In this Voices in the Field episode, hosts Dr. Jim Reese and Dr. Brittany Jacobs welcome Kerrilyn Curtin, Director of Research at the LPGA and a member of the APUS Sports Management Program advisory council. Kerrilyn walks through her career path – from early experiences at York College (and an unexpected first research opportunity handing out surveys), to a decade at Madison Square Garden, a stint at NBC Universal and a startup research firm, and ultimately eight years at the LPGA. She explains why she calls research the “what if” department: her team’s job is to make the organization smarter by connecting fan insights to decision-making across social, TV viewership, sponsorship, website analytics, and now ticketing – after the LPGA brought ticketing in-house as part of a broader data acquisition strategy.
Kerrilyn shares surprising insights about women’s sports audiences – including that the LPGA’s fan base skews older and male – and how the LPGA uses that data to both attract the right partners and grow younger and female fans through more digital engagement and deeper storytelling. The conversation digs into where data is headed (more personalization, more connected touchpoints, more attribution), how sponsorship activation increasingly revolves around data exchange, and why privacy and opt-ins get complicated across states and global markets. Throughout, Kerrilyn and the hosts emphasize the same core career advice for students: volunteer early, stay curious, ask questions, build relationships, and keep networking—because most jobs, opportunities, and career pivots happen through connections and “three degrees of separation.”
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