Houston Dynamo Football Club
Jessica O’Neill ended her decadelong stint with the Carolina Panthers organization on a high note. After eight years climbing the ticket sales ranks for the NFL team, she jumped at the chance in 2021 to help launch owner David Tepper’s new MLS franchise. Not only would she be working to establish an expansion club, but she would be doing so in an entirely new discipline as head of marketing and communications.
More than 74,000 fans — then a single-game MLS record — packed Bank of America Stadium for the team’s inaugural match in 2022. For O’Neill, it was the culmination of more than a year of hard work and dedication. It was also her last night on the job.
The next morning, O’Neill jumped in her car to make the thousand-mile drive from Charlotte to Houston. The ensuing two years have been a whirlwind.
She was initially hired as the first president of the NWSL’s Houston Dash and has ascended through multiple promotions to president of business operations for owner Ted Segal’s entire soccer portfolio. In addition to the Dash, that includes the MLS’s Dynamo. She has overseen $27 million worth of renovations to Shell Energy Stadium and the construction of a new headquarters for the organization.
“It’s been a time of transition that’s been simultaneously the most challenging and the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done professionally,” O’Neill said. “But it’s also coincided with very challenging and very rewarding times personally.”
Amid her efforts to revitalize the Dynamo and Dash, O’Neill and her husband, Mark, welcomed their first child, a girl, last year.
“That is the biggest success story of the last two years, and the most challenging and most interesting because it’s changed my entire perspective,” O’Neill said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” — Alex Silverman
Jessica O'Neill
President of Business Operations, Houston Dash and Dynamo
Age: 33
Born: Tampa
Education: University of South Carolina, B.S., sport and entertainment management
Family: Spouse, Mark; daughter (10 months)
What my friends/family think I do all day: Shake hands and kiss babies.
How I deal with stress in the workplace: Exercise is my outlet. Usually running.
Causes supported: Youth development through soccer; food insecurity; military and veteran support; cancer awareness and support; and energy sustainability as the pillars of Houston Dynamo and Dash Charities.
App I use most: Apple Maps, given my poor sense of direction.
First social media platform I signed up for: Myspace.
Social media platform I use/follow most today: LinkedIn.
Person in sports business I’d most like to meet: Sandra Douglass Morgan.
Most pressing issue facing my generation is … : Realistic solutions for working parents.
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