For the last nearly eight years, Kelsey Ping has become a champion of marketing and strategy at Riddell, currently serving as Riddell’s Director of Marketing & Strategic Initiatives. In this role, Kelsey focuses on strategy, planning and execution of special projects that support business objectives as well as serving as the day-to-day marketing lead. Examples include the company’s annual sales meeting, multimedia content shoots, and development and production of sales resources in print and digital form. In the past 12 months specifically, Kelsey was responsible for the creation of the 2024 Riddell Catalog, the #1 resource for Riddell’s salesforce. Kelsey manages key strategic partnerships including the NFL’s official licensee and promotional rights for collectible helmets as well as grassroots initiatives like the Play Football movement, and longstanding collaboration as USA Football’s official protective equipment provider. Additionally, she conceptualized the content capture and planning (in partnership with the NFL) for this year’s NFL On-Field Alternates (OFA) launch at Riddell HQ on behalf of various NFL clubs.
Within the walls of Riddell, Kelsey seamlessly helped the business meet crucial deadlines and served as an internal culture and diversity champion. Kelsey was a founding member of Riddell’s Inclusion Committee, which was created to advance inclusion, gender diversity, and communicate Riddell’s stance on these issues internally and more broadly. Kelsey is also the committee leader of the Empowering Women of Riddell resource group, which was created to empower, develop, and celebrate female employees in all roles and act as a support system to foster connections among female employees. For her performance, Kelsey was recognized as a WISE Chicago Woman to Watch, which acknowledges a rising star within the sports industry (in the Greater Chicago area) with less than 10 years of experience who is passionate, innovative, and showcases a commitment to meaningful work. Recently, Kelsey was also recognized as one of the Top Women in Marketing by PR Daily that champions bold, innovative, and visionary women who are elevating brands, breaking barriers within their organization and advancing the marketing profession.
Kelsey’s other responsibilities include managing and growing relationship with Riddell’s key events and partners including:
- The National Football League (NFL) – Supporting the NFL’s grassroots initiatives including Youth and flag football.
- The Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC) – Supporting the growth of the sport’s premier women’s football organization (Riddell is the WNFC’s official protective equipment and reconditioning provider).
- Manning Passing Academy (MPA) – Supporting the camp founded by Archie, Cooper, Peyton and Eli Manning, that helps players realize their potential on and off the football field (Riddell is the Official Protective Equipment and Head Monitoring Partner).
Amongst Kelsey’s many other responsibilities, one other event she manages is serving as the main operations contact for Riddell’s Sales Kickoff 2023-2024 event which included 250+ attendees including sales reps, sales management, key account specialists. During this event, she worked closely with the Executives & Sales leadership.