FanDuel CEO Amy Howe stands out from the gang – despite her diminutive stature.
In a room stuffed with executives in the sports or gambling industry, she is usually one in all the few women.
But Howe is in the highlight and has a megaphone as CEO of the national sports betting market leader. FanDuel announced this week that in the fourth quarter it increased its market share to 50% of legal sports betting in the US
Howe joined Caesars CEO Tom Reeg and Latest England Patriots President Jonathan Kraft on the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference this week to debate the deepening relationship between the betting industry and the sports industry, the necessity for higher technology to amass and retain customers, and the competitive landscape.
Howe’s gender was never mentioned.
But in many conversations – offstage and behind the scenes – it’s clear Howe is a task model for other women in sports and gambling. And here he keeps good company.
Renie Anderson is Executive Vice President and Director of Revenue for the National Football League, which has been working for years to have interaction more women as football fans. Anderson said having women in leadership positions made a difference.
“We’re really working to have the perfect people in the perfect places – be it on the sphere, in the locker room, in the boardroom – leading in those positions,” Anderson told CNBC on the MIT Sloan conference. “We’re working to ensure that we’re not only hiring [women]but we discover them, we train them, we create opportunities for women. We can’t be complacent.”
Jessica Gelman, who co-founded the MIT Sloan Conference, is the CEO of Kraft Analytics Group, an organization that gives sports analytics to groups just like the Latest England Patriots. Her priority is to place more women on the scene.
“Thirty-eight percent of our speakers this yr are women, and that is in my opinion because analytics gives them a unique insight and a unique voice after they’re in the boardroom,” she said. The result, she said, is a more diverse audience and a greater collection of talent.
Gelman, Anderson and Howe are amongst dozens of top women in sports and gambling who strive to network, but additionally mentor and advise younger professionals.
Sport is a microcosm of the broader world, Gelman said: “I hope more women, especially women in senior positions, will use their positions to realize power.”