The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Monday that the club has hired Kimberly Hobbs as the team's Vice President of Corporate Partnerships and Premium Sales.
"We are thrilled to bring Kimberly on board to help lead our corporate partnership and premium sales strategies," Chiefs President Mark Donovan said. "She is a highly respected industry professional with years of client service experience right here in Kansas City. We look forward to adding her talents to our existing team and welcoming her into our Chiefs family."
"The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the most storied and respected franchises in the NFL, so it's an honor to be part of this organization," Hobbs said. "I'm excited to work alongside such an exceptional team to help build and promote the Chiefs brand in Kansas City, throughout the region and across the country."
In her role – a newly developed position for the Chiefs – she will oversee new business, renewals, activation and service for corporate partnerships, suites and media rights revenue streams. Her focus will be on building and executing strategies to meet and exceed revenue goals, optimizing social and digital media rights revenue as well as assisting service and activation for all current Chiefs partners and suite members.
Hobbs joins the Chiefs after seven years (2011-17) with the Sprint Center and its parent company, Anschutz Entertainment Group. Most recently, she spent four years as Vice President of Corporate Sales and Services/Partnerships and Premium Services (2014-17) after three years (2011-13) as Director of Corporate Sales and Services. In her roles, she generated and developed new lines of business for the Sprint Center and the AEG Global Partnerships network through multi-year partnerships and premium services while providing strategic direction to the sales team to develop, grow and sell suite leases and premium club memberships.
Prior to her time at Sprint Center, Hobbs served as the Director of Marketing and Activation at Silver Chalice, a Boulder, Colorado-based digital-focused marketing agency with an emphasis on new media assets in online and mobile platforms. She also had stints as a marketing and activations consultant at Digital Sports Ventures in Overland Park, Kansas, and served as the Marketing Manager for Sponsorship Marketing in the North American Tire Division for The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio.
Early in her career, Hobbs spent a decade as the Group Manager for Corporate Sponsorship Marketing at Sprint Nextel Corporation in Overland Park, Kansas, focusing her time on sports and entertainment marketing. In her role, she developed sponsorship marketing strategy and property selection in the NFL, NASCAR, the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, as well as for the Tony Awards and the Sprint Center. Hobbs graduated from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, with a bachelor's degree in journalism and earned a master's in education and athletic administration from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She is a board member for the Women's Intersport Network (WIN for KC), is the Board Chair for the Young Professional Alliance at The University of Kansas Health System, has been involved with Girls on the Run of Greater Kansas City and is on the Kansas City board for the University of Kansas Alumni.
