It started for Kelly in 1990, her freshman year in college. She and her golf teammate went to watch the Minnesota LPGA Classic, the newest stop on the LPGA Tour. The volunteer chairman drove up in a golf cart and asked for help. Before she knew it, Kelly had on a brand new bright green Nature Valley golf shirt and was handing out granola bars at the entrance gate. She volunteered everywhere else she could that week: picking up players at the airport, scoring, marshaling and in the press room. After hours of sitting in the press room with the media and staff, she realized that people actually got PAID to travel with the LPGA Tour and handle the media. How cool!
After graduating from the University of St. Thomas in 1993, Kelly started her event management career in the golf division at International Management Group (IMG). She has worked events of all scopes on the PGA, LPGA, Champions and Nationwide Tours. In 1996, she moved to Las Vegas to launch the LPGA Tour Championship for IMG. She then took a position at R&R Partners (EventsWest) in Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority golf sponsorships account and had the opportunity to work on other projects including NASCAR, ESPN Television and the Las Vegas Bowl. She later moved to Reno, NV to launch the PGA TOUR's Reno-Tahoe Open then moved back to Minnesota in 2001 and went to work for SFX Sports.
As Director of Events for SFX Golf, Kelly had the chance to not only work on TOUR-level events, but also managed a staff that handled a variety of corporate outings and non-profit fundraisers. Projects included: The Marshall Fields Challenge, The Scholarship America Showdown, The Bard Capital Challenge, The Dave Thomas Memorial Classic and many more.
Today, Kelly is powered by 14 years of sponsorship sales and consulting knowledge, vendor management experience, budget expertise and an overwhelming enthusiasm that shows just how much she loves her job.
Kelly and her husband Cullen live in Minneapolis with their two children and the greatest boxer of all time: Zipper the dog.
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