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JOHN NEWBY

Varsity Spirit

EVP/GM, Event Operations

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John Newby is a highly accomplished senior executive with over 30 years of proven success within education, fashion, apparel, camps and events and sporting goods. He leverages extensive business and leadership acumen obtained over a long and impressive career to implement growth strategies, increase revenue and transform businesses. He has been involved in multiple business transactions, including the 2018 purchase of Varsity Brands by Bain Capital for $2.5B. Over the years, John has proven his ability to brand or rebrand an organization, while improving operational processes to maximize revenue and EBITDA growth. His areas of expertise include M&A, due diligence, business transformation, innovation, recruiting & team building, e-commerce, strategy, fundraising, manufacturing, marketing, strategic partnerships & planning, social networking, merchandising and higher education.

 

Currently, John serves as the EVP and GM of Varsity All Star. With his leadership since 2020, Varsity All Star has seen significant year over year revenue and EBITDA growth, forecasted to exceed $124m (+13%) in revenue and $23m (+18%) in EBITDA in 2023. He reorganized the entire division from a brand-based business to a regional based business. Prior to that role, John led a division he created in 2014, IMPACT and VIP Branding, Varsity Brands school partnership program. He ran this division from January of 2017 until March of 2020. In this role, John oversaw all aspects of the IMPACT and VIP Branding programs. He was instrumental in growing the program from $20M to more than $100M in revenue and over $300M of full-term agreements. The IMPACT team achieved over 128% of their goal in 2017 for Varsity Brands and in 2018, achieved over 200% of plan. He also created and led the Varsity Brands Corporate Partnerships program as well as absorbed the Varsity Spirit sponsorship team during this time. John was recently credentialed to deliver Jon Gordon training on three books.

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