Episode 4: David Perkins, Chief Operating Officer, USA Baseball

Front Office Exchange

Welcome to Episode 4 of the Front Office Exchange podcast where I speak with David Perkins, Chief Operating Officer for USA Baseball. David was my first boss in a full-time role, and then after I moved away, got married and returned to North Carolina, he and USA Baseball CEO Paul Seiler hired me back. In my eight years with David, I learned a ton. I'm not sure if I've ever seen someone devour news and information like him, and as a podcast junkie, he was my first call when I started this podcast when it came to looking for advice. Probably my most vivid memory from my time with "Perk" or "Perkins" - as he is almost universally known - is back in 2003 on my first week on the job, he called me just minutes after the final out was made in an Olympic qualifier that unfathomably left Team USA on the outside of the Athens Olympic Games looking in. Part of my job was going to be to help market USA Baseball as the new show in town of the Triangle-area of North Carolina, but the other part was to help market the organization overall and build on the momentum coming off a gold medal with Tommy Lasorda in Sydney. Needless to say, I was panicking. I remember David being calm, though, and saying, "Don't worry, we'll get through this." And although it wasn't easy, we did. It's been amazing to watching USA Baseball's explosive growth in recent years, and I think you'll enjoy hearing from one of the industry's rare executives that have been with one organization his entire career. Big thanks both to David and to you for listening. For show notes, past episodes and more, please visit us at www.frontofficeexchange.com, on Facebook at Front Office Exchange and on Twitter at @frontofficeexch. Please also feel free to reach out to me directly at [e-mail] and on Twitter at @jakefehling. This and past episodes of Front Office Exchange are available on iTunes and SoundCloud, among other places, and I encourage you to subscribe, share episodes, rate them, add comments, and suggest ideas for future guests.