Date Published: Feb. 14, 2017
Alumna Kelly Jones, MBA ’15, recently returned to her home in Atlanta, after getting
the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience professional sport’s biggest spectacle
from right inside NRG Stadium at this year’s Super Bowl in Houston, Texas. Thanks
not only to the generosity of her employers — the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons newest business
partner Legends Hospitality — but also the professional guidance of Associate Professor
of Management Scott Wysong. Jones credits Wysong, who also directs the Satish & Yasmin
Gupta School of Business’ MBA program, with helping her achieve her dreams of working
in an incredibly difficult industry to enter, professional sports management.
“I am very proud of Kelly’s career accomplishments. She was always an excellent student and very motivated to succeed,” said Wysong.
Jones, a graduate of Vanderbilt University, is a premium sales consultant with Legends Hospitality, which manages ticket sales for the Falcons. As such she is responsible for selling personal seat licenses (PSL) inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium to those currently holding season tickets inside the Falcon’s old stadium, the Georgia Dome, as well as other interested fans. PSL sales in the Falcon’s new stadium have soared since the team played their way into their only second-ever Super Bowl.
“The connections I made through the MBA program at UD proved extremely valuable to my career, because, honestly, without the guidance of Scott Wysong I wouldn't be working for the Falcons today,” said Jones.
While attending UD, Wysong recommended that Jones attend a career fair, which landed her at the Dallas Stars before she moved to Atlanta to work for the Falcons.
“Breaking into sports is hard. There are not a lot of jobs or a lot of people who want to work in that industry,” said Wysong. “I always encouraged our MBA students to volunteer, intern or do whatever they can to get their foot in the door.”
Thousands of alumni like Jones have benefitted from the wisdom and guidance of UD’s engaged faculty. Learn more about the Gupta College of Business MBA program by visiting udallas.edu/mba.
On Feb. 25 and 26, seven UD students traveled to Austin with Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Enrollment Michael Probus, BA '12 MBA '15, to advocate for continuing and/or increasing Tuition Equalization Grant (TEG) money.
+ Read MoreMike Kiegerl's youngest daughter, Christine, would have graduated from UD in the Class of 1994, but just before her graduation, she was struck by an impaired truck driver and died instantly. Kiegerl and his wife, Peggy, established the Christine S. Kiegerl Memorial Scholarship in their girl's memory in 1997.
+ Read MoreUD students not only read St. Augustine's "Confessions" in Rome, traveling to Ostia to marvel at the place in which, according to Book IX, St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, had a joint mystical vision of God — they also travel 4.4 miles from the Irving campus to read the text with residents of South Irving.
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