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Fred Gerson
Executive Vice President/ Chief Financial Officer, San Diego Padres Baseball Club
Dan Fumai
Vice President/ Controller, San Diego Padres Baseball Club
On March 22, 2006, students in San Diego State University's Sports Business Management MBA program were pleased to welcome, from the San Diego Padres Baseball Club, Fred Gerson, Executive V.P./ CFO, and Dan Fumai, V.P./ Controller.
Mr. Gerson joined the Padres in July of 2001 as Senior Vice President/ CFO and was appointed to his current post on March 3, 2003. When he arrived at the Padres, Mr. Gerson brought with him 22 years of experience as the chief financial officer for various high technology companies, including the Coin-Operated Games Division of Atari, Inc., and Peter Norton Computing, Inc., the author of the Norton Utilities. He also led two successful initial public offerings, and represented the point man on the sale of two prominent companies to larger, publicly-traded corporations. His experiences proved to be an asset in obtaining the financing for PETCO Park. In addition to his duties with the San Diego Padres, Mr. Gerson also currently serves on the board of directors of Major League Baseball's captive insurance entity, where he works closely with other senior baseball financial executives in shaping insurance products for the needs of the teams.
Prior to joining the San Diego Padres in March 2003, Mr. Fumai spent almost 12 years in public accounting with Price Waterhouse and PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Technology & Entertainment industry groups. In his San Diego office, Mr. Fumai provided accounting advice to clients such as QUALCOMM and the Padres. Prior to moving to San Diego, he worked out of Raleigh, NC and Boston, MA, where he was involved in numerous merger and acquisition deals and in five initial public offerings for companies including Red Hat, Lending Tree, LLC, and Infinium Software. While in Raleigh, Mr. Fumai also served as the lead manager on Capitol Broadcasting, owner of the Durham Bulls.
Together, these men shared an amazing insight into the financial complexities of managing a professional baseball franchise. They discussed with the class the financial benefits realized through construction of the new downtown PETCO Park, and what this enhanced financial leverage translates to on the playing field and in their player development efforts. Mr. Fumai and Mr. Gerson also provided thorough insight into the various reporting requirements levied upon an MLB franchise by the commissioner's office.
This wonderful opportunity would not have been possible without the efforts of Managerial Accounting professor, Dr. Bob Capettini. The students and staff of SDSU's Sports Business Management MBA program would like to thank Dr. Capettini for his hard work in arranging this event, and for his passionate approach to providing the Sports MBA students with access to such first-rate sports business information.
The students and staff of SDSU's Sports MBA program would also like to thank Fred Gerson and Dan Fumai for taking the time to visit our campus and speak to our class. The insight provided was truly remarkable, and is welcomed again anytime.
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