Sports Industry Leader

As director of business development and analytics for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Gabe Gershenfeld ’11 works to help the organization make decisions in multiple areas.

“The ILR School helps me in every aspect of my work,” he said, referring to everything from ballpark concessions to human resources to sales forecasting, ticket pricing and negotiating with stakeholders.

“ILR is all about working with people and management, continuously understanding where others are coming from and helping to solve a problem.”

“Professors, classmates and alumni have helped me learn soft skills and technical skills that impact my career every day.”

Courses in statistics and economics gave him the foundation to build advanced business models.

Instruction around labor relations, dispute resolution, labor law and labor history helped him early in his career to found the Cleveland Indians’ strategy and business analytics department.

“The ILR School is a great opportunity for students looking to build a career in sports management. The alumni network, the Sports Business Society and the professors really are extraordinary.”

“The society was a huge part of my time at Cornell,” he said. “The club allows leadership opportunities to put management skills into practice early.”

"Even while we were students, that meant taking our lessons and ILR's unique perspective and applying them to specific topics and decisions facing executives every day."

Labor relations is a critical  element in professional sports and is central to the school’s value as a training ground for sports industry leaders, Gershenfeld said.

Understanding perspectives and conflict resolution are key to the next generation of sports trailblazers, he said.

“Those are skills that allow a leader to identify the path forward and lead a team.”