Most thought Caroline O’Connor, Miami Marlins president, would discuss how it feels to have shattered one of Major League Baseball’s most impenetrable glass ceilings. But appropriately for someone whose lecture was titled, Beyond the Mound: Journey to Leadership in Major League Baseball, O’Connor snapped off a curveball.
She made it plain that the students seated in front of her were the guiding force behind her visit to the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School. O’Connor had a tantalizing, straightforward message for them: Please view loanDepot Park in Little Havana, as a happy hunting ground if you’re interested in pursuing an internship.
“At the Marlins, we do get a lot of applications for our internship programs,” said O’Connor, who repeatedly emphasized that a two-way street runs between Miami’s pro baseball club and UM. “The first thing we do is, we’ll reach out to department chairs and professors and say, `Hey, we’ve got a handful of really strong resumes. Who stands out in the classroom?’
“For us, we really want to get those shining stars because not only do we want you to intern with us, but we also want you to come back and work with us after you graduate,” added O’Connor, whose talk was moderated by Department of Management Professor Cecily Cooper. “It’s a really good investment to have an intern and grow them and help them to get into the workplace. Our biggest success is when you come back as full-time employees.
“We have marketing roles, ticket sales roles, IT, sports law programs, we have finance, we have accounting, we have just about every department that you would see at any other company,” O’Connor said. “When you have a customer-facing business, it is the employees that can bring a fan back and make somebody’s day.”
She also warned Miami Herbert students that if they’re employed by the Marlins, a casual interrogation is part of the experience.
“Myself as a manager, I learn from all the interns and new employees that come in,” O’Connor revealed. “One of the first things I say is, `Hey, what apps are you using? We want people just like you at our games. How can we attract you to come to our games?’ I think everyone has a valuable experience and valuable input to bring.”
Asking insightful questions, and having a spongelike ability to absorb information, has served O’Connor well throughout her career. A New Jersey native who grew up playing softball, tennis, and basketball, in 2000, O’Connor earned a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems from Rutgers University, followed by an MBA from New York University in 2008.
Someone who appreciates how important mentorship can be to career progression, O’Connor worked for IBM for six years as a senior IT specialist. That was followed by five years as a managing director at Morgan Stanley, and six years with UBS Investment Bank as a director.
O’Connor was working out of UBS’s Manhattan offices when she was confronted with an interesting proposition: Would she be interested in interviewing for a position with the Miami Marlins? It didn’t hurt that the query came from an associate of Derek Jeter, who was a Marlins co-owner at the time and had been a star shortstop for the New York Yankees, O’Connor’s favorite baseball team.
Enjoying her work with UBS and having no sports experience on her resume, an intrigued O’Connor bravely left her comfort zone and traded in Manhattan for Miami in 2017 to become a senior vice president and chief of staff for the Marlins. A promotion to chief operating officer came two years later, capped off with O’Connor being anointed president of business operations in November 2022. A few months earlier, the Minnesota Twins had made Catie Griggs the first female president of business operations for a Major League Baseball team.
“What are some essential qualities that a female leader should have to be successful in a traditionally male industry?” Professor Cooper asked O’Connor.
“I think that they’re not that different than any leader,” O’Connor answered. “As you rise through the ranks, I think there are skills that are very common across leaders. Passion, dedication, and attention to detail. But I think there are some different things that women as leaders bring,” O’Connor added, specifically mentioning empathy and intuition.
Ultimately, O’Connor’s job performance will be pegged to metrics, and she’s seen key upticks in the team’s business data since becoming the Miami Marlins’ president.
“We’ve seen some good success over the past two years,” O’Connor said. “Last year our team went to the postseason, which was really exciting. And then we also saw the response from the fans—our attendance was up 30 percent. The year before that, it was up 15 percent, so we are seeing a building of that connection that we have in the community.
“Recently we had a Marlins Triple Play 5k, which is a new initiative between UM and our Miami Marlins Foundation,” O’Connor noted, expanding on her community-building theme. “It’s really unique as a 5k race, because it goes through our neighborhood in Little Havana and then it actually finishes on our field. To finish the 5K, you run the bases and come across home plate. It was really great and the proceeds go to support brain science at the University of Miami.”
As O’Connor neared the end of her remarks, students were given a few minutes to ask questions of one of the most powerful female executives in Major League Baseball.
“During your time with the Marlins, you’ve seen changes to the ownership group and the managers at the top levels,” first-year MBA candidate Matthew Sussmane told O’Connor. “How do you lead through those transitions?”
“I think that’s when being a leader is the most important,” O’Connor said. “Change in any part of your life is tough, and the workplace is difficult, too. So, I think your job as a leader is to be there for your staff and help them through change. I think that’s when communication is most important, to ensure that everybody understands where they stand when change happens.
“And I think your job as a leader is to give them that comfort, give them that confidence, but more than anything, to realize what they might be feeling.”
