Erika Nardini

Ayers began her career working at the legal department of Fidelity Investments, before switching to marketing.[4] She was the senior vice president of sales and marketing at Demand Media.[5] Prior to that, she held executive marketing positions at Yahoo! and Microsoft.[6] From 2013 to 2015, she was the Chief Marketing Officer of AOL.[7]

In 2016, Ayers was named the CEO of Barstool Sports.[8] Ayers oversaw the company's expansion into multimedia, merchandising, streaming and pay-per-view programming.[9] The company's expansion into pay-per-view included the acquisition of amateur boxing league Rough N' Rowdy in 2017.[10]

The valuation of Barstool Sports doubled from $15 million[11] to $30 million during her first year as CEO. It grew to $100 million in 2018.[12] In 2018, Fast Company named Ayers as one of its "Most Creative People in Business", citing Barstool Sports' expansion into multimedia and merchandising during her tenure.[12] That same year, Forbes ranked her 25th on its "Most Powerful Women In U.S. Sports".[13]

In 2019, she was ranked as #19 on The Big Lead's list of "The 75 Most Powerful People in the Sports Media Business."[14] That year, she was included on Crain's New York's "Notable Women in the Business of Sports".[15] Adweek named Ayers as one of its "Most Powerful Women in Sports" in 2017 and 2020.[16]

In 2020, Ayers was elected to the WWE's board of directors and resigned from that position in September 2022.[17] Erika was also on the board of directors at Torchy's Tacos.[18]

In an interview with Digiday, Ayers discussed Barstool Sports' growth during her tenure, from a valuation of $15 million in 2016 to $450 million in 2020.[11] In September 2021, Ayers stated that the company's revenue was expected to exceed $200 million in revenue, doubling the company's $100 million revenue in 2020.[19]

In 2022, under Erika’s leadership, Barstool Sports progressed more into live sports and streaming [20] by hosting and broadcasting its first College Basketball Invitational [21] and the first Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl.[22]

In 2022, Barstool Sports also launched its NIL marketplace platform, TwoYay,[23] which connects college athletes directly to advertisers.[24]

In March 2022, Erika joined the board of directors for the Premier Lacrosse League.[25]

Ayers has been named Forbes’ Most Powerful Women in Sports,[26] recipient of Crain’s Notable Women in Sports,[27] AdWeek’s Most Powerful Women in Sports,[28] Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media,[29] and a top player in the U.S. Betting Space and Podcasting by Business Insider.[30]

Ayers hosts Token CEO, a podcast about business and sports news.[31] She was an early supporter of the Premier Hockey Federation (then National Women's Hockey League), and interviewed NWHL players Kelly Babstock and Rebecca Russo on her podcast.[32]

She is a frequent public speaker, and has given talks at the Milken Institute, CAA World Congress, the MIT Sloan Sports Conference, the SALT Conference,[33] and G2E Las Vegas.[34]

• "CAA World Congress - Erika Nardini". www.sportsbusinessjournal.com. Retrieved 2022-01-03.

• "MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Speaker | Erika Nardini". www.sloansportsconference.com. Retrieved 2022-01-03.

• "SALT — Erika Nardini". SALT. Retrieved 2022-01-03.</ref> In 2020, she spoke at Barrett Sports Media's annual summit.[35]