Shows
Azure for Sports PodcastAfZ Episode 25: Nancy Hensley of Mercury/13
The Azure for Sports podcast episode 25 focuses on women's sports, particularly football (soccer), and features guest Nancy Hensley discussing the Mercury 13 project and her role as a founding member.
Highlights:
Mercury 13's Mission: Promoting women's football by investing in and supporting teams, primarily in Europe. The initiative aims to raise the sport's profile and address disparities in resources and data availability compared to men's football.
Impact of Data in Sports: Nancy, with a background in big tech and a focus on data and AI, highlights the crucial role of data in understanding and promoting women's football. The conversation delves...2023-12-3140 minAzure for Sports PodcastEpisode 24 - Interview with Elizabeth Barrord from GitHub CopilotDon't miss the latest Azure for Sports Podcast episode, where we have a special guest from GitHub, Elizabeth Barrord. She will show us how GitHub Copilot can make our lives easier as developers by helping us write better code faster and with fewer errors. Watch us put GitHub Copilot to the test in a LIVE DEMO and see how it can help you modernize your applications!
To learn more about GitHub Copilot, the fantastic tool we used in the demo, visit: https://github.com/features/copilot2023-11-2244 minAzure for Sports PodcastSpecial Giving Episode: Hear from the 318 FoundationJoin exceptional guest co-host Melinda Moyo-Turner as we speak to the amazing 318 Foundation. We get to hear from Founder, and WNBA Champion, Alana Beard, as well as 318 Foundation Program Director, Kristen Kelly.
Please consider donating to the 318 Foundation at the link below.
Foundation Link: https://www.318foundation.org/2023-10-2032 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 23 - Interview with Tinus Le Roux, Founder and CEO, CrowdIQJon and Susanne are joined by Tinus Le Roux, the founder and CEO of CrowdIQ. In this episode, they discuss how the company, using computer vision and complementary technologies, delivers actionable insights to their partners about their crowd composition and behaviors. They also tackle the benefits and potential ethical implications of generative AI.2023-09-2648 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 22 - Interview with Ari Kaplan, Global Head of Evangelism at DatabricksJon and Susanne are delighted to welcome Ari Kaplan to the podcast! Ari is Databrick's Global Head of Evangelism, and a leading influencer in AI, databases, and sports analytics. “The Real Moneyball guy”, the popular movie was partly based on Ari’s analytical and scouting experiences innovating Major League Baseball, and later creating the Cubs and Dodgers analytics departments.
Ari is President of the Independent Investigation into the Fate of Raoul Wallenberg, Sweden's humanitarian hero. His background in
data includes having been President of the worldwide Oracle users group when they acquired MySQL, Java, and Peoplesoft. He travel...2023-08-1848 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 21 - Interview with Sander Schouten and Nicolaas Westerhof, Beyond SportsJon and Susanne are joined by Beyond Sports co-founders Sander Schouten and Nicolaas Westerhof. In the episode, they discuss the genesis of Beyond Sports, as well as their recent collaboration with ESPN on Big City Greens, and their thoughts on how to make sports more accessible and engaging for younger audiences.
Sander J. Schouten
Sander Schouten is the Co-Founder & CEO of a groundbreaking company called Beyond Sports. With a successful career start in the Oil and Gas industry, he realized the need for sustainable energy solutions, leading him to a renewable energy startup...2023-06-2732 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 20: Interview with Chris Gordon, Principal Program ManagerJon and Susanne are joined by Chris Gordon, Principal Program Manager for Worldwide Media & Entertainment. Here they discuss how cloud technology transformed the landscape of live events in the sports industry and gaming, how modernizing live event production has benefitted fans, and teases something to look forward to in a future episode...
About Chris Gordon
Chris Gordon is a Principal Program Manager for Microsoft’s Worldwide Media & Entertainment Industry team. In this role, Chris focuses on assembling first and third-party partner capability into accessible solutions for Microsoft’s M&E global clients with...2023-04-2537 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 19: Interview with Anthony Brock, Sr. Director of Customer Insights & Business Analytics - Indiana PacersJon, Susanne and guest host Jake Switzer are joined by Anthony Brock from the Indiana Pacers. They discussed how customer experience data drives their business, how data and sustainability principles helped shaped the multi-million dollar renovation of the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and their transition from a traditional data warehouse approach to a data lake house infrastructure, utilizing Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks. As a bonus, we express our mutual love of Dolly Parton.
