Jeff Berding, co-CEO of FC Cincinnati, announced John Durbin will join the team as Chief Commercial Officer effective August 22, 2022. Durbin returns to his home state of Ohio from Pegula Sports and Entertainment in New York to help FCC achieve its vision of being a world-class multifaced sports and entertainment group.
Berding created the Chief Commercial Officer role for the enterprise to establish a solid organizational foundation on which the FC Cincinnati of today can scale. Durbin will oversee all aspects of the organization’s sales team and marketing strategies, leading and managing staff for several departments including Ticket Sales and Service, Partnerships, Consumer Products, Business Intelligence as well as Brand Marketing and Communications.
“We want to better serve our fans and create a better fan experience as we continue to build the FC Cincinnati enterprise. I am delighted an experienced, talented strategist like John Durbin will relocate to Cincinnati to join our leadership team,” said Jeff Berding, co-CEO. “John’s successful branding and marketing campaigns for Pegula Sports and Entertainment resulted in increased fan engagement and revenue across their sports properties.”
John Durbin comes to FCC from Pegula Sports and Entertainment where he served as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Strategy. Over the last three years under that title, he served in several roles with the Buffalo Bills, Sabres, Bandits, and additional Pegula-owned properties. Most recently he oversaw Marketing, Ticketing and Community Relations for the Buffalo Sabres in addition to leading long-term strategic planning projects. Prior to his role as Senior Vice President, Durbin held other marketing leadership roles in the organization.
“FC Cincinnati has shown a dedication to delivering a top tier fan experience and a commitment to bettering the Cincinnati community. I’m thrilled to be joining the team at such a key time for the organization. There’s a strong foundation in place and I look forward to helping advance FCC into the next phase of its history,” John Durbin said.
Durbin began his career as a media buyer and planner for Starcom Media in Chicago where he worked on such clients as the US Army, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Kellogg’s kids brands. He then moved into a creative role with the Publicis-owned Denuo; a consulting agency that specialized in emerging trends of marketing. In his time there he worked on projects around gamification, social, mobile, and loyalty/rewards programs for clients such as Taco Bell, General Mills, and Mercedes-Benz amongst others. His work on Mercedes-Benz was shortlisted for four Cannes Lions in 2011.
Prior to moving to Buffalo, Durbin obtained his MBA from the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon and holds a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Boston College.
Additionally, he has served on the Steering Committee for the National Sports Forum beginning with the 2017 event.
John, his wife and children are relocating to Cincinnati.
