Billie Weiss
Jonathan Hay started with the Red Sox in 2013 as a minimum-wage intern. When he did his taxes that year, the cash value of the ring he received for the team’s World Series title was more than he had earned in six months with the club.
“But I’d never been happier or more emotionally rich, just being a part of something I had a lifelong passion for,” said Hay. “That was a great test for me — ‘If you can do this for eight bucks an hour and it’s still wonderful and exciting, there’s a career here.’”
Jonathan Hay
Senior Vice President, Business Strategy and Analytics, Boston Red Sox / Fenway Sports Group
Age: 40 (turned 40 this spring)
Born: Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia
Education: Harvard, A.B., economics; University of Chicago Booth School of Business, MBA in entrepreneurship and statistics
Family: Spouse, Susanne; children, Calvin (7), Elyse (5), Juliette (2)
What my friends/family think I do all day: Cosplay as Jonah Hill’s character from “Moneyball.”
How I deal with stress in the workplace: Hang out with colleagues and try to discuss anything other than baseball.
Cause supported: The Red Sox Foundation.
App I use most: Tinybeans (for sharing photos of our kids with their grandparents).|
First social media platform I signed up for: I was profile No. 41 on Facebook on account of being in the same fraternity as Mark Zuckerberg in college.
Social media platform I use/follow most today: X.
Person in sports business I’d most like to meet: Adam Silver.
Most pressing issue facing my generation is … : The evolving role of artificial intelligence and how it will impact so many industries and jobs.
Reflecting on Hay’s humble beginnings illustrates how far he’s ascended in coming to lead the Red Sox’s business analytics team and building it from the ground up. The department now has more than a dozen staffers, growing from only two about five years ago.
Hay recently overhauled the management of the Red Sox’s customer data environment, enhanced the data architecture and CRM, and oversaw the migration of that data to the cloud. He also led the Red Sox’s shift to a dynamic pricing structure for single-game tickets, which last year resulted in the club setting a single-season franchise record for gate revenue.
Hay’s impact extends across Fenway Sports Group’s portfolio, including Liverpool Football Club and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Across MLB, he is among the most respected in his field. Hay is the mastermind behind the annual MLB Analytics Summit, which takes place at Fenway Park every March to align with the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. He started it in 2016 and drew 40 attendees. This year it attracted 145 from 28 MLB clubs and the league office.
“It’s been one of the greatest joys and points of pride of my career,” Hay said. “It’s a really fun way for our community to come together.” — Erik Bacharach
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