We are thrilled Callum has joined the EngageRM team as our Global Head of Marketing, leading our in-house team and working closely with our current customers to execute on their respective marketing strategies.
Following a 6-year stint in London, Cal returns to his hometown and is more than ready to resume his frightening coffee addiction and watch the Denver Nuggets win a championship in an NBA friendly time zone.
What role has sport played in your life?
CC: It’s always been a huge part of me. My first love was basketball, I’ve played, coached, volunteered, and worked in it – so it’s obviously had quite the effect on me.
More generally, sport has taught me so much. How to work in a team with different types of people, the value of hard work, learning how to lose, great preparation and what it means to be part of a tribe or community.
These all sound a bit cliche but growing up, these are all skills that give you an enormous head start in so many different aspects of life.
Have you always had an interest in sport and knew you wanted to work there?
CC: It’s the ideal situation if you can make your passion your day job, I just wasn’t sure it was possible. The demand of sports positions far outweighs the supply, so you must either be exceptionally good (which I wasn’t) or work crazy hard and make your own luck.
How did you initially break into the sports industry?
CC: The series of events probably started when I volunteered at my local basketball club when I was 18 and was able to build some strong relationships there. My glorious jobs included licking envelopes, stacking chairs, and serving corporate boxes at games.
A few years later, Raelene Joyce, who previously worked at my local basketball club, became the CEO of the state basketball league (Big V) and needed help with data entry. My job was to take these thick, moth-eaten yearbooks and enter all the player and team stats past seasons and manually enter them into a spreadsheet.
So that was all I did for 10-11 hours a day, a few days a week. I wasn’t necessarily looking for a job, but I wanted to put myself in a position to be considered if it ever did.
Then the day came. A full-time traineeship spot opened to be Competition Assistant which I took with both hands and haven’t looked back since.
You lived over in London for 6 years, what spurred the move?
CC: I really needed to mix it up. I was in and around basketball 6 or 7 days a week for multiple years, so I was ready to do something new and take that risk. My brother lived over there which helped, but I figured I would just go travelling for a few months and figure it out once I got to London.
What were some of your highlights from your time in London?
CC: I ended up joining a very fresh start-up called Sullivan & Stanley as the fourth employee.
I walked into the office (house) on my first day and we worked on the kitchen table with 3 of us just hustling, building networks, meeting prospects, and doing deals. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
Six years later, I walked out of a beautiful office in London Bridge with 50 super talented people, several big international clients and a brand that was really respected in the market.
The success was great, but the highlight was being able to scale and maintain that incredible culture that we built at the beginning. That’s no mean feat.
And away from work, being able to just travel to so many places in Europe and build a close network of friends as well was a great experience. Highly recommend.
How then, did you end up at EngageRM, and what drew you to your role?
CC: There were a few reasons to come back to Australia. On a personal level, I recently got engaged to my beautiful fiancé Fenella, and we were ready to move back and be closer to family.
Professionally, I was ready for another challenge. Having cut my teeth in sport early in my career, I was keen to take all my learnings from the business world in London and apply them back here. I love to build things and EngageRM is growing so quickly with a brilliant product and talented people – it was a no brainer.
What are you aiming to achieve with the work that you do?
CC: The main aim, first and foremost is to get EngageRM in front of the US market. My job is made easier when we have already partnered with some of the biggest sports teams on the planet, so expect to hear some stories about how they are using the platform to work more efficiently, engage their fans and drive revenue.
From a more general brand perspective, I want everyone to feel an emotional attachment to the EngageRM brand. Logically, there are so many reasons why the EngageRM platform is great and can help your organisation. But by coupling that with the humans that tap into it and the people in here that are so passionate about it, we’ll get the best of both worlds.
Personally, what’s got you excited about moving back to Melbourne?
CC: The Melbourne food and coffee scene is second to none, so I’m pumped to try every café and restaurant I can in the next few months.
I’m also excited to watch the mighty Geelong Cats play Collingwood at the MCG for round one of the Aussie Rules season. Not to mention the F1, Aussie Open, Melbourne Cup… what a city.
Also, a massive bonus of moving back is that NBA games are in a friendly time zone, so I can watch the Denver Nuggets without getting up a 2am!
Find out what Callum's favourite venue is below