About Anthony Brock
Anthony Brock is the Sr. Director of Customer Insights & Business Analytics at Pacers Sports & Entertainment. His career started in...2023-02-1742 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 18 - Interview with Jeremy Raadt, Senior Director of Baseball Systems, Minnesota TwinsFor the last podcast episode for 2022, Jon and Susanne are joined by guest host Jake Switzer, and special guest, Jeremy Raadt! In this wide-ranging discussion, Jeremy talks about the key benefits and outcomes to the org. in migrating some of their systems to Azure, considerations for collecting and using data, and his thoughts on the next big thing - from a technology perspective - in baseball.
About Jeremy Raadt:
Jeremy Raadt (Senior Director of Baseball Systems) joined the Minnesota Twins eight years ago. With over 25 years of experience as a software engineer in numerous industries, f...2023-01-0242 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 17: Deploying Sports Analytics Architecture on AzureJon and Susanne are joined again by renowned cloud data architect and author Jake Switzer. Here, Jake walks through a live demonstration, featuring a simple yet robust deployment of a scalable sports analytics framework on Azure. Check out the full architecture buildout at Microsoft Learn: https://aka.ms/az-sports-analytics2022-12-0347 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 16: IBC 2022 Recap with Andy Beach, Simon Crownshaw and Eliot SakhartovJon and Susanne are joined by Andy Beach, Simon Crownshaw and Eliot Sakhartov from Microsoft, where they give a lively post-show recap and discussion of the latest and greatest from the IBC 2022 conference.
Andy Beach
Andy Beach is the CTO for Media and Entertainment Industry at Microsoft. In this capacity he is responsible for the technical strategy for our three clouds -Azure, Dynamics, and Office 365 as they relate the M+E industry. He collaborates closely with product groups and account teams to help customers and partners in developing their media related technology solutions and reference a...2022-10-2950 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 15 - Interview with Carl Barton and Alasdair Crawley, FanbaseCarl Barton (Co-Founder and CTO) and Alasdair Crawley (Co-Founder and CEO) of Fanbase join Jon and Susanne on the latest episode of the podcast. Carl and Alasdair discuss the genesis of Fanbase as the world's first sports operating system, some of the challenges they've witnessed sports clubs experience in the past few years as it relates to data, and some of the greatest milestones they've experienced in the growth of their business.
About Carl and Alasdair
Carl joined Fanbase as CTO and co-founder from a background in professional services and software engineering. Before joining Fanbase...2022-10-0444 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 14: Interview with Chris Traeger, Boomtown AcceleratorsJon and Susanne are joined by Christopher (Chris) Traeger, Executive Director of the Comcast SportsTech program for Boomtown Accelerators. They cover Chris’s rich and diverse career across many roles and industries, and how Boomtown’s unique Innovation Platforms - in collaboration with partners like Comcast – are transforming the sports tech space as we know it.
About Chris
Chris Traeger is a sports and entertainment executive with diverse experience at a top 5 global sales agency (Legends), a top 5 sports league (NASCAR), a top 15 sports sponsor (Bank of America) and a top 5 sports marketing agency (Octagon). Chris...2022-09-2349 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 13: Interview with Brett Yorgey & Nick Zanotto, EngageRMIn their first video edition of the podcast, Jon and Susanne talk with Brett Yorgey (Chief Product Officer) and Nick Zanotto (Vice President, North America Development) of EngageRM. The team discusses how EngageRM became a premier business automation, CRM and data analytics platform for sports organizations, how a sound CRM strategy can lead to greater productivity and additional revenue opportunities, and why EngageRM enlists Microsoft as a partner in their work.
More on EngageRM:
Website: engagerm.com
Facebook: facebook.com/engagerm
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/engagerm
YouTube: youtube.com...2022-09-0754 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 12: Interview with Brandon Muto, Founder & CEO of SwooptJon and Susanne talk with Brandon Muto at Swoopt. Swoopt.com was the 1st place winner of the startup competition at the 2022 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
Brandon Muto is the Founder & CEO of Swoopt – a metasearch engine for sports tickets. Prior to Swoopt, Brandon drove product strategy for Baron Davis' sports media platform SLiC and served as Head of Product for an NFT platform BlocSide Sports. Brandon holds a MS in Sports Management from Columbia University and a BSBA in International Business from Georgetown University.
2022-07-1434 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 11: Interview with Reaction TechnologiesJon and Susanne are joined by Brandon Martin and Jalen Martin of Reaction Technologies, whose innovative athlete safety and performance solution company won 2nd place at the 2022 startup competition at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (sponsored by Microsoft for Startups). Brandon and Jalen talk about their personal journey in becoming entrepreneurs, the 5 reasons behind their mission , and how winning the competition has impacted the future of their business.
