Gasser Lecture Series Featuring Former CEO of Barstool Sports, Erika Ayers Badan

Saunders College of Business is proud to host the 11th annual Gasser Lecture Series, featuring Erika Ayers Badan, American businesswoman currently serving as CEO at Food52, a service that connects a global community of expert and amateur chefs, and former CEO of the digital media company Barstool Sports. Her highly anticipated book, Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure Is Good, The Great Ones Play Hurt and Other Hard Truths was published in June of 2024.

Join us on November 8, 2024, in RIT's Ingle Auditorium. Admission is free and registration is recommended for the keynote speech Nobody Cares About Your Career.

Register Today!

Event Agenda

11:15 a.m. - Doors Open
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. - Keynote Speech with Q&A in Ingle Auditorium
12:30-2 p.m. - Book Signing and Meet & Greet Lunch Reception in the Fireside Lounge - Student Alumni Union (SAU)
Directions to RIT: Interactive campus map to Ingle Auditorium

This event will be photographed/videoed. By attending, you grant Rochester Institute of Technology (“RIT”) permission to use photographs and/or audio-visual recordings in which you appear, now and in the future, for illustration, promotion, art, editorial, advertising, and trade, or any other purpose.

About Erika Ayers Badan

Ayers Badan was named Barstool’s CEO in 2016 and oversaw the company's expansion into multimedia, merchandising, streaming, and pay-per-view programming. The company's expansion into pay-per-view included the acquisition of amateur boxing league Rough N' Rowdy in 2017. Under her leadership, Barstool Sports’ $15 million valuation in 2016 grew $30 million after just one year, and then to $450 million in 2020. As of her resignation in January 2024, the company’s revenue had grown 5000% since she first assumed the role.

Following Barstool’s exponential growth, Fast Company named Ayers Badan as one of its "Most Creative People in Business" in 2018, citing Barstool Sports' expansion into multimedia and merchandising during her tenure. That same year, Forbes ranked her 25th on its "Most Powerful Women in U.S. Sports.” In 2019, she was ranked #19 on The Big Lead's list of "The 75 Most Powerful People in the Sports Media Business." That year, she was also included on Crain's New York's "Notable Women in the Business of Sports.” Adweek named Ayers as one of its "Most Powerful Women in Sports" in 2017 and 2020.

Learn more about previous Gasser Lecture Series speakers and events