Official Site of the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl
  
  
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Board of Directors Ron Kovas, Board Chairman
Gary Cavalli, Executive Director
The 2009 Emerald Bowl matchup between Boston College and USC achieved a bowl record 5.3 rating, reached nearly 5.3 million households, and was ESPN's third- most-watched college football bowl game ever. The game's rating eclipsed the previous Emerald record of 4.6 for the 2008 game between Miami and California. Cavalli's responsibilities as executive director include the overall management of the game, team selection, conference affiliations, television and radio agreements, title sponsorship, finance and marketing. A three-decade Bay Area sports management executive, he served as Sports Information Director and Associate Athletic Director at Stanford University, his alma mater; and was co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the American Basketball League, a pioneering women's professional league. He has authored a book on Stanford sports and was co-executive producer of the award-winning football documentary "Disposable Heroes." He founded and operated Cavalli & Associates, a marketing and communications firm, for more than two decades and currently is an adjunct professor of sports management at the University of San Francisco. Patrick J. Gallagher, Vice Chairman
Gallagher is co-founder of the Bowl and recently served as Vice Chairman of the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau
SAN FRANCISCO BOWL GAME ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIRECTORS EMERITUS John Marks, Chairman Emeritus John Williams Rich Nichols |
Ron Kovas has over 35 years of professional experience as a CEO and management consultant working with Fortune 500 and small to medium size companies across a broad spectrum of business and marketing related disciplines. He has helped strategize, create and execute marketing programs, re-engineer company organizations and operations, consulted small and emerging companies in developing actionable business plans and assisted companies preparing for sale to third parties. He also has served as CEO of three venture capital-backed start-up companies. Kovas's background includes: 20 years in various senior domestic and international management positions with JWT Group, Inc., the parent company of J. Walter Thompson advertising; Hill & Knowlton Public Relations; and SMRB Group (research company), until the purchase by WPP Group in July 1987; President and CEO of the Southam Business Information Group, specializing in on-line business information, magazines, newsletters and business services; President of Sunset Publishing, immediately following the Lane Family sale to Time Warner; President and co-founder of AIM21, a multimedia archiving software development company subsequently sold to Reuters New Media; Founding CEO of AdKnowledge (nee Focalink), an internet software tools company and sold to CMGI; and President and founding partner of i-traffic, a leading interactive marketing services firm which was sold to Omnicom. Following the sale in 2000, he continued as CEO through the two year "earn-out period". Kovas, along with several associates, formed Venture Management Partners to work with both emerging and established companies in conducting company SWOT analyses for business mission re-positioning, developing Annual Business and Three Year Strategic Plans and in acquisitions, mergers and divestures. He holds degrees from Stanford University (AB History, BS Economics) and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management (MBA).
Co-founder and the only executive director in the contest's eight-year history, Gary Cavalli has brought the game from infancy to rising star in the 35-game Bowl constellation. Cavalli was responsible for creating the first postseason matchup between two premier BCS conferences-the Pac-10 and ACC-that has attracted prime time coverage on ESPN and made the Emerald Bowl one of the highest-rated college bowl games on TV. A new four-year arrangement that covers 2010-13 will see the Pacific-10 link up with the WAC, Army and Navy in the newly-branded Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
As the recently-retired President of Giants Enterprises, LLC, a subsidiary of the San Francisco Giants, Pat Gallagher was responsible for all of the non-baseball ventures for AT&T Park and the company. Giants Enterprises produces over 100 public and private events each year including major concerts, motor sports, football, international soccer, multiple performance runs of Cirque du Soleil and other activities making the spectacular waterfront facility a prominent public assembly venue in the City. Prior to starting Giants Enterprises, Gallagher served primarily as senior vice president of business operations with the Giants during his 30-year career with the club and was a key contributor to the creation and development of privately financed AT&T Park.
