Our Team

President

Dan Gale, named one of Sports Business Journal's top "Power Player's in Collegiate Athletics," has brokered hundreds of millions in commercial rights contracts benefiting colleges, complex digital and linear rights deals for conferences, multi-million dollars’ worth of naming rights and corporate partnerships, numerous apparel and outfitting partnerships, comprehensive secondary ticket arrangements and seven-figure gift agreements in his career. Dan has obtained experience in all aspects and sides of complex negotiations that he leads for the Leona Marketing Group.   

Dan, who was a two sport All-American athlete at East Stroudsburg University, began his career in intercollegiate athletics working directly on the campuses of small Division II college and two major Division I institutions. Upon graduation with a specialized collegiate sport-focused master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dan transitioned to the multimedia space. He began working for Tar Heel Sports Properties, a division of Learfield Sports, and later extensive work in multimedia rights for CBS Collegiate Sports Properties and holding multiple roles and responsibilities over his tenure.

In his final role at CBS, Dan was the East Region Sales Manager where, in addition to growing sales at the University of Maryland, Towson University and Old Dominion University, Dan was tasked with generating new institutional multimedia rights partnerships for CBS Collegiate Sports Properties throughout the country. Following his departure from CBSCSP, Dan worked with a number of companies to develop their strategy for growth in the collegiate athletics fields of technology and ticketing.   

From the knowledge, relationships, and experiences gained in his career, Dan offers a unique perspective to organizations as he has been on both sides of the negotiating table. In 2016, Dan saw a need for a new type of business in the world of collegiate athletics and founded the Leona Marketing Group. Dan and his company have created two proprietary tools that help organizations evaluate their external revenues, the MAS Evaluation and the L.E.A.P. Index, and continue to assist numerous schools with the RFP Development Process.   

In addition to leading the growth of the Leona Marketing Group, Dan is currently an adjunct professor within VCU Sport Leadership program, a volunteer for Best Buddies International, husband to Stephanie (Clarkson) Gale and father to Katherine Mae and DG3!

Vice President

Lindsey currently serves as Vice President for the Leona Marketing Group.  Ross brings over 20 years of intercollegiate athletics experience, including 10 years in sports media.

Ross is responsible for identifying and developing new business opportunities and revenue streams for Leona and clients, as well as strengthening strategic partnerships and relationships within intercollegiate athletics and the professional sports ecosystem. 

Ross most recently served as Director of Global Rights and Acquisitions at FloSports, a subscription-based sports streaming service. Ross was instrumental in FloSports’ growth in the college landscape, as she helped add partnerships with the BIG EAST, Colonial Athletic Association, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Gulf South Conference, among others. In addition, Ross helped launch FloBaseball after securing deals with the Texas Rangers, Peak Events, and Program 15, and more than tripled the FloFootball lineup following additions such as New Mexico State, UMass and several marquee high school games. 

Ross’ experience in managing and growing strategic relationships earned her the Cynopsis award of “Top Women in Media” in 2019.

Before FloSports, Ross served as Manager of Programming and Acquisitions at ESPN, specifically working on Men’s and Women’s College Basketball. There, Ross managed the construction of the collegiate basketball schedules across all ESPN Networks. Ross, who successfully created new opportunities for higher women's basketball exposure on ESPN and ESPN2, also assisted in negotiations for several NCAA media acquisitions and renewals. 

Prior to her time at the Worldwide Leader of Sports, Ross was Director of Communications at the Atlantic Coast Conference and Assistant Director of Communications at Conference USA. During those stints, Ross assisted in crisis management efforts of events such as Hurricane Katrina and the Yeardley Love murder case, to coordinating media operations for championship events. Before joining the conference ranks, Ross also worked at the University of Texas (Austin), University of Miami (FL), Orange Bowl Committee and Florida Panthers. 

Ross is an alumna of Florida Atlantic University’s MBASport program and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from University of Texas (Austin), where she worked in the athletic department’s sports information office and was a member of the Chi Omega Sorority. 

A native of McKinney, Texas, Ross has two children, Jaxon (10) and Lillie (9), with her husband, Franklin, who is currently Vice President of College Personnel for the Washington Wizards. Ross also has a stepson, Jalen, who played collegiate basketball for Eastern Michigan and Hartford University and is currently playing professionally overseas.

Advisor

A well-respected veteran of the collegiate sports industry and an apparel expert, Sean Sullivan serves the Leona Marketing Group as a Senior Consultant. Sean's focus is on assisting clients with negotiations and structuring of department-wide apparel agreements.

Sean brings over twenty-five years of experience in the apparel industry, most recently from his role as Director of College  Partnerships at Under Armour. During Sean's fifteen-year tenure at Under Armour, revenue and relationships from the collegiate space grew exponentially. Sean was an integral factor in helping Under Armour have a record twelve teams in the 2017 NCAA tournament, with many of those schools signed directly by Sean or his team. 

Prior to Under  Armour, Sean worked for Reebok in their collegiate division helping to outfit many colleges and developing partnerships across many different verticals.