PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Leveraged by his strong affinity to Duquesne University, Bob Derda recently was appointed general manager for DUQS Sports Properties, the University’s exclusive athletics multimedia rights holder and property of Learfield Sports. Additionally, Duquesne alum Arielle Love will work alongside Derda as coordinator, business development.
Derda has been responsible for driving revenue; developing and achieving sales and marketing initiatives; and accomplishing organizational goals for professional and minor league teams, sports agencies, college athletics and media companies for more than 25 years. Nine of those years were spent at Duquesne University Athletics, where he served as associate athletic director, external relations supervising marketing, revenue generation, brand building and staff development. He also served as an adjunct professor in the university’s A.J. Palumbo School of Business and School of Leadership and Professional Advancement. Prior to serving with Duquesne, Derda held various senior-level and consultant roles with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Clear Channel Media, and the NBA and WNBA. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Chuck Cooper Foundation.
Love, a former All-American volleyball player for Duquesne in 2014, received her B.S.B.A in Sports Marketing, as well as her MBA in sustainability from the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business. Prior to joining DUQS Sports Properties in a full-time capacity, she had previously interned with the property. Most recently, she served as the MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates’ diversity initiatives intern.
“Our Duquesne team is a great addition to Learfield Sports. Bob’s years of experience in professional and collegiate sports in the Pittsburgh market are a real asset, and Arielle’s service mentality and familiarity with Duquesne provide a valuable perspective,” says Duquesne Director of Athletics David Harper.
Derda will lead all aspects of the Learfield-Duquense relationship, providing corporate partners both traditional and new media opportunities with the Dukes through inventory such as venue signage; event sponsorships and promotion; corporate hospitality; television; digital engagement and visibility via the official athletics website; and radio game broadcasts and coaches’ shows on the Duquesne Sports Network.
In addition to Duquense, Learfield Sports manages the multimedia rights for nearly 120 collegiate properties, and its rich history includes four decades of developing trusted, long-term relationships with some of the most revered institutions and associations in the world of college sports. The company has prominence in all of the major conferences and titles the prestigious Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup with award co-founders NACDA and USA Today. Learfield represents collegiate institutions, conferences and arenas for their respective multimedia rights and sponsorship initiatives, and offers these partners with professional concessions and ticket sales, licensing and trademark consulting, digital platform expertise and venue signage and technology systems through its owned companies. To learn more about Learfield’s history, businesses and job opportunities, visit www.learfieldsports.com.