The Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau (CTCSB) has named a director of sports marketing. Joining the meetings and sports event sales and marketing organization will be Robert Murdock.
“Bob Murdock is a well-respected and experienced sales executive in the Northeast U.S.’s sports marketing and convention industries,” explained H. Scott Phelps, interim president, CTCSB.
The public-private partnership was established in 2012, expanding the reach and responsibilities of the former Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau (GHCVB) to cover all of Connecticut. CTCSB works in partnership with the state’s businesses, institutions, nonprofit organizations and surrounding communities to market all of Connecticut – convention and meeting venues, hotels and attractions, and sporting venues
“In his new job, Bob will expand our network of relationships and implement an aggressive sports marketing program for hotels and sports facilities throughout Connecticut,” said Phelps. “He will work with our office’s Sports Marketing Manager Tangier Pritchett and our Connecticut Sports Advisory Board to generate new sporting events and related meeting business that will result in increased numbers of hotel room nights, thereby infusing new dollars into our state’s economy.”
Murdock comes to CTCSB from seven years as director of sales at Destination Worcester in Massachusetts, where he was responsible for promoting and selling the city and its region as a destination for meetings and events. His efforts and the partnerships he nurtured resulted in the city securing two USA Gymnastics American Cup events, the U.S. Synchronized Skating National Championships, the Fed Cup and the U.S. Rowing Masters National Championships.
Before joining Destination Worcester, Murdock served as director of administration for the Massachusetts Sports Partnership and was the event & sales manager/director of business operations for a variety of Boston-area organizations that included professional athletes’ foundations, promotional tours and a World Championship. He collaborated with regional corporate and civic leaders to bid on and secure events, and developed partnerships with sponsors, vendors, venue operators, rights holders, government officials and volunteers.
Murdock’s extensive experience also includes work as an account executive at Millsport Inc., a sports marketing consulting agency in Stamford, Conn. and Foster City, Calif., where he managed relationships for major sports clients and advertising sponsors. His corporate clientele included Visa, Pepsi and International Paper.
Murdock currently serves as treasurer for the New England Society of Convention & Visitors Bureaus (NESCVB), is a member of the Mentoring Committee for the National Association of Sports Commissions (NASC), and of the Games Committee for the Special Olympics of Massachusetts/Winter Games.
He received both a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Penn., and a Master’s degree in Physical Education from Springfield College in Springfield, Mass.
A lifelong sports enthusiast, Murdock was one of only 108 Americans invited to try out for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team in 1988 and finished 21st in the trials and has a Personal Best of 2:17:45. Later, he was a freelance columnist on Running for both MetroSports Boston and Running Times Magazine. The lifelong sports enthusiast also was the Assistant Tournament Director for the McCall’s LPGA Classic in Stratton in the mid-1990s.
