Jonathan Becher is president of Sharks Sports & Entertainment, the parent organization for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, three Sharks Ice facilities, and the non-profit Sharks Foundation. A long-time Sharks fan and season ticket holder, Becher is responsible for the organization’s overall strategy with a particular focus on the end-to-end customer experience.
Prior to joining Sharks Sports & Entertainment, Becher spent a decade at SAP in a variety of senior roles, including Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Digital Officer. While at SAP, he oversaw many large-scale sports and entertainment partnerships, including the naming rights agreement for the SAP Center at San Jose. Becher also crafted corporate partnerships with the San Francisco 49ers, the National Hockey League (NHL), and the National Basketball Association (NBA), among others.
A three-time technology company CEO, Becher is on the Board of Directors of multiple organizations, including the Churchill Club, Trintech, Khoros, and Pixlee. He is a frequent speaker at events and a published author on a variety of topics – including his own popular blog Manage By Walking Around (http://jonathanbecher.com).
Becher holds a master’s degree in computer science from Duke University in North Carolina,and a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Virginia.
Professional sports organizations are transforming as customer and fan expectations evolve, all enabled by digital technologies. To learn more about customer experience, we speak with Jonathan Becher, president of Sharks Sports & Entertainment LLC, the parent organization of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks hockey team and three ice sport facilities in Silicon Valley.
What does digital disruption mean for sports and how do teams turn fans into customers? CXOTalk explores these topics with Jonathan Becher, who is president of Sharks Sports & Entertainment, the parent organization of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks hockey team and three ice sport facilities in Silicon Valley.
A key part of the Chief Digital Officer role involves managing tensions because the need for organizational stability and predictability relative to the desire for disruption and change.
Although optimizing operations for continuity brings many benefits, digital transformation requires experimentation and investing in innovation and change. Organizations may struggle with innovations that disrupt existing ways of doing business.
Because digital transformation goes beyond technology and product development into business model change, customer experience must play a central role for every digital business.
B2B selling is no longer just organization to organization, or a deal between one lead decision maker and a sales guy. It’s becoming more people-to-people.
Jonathan Becher is the Chief Digital Officer of SAP. Previously, he was CEO at companies such as NeoVista Software, Accrue Software and Pilot Software. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from Duke University.