The Reaction Technologies Team:
Brandon Martin, Founder & CEO
5+ years experience in sports technology, Former athlete, current coach
Jalen Martin, Co-Founder/CMO
2022-06-1631 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 10: Interview with Jake Switzer - Author, "Microsoft Certified Azure Data Fundamentals Study Guide"Jon and Susanne welcome back cloud solution architect Jake Switzer to the podcast for the release of his new book "Microsoft Certified Azure Data Fundamentals Study Guide" (Wiley, 2022). In the episode, they discuss Jake's motivations and experience on writing the book, as well as why technical skilling and certifcation is important for technologists working within sports teams and leagues.2022-06-0136 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 9: Interview with Phil Chang - Director of Basketball Analytics, Los Angeles LakersJon and Susanne welcome Phil Chang to the podcast! In this podcast episode, they discuss data storytelling, the interplay between player performance and development and data/analytics, how data/analytics professionals can make their mark at any stage in their careers and his take on sports tech.
Phil Chang is in his fifth season as Director of Basketball Analytics and Research for the Los Angeles Lakers. His team assists decision-making and data management within Basketball Operations, including areas like player personnel, coaching, scouting, G League, and player health. Phil previously worked in the NBA League Office’s Ba...2022-05-0340 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 8: Interview with John Nisi, Chief Operating Officer - US Azure BusinessJon & Susanne are joined on this episode by John Nisi, where they discuss the power of data in decision-making within the sports industry, data literacy and the importance of ethical artificial intelligence (AI).
John is the General Manager & COO of the US Cloud & Enterprise Business, where he is responsible for the US business, marketing and operations across the cloud and infrastructure portfolio of products. Formerly Worldwide Services CTO for Data and Artificial Intelligence for Microsoft Services, John was responsible for technical strategy, delivery quality, delivery readiness and technical sales support for the D&AI Services organization at...2022-04-2643 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 7: MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference 2022 RecapJon and Susanne are joined by cloud solution architect Jake Switzer, where they recap and discuss key takeaways from the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, held March 4 and 5, 2022.
Jake Switzer has been using technology to build data-oriented solutions since his time as a student at the University of Alabama. He has held delivery and advisory roles at Microsoft for over nine years, including as a consultant and cloud solution architect. Jake has designed and developed data platform and advanced analytics solutions for an assortment of Microsoft enterprise customers to ensure that their specific business needs were met...2022-03-1435 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 6: Sports Tech Predictions for 2022Jon and Susanne discuss tech trends and innovations that they believe will have a significant impact on sports tech for 2022.2022-02-0641 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 5: Cloud Technologies in Media & EntertainmentThe first podcast episode of 2022! Jon and Susanne talk with Scott Bounds on how cloud technologies are transforming M&E areas like sports betting, video production, and fan engagement, and how these innovations can offer unique opportunities to professional sports teams and leagues.
Scott Bounds is a Sr. Director of Customer Success at Microsoft, guiding customers on their business transformation to the cloud. Bounds focuses on content creation and production workflows, asset management, and using Microsoft AI and Cognitive Services for Media and Sports. He is a 27-year veteran of Microsoft, spending over 10 years in the Media an...2022-01-2341 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 4: Sports & The MetaverseJon and Susanne talk with Mike Pell (Envisioneer and the Director of The Microsoft Garage NYC) on one of the most emerging technology areas for 2021, the "Metaverse", and its broader implications to traditional sports organizations.
More about Mike Pell:
Bold, insightful, and uncompromising, Mike Pell is recognized as a world-class designer and industry thought leader in the fields of next gen visualization and smart information. Pell’s evolution from intrepid entrepreneur, to VC-backed startup veteran, to corporate man for Adobe and Microsoft has given him a unique perspective on how to combine business, experience, and tec...2021-12-1948 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 3 - Interview with Mike Downey, Sr. Principal Product ManagerWe talk with Mike Downey, Sr. Principal Product Manager at Microsoft. Mike talks about his extensive sports technology work at Microsoft, with leagues like the NBA and PGA to name a few. Mike also offers his insights on the technology trends that will shape and impact the sports industry in 2022.2021-12-1149 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 2 - It's Never Been A Better Time to Be A Sports Fan: A Deeper Dive Into Fan EngagementHosts Jon Flynn and Susanne Tedrick are joined by Emily Hallinan, Business Applications Sales Executive, for a focused discussion on how professional sports organizations use data to connect with their fans.2021-11-0639 min
Azure for Sports PodcastEpisode 1 - Intros, Fan Engagement & Cloud SecurityMembers of the Azure for Sports team at Microsoft discuss their work in digital fan engagement and cloud security.
Guests:
Jon Flynn, Principal Data & AI Specialist, Azure;
Tash Tahir, Cloud Solution Architect - Apps and Infrastructure, Azure;
Susanne Tedrick, Principal Infrastructure Specialist, Azure
2021-10-2340 min