ARSENAL FC

Arsenal is one of the leading clubs in world football with a strong heritage of success, progressive thinking and financial stability.  Arsenal Football Club was founded in 1886 in Woolwich, south London, before moving to Highbury in north London in 1913.  Arsenal has an impressive roll of honour: English League Champions 13 times, FA Cup winners a record 12 times, League Cup winners twice and European Cup Winners’ Cup (1994) and European Fairs Cup (1970) winners once.  In addition, Arsenal Ladies are the most successful English club in women’s football.  Arsenal’s manager since 1996 has been Frenchman Arsène Wenger.  Wenger is Arsenal Football Club’s most successful manager. His honours include three League titles, six FA Cups and four Charity/Community Shields, including two League and Cup ‘doubles’ in 1998 and 2002.

Club Website

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace Football Club, founded in 1905, plays its home matches in Selhurst Park.  The club is playing in the Premier League for the 2016-2017 season. The club and its supporters are extremely passionate about its South London roots.  In 1973, the club changed its original nickname from the Glaziers to the Eagles, and now has one of the most recognized logos in English Football.

Club Website

Walter Bergeson

walter.bergeson@fermatapartners.com

Walter joined Fermata in 2016. He graduated from Emory University in Atlanta and obtained his Masters in Sports Administration from Georgia State University.

Denny Watson

denny.watson@fermatapartners.com

A graduate of Emory University’s MBA program, Denny previously served for nearly a decade in sales and marketing roles in minor league baseball. He has been on the Fermata team since 2012.

Jana Franz

jana.franz@fermatapartners.com

Jana rose from licensing coordinator to Vice President of Licensing Operations during a 15-year career working for CLC. She has also consulted with major licensing industry software companies on licensing processes.

Maddie Perrotta

maddie.perrotta@fermatapartners.com

Maddie joined Fermata in 2016. While attending Florida State University, she became involved with Florida State Seminole Boosters where she was introduced to licensing. Maddie additionally brings extensive experience gained in customer service and merchandising while interning at Augusta National Golf Club during The Masters.

Tabitha Brown

tabitha.brown@fermatapartners.com

Tabitha gained knowledge and interest in licensing while working as a student in the trademark licensing office at the University of Oklahoma. Prior to joining Fermata in April 2014, she held numerous roles in business processes, customer service and technology with IMG Academy, a sports training facility and boarding school in central Florida.

Jim Aronowitz

jim.aronowitz@fermatapartners.com

Jim has over a decade of experience in the licensing industry, providing counsel to collegiate institutions, other licensors, and agents related to complex IP licensing issues, including worldwide anti-counterfeiting and enforcement matters, trademark portfolio strategy and management, social media, domain names, and other internet-related issues. He also negotiates a variety of agreements and oversees corporate social responsibility efforts.

Katie Lentine

katie.lentine@fermatapartners.com

Katie joined the Fermata team in 2015 and supports interaction with collegiate licensees on a day to day basis. She is a graduate of Roanoke College and worked in licensing with the PGA TOUR before joining Fermata.

Heath Price

heath.price@fermatapartners.com

Heath joined Fermata in January 2014. He is a 15-year veteran of college licensing and campus administration.

Brit Gordon

brit.gordon@fermatapartners.com

Brit has worked in the sport licensing industry for nearly 20 years and joined Fermata in 2016 after leading Manchester United’s global licensing business. He is a graduate of Arizona State University.

tim.hawks@fermatapartners.com

Tim brings more than 17 years of licensing industry experience and specializes in business and retail development.  He received a bachelor’s degree from Ole Miss and masters degree from The University of Southern Mississippi. He joined Fermata in 2014.

Ashley Ahner

ashley.ahner@fermatapartners.com

Ashley received both her undergraduate degree in Finance and her MBA from Auburn University. She joined Fermata in 2016 to oversee all royalty accounting after four years at Deloitte in the enterprise risk advisory practice.

Cori Barniak

cori.barniak@fermatapartners.com

Cori joined the company in 2014 and focuses on royalty accounting. She graduated from Indiana University and obtained her Masters in Sports Administration from Georgia State University.

Tyler Elvin

tyler.elvin@fermatapartners.com

Tyler joined Fermata in 2016 after working in the CAA Football department in Nashville in a client support role. He is a graduate of West Virginia University and obtained his Masters at Georgetown University.

