external VOBMs, stadiums, CAA11 (UEFA’s agency for national team competitions), and rights-holders to internal collaborations with Media Rights, Football Operations, Media Operations, TV Operations, Football Technology, Sponsorship / Marketing, Brand, Editorial Content, to name just a few! We are also constantly liaising with our colleagues who work on club competitions to share best practices, procedures, and knowledge. Successfully delivering international matches requires a lot of teamwork, cross-collaboration and trust.
Which aspects of the FIFA Master course have helped you most in your career?
The FIFA Master was the first time I was truly immersed in an international environment on a daily basis. Being open-minded, adaptive to different personalities, working styles, ideas and cultures are experiences which are now part of my everyday job. These are skills developed during the programme.
What advice would you give to future students?
Enjoy the ride! It goes by so quickly. It is normal to be stressed about future job opportunities or what comes next, but I promise every graduate will work again! But you won’t necessarily have the opportunity to learn, travel and build relationships across three countries with 25+ classmates again. Go to the event, try the food, live it up!
FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport, ranked Europe's No.1 course a record 13 times by SportBusiness.
Organised by CIES in cooperation with De Montfort University (UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland).
"CIES, 30 years of impacting how sport is managed worldwide" & "FIFA Master, 25 years of Excellence in Sport Business Education"