Donte Mobley

donte.mobley@fermatapartners.com

Donte is a graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta and later received his Masters degree from Columbia University. He worked in client service and support roles at CAA in Los Angeles prior to joining Fermata in 2015.

Josh Modjeski

josh.modjeski@fermatapartners.com

Josh supports interaction with collegiate licensees on a day to day basis. He joined Fermata in August 2014 after graduating with a marketing degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Kit Walsh

Co-founder & Partner
kit.walsh@fermatapartners.com

Kit Walsh cultivates and monetizes new business opportunities for Fermata clients. He has championed Fermata’s establishment of North America’s first comprehensive consumer products collective for Premier League clubs to further accelerate the sports’ surging demand with next generation consumers. Kit also leads the agency’s representation of iconic sports lifestyle properties, including the PGA Tour, and Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby.

Prior to co-founding Fermata, Kit spent nearly 20 years at CLC. As the company’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, he oversaw the creation and execution of hundreds of national, regional, and local marketing initiatives with global brands including Nike, adidas, Under Armour, Brooks Brothers, VS Pink, and EA Sports. Kit majored in Political Science at Sewanee, The University of the South (’91), where he played basketball for the Sewanee Tigers and served as a journalist for the Sewanee Purple student newspaper.

Derek Eiler

Co-founder & Managing Director
derek.eiler@fermatapartners.com

Derek Eiler spearheads Fermata’s business planning and corporate development, and leads the company’s client acquisition initiatives in the college marketplace. Since July 2014, Fermata has signed agency agreements with 6 of the nation’s top selling collegiate programs. Derek also works in close coordination with CAA Sports to curate progressive opportunities for Fermata’s clients across the company’s internal ecosystem and vast global network of relationships and alliances.

Before building Fermata, Derek was the Managing Director of CLC and led the company through its transition into IMG Worldwide from 2007-2011. Under his direction, CLC represented a $4B retail marketplace for consumer products, ranking 2nd behind only MLB in annual sports licensed sales.

Derek has also served on the boards of several entrepreneurial ventures, including companies with services across the college and consumer products landscape. Derek is a graduate of Bowling Green State University, which honored him with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2002. He also captured a Sports Business Journal 40 under 40 Award in 2009.

Scott Bouyack

Co-founder & Partner
scott.bouyack@fermatapartners.com

Scott Bouyack focuses on developing and executing “portal” and “product” strategies for Fermata’s clients. He works closely with brand owners, licensed manufacturers and retailers to ensure each Fermata client achieves its respective objectives through meaningful and consumer product initiatives. His experience ranges from unlocking modern opportunities for tradition-rich collegiate clients, ushering Premier League clubs into the North American marketplace and uncovering creative opportunities for iconic sports lifestyle brands such as Churchill Downs/Kentucky Derby, the PGA TOUR and Little League Baseball.

Prior to establishing Fermata, Scott enjoyed an 18-year career at The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) ascending from intern to Senior Vice President of Brand and Business Development. The company’s apparel practice increased by nearly $1B (150%) in retail sales under his leadership. An Ohio native, Scott holds an undergraduate degree from Indiana University and a master’s degree from Georgia State University.

Chris Prindiville

Co-founder & Partner
chris.prindiville@fermatapartners.com

Chris Prindiville overseas Fermata’s collegiate practice. He is responsible for business strategy development and tactical program execution across the agency’s partnerships with Georgia, Kentucky, Miami, Notre Dame, Oregon and Wisconsin. In addition, Chris leads Fermata’s eternal quest for consumer intelligence by combining CAA’s research expertise, grassroots insights from college focus groups, and retail data reported by the 1,000 + manufacturers within Fermata’s licensee management platform.

Earlier in his career, Chris spent four years within Nike’s Sports Marketing division where he devoted equal time expanding the brand’s basketball business in Asia, and forging Nike’s sideline partnerships with Top 25 colleges and universities. While at CLC, he opened and ran the company’s San Francisco office, and established the company’s first international enterprise (CLC International) dealing extensively with global licensing agencies, and multinational brands.

Chris is a graduate of the University of Oregon, and a recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University’s Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. He is also the man behind the name Fermata, and the architect of the agency’s once and future brand positioning.