This piece originally appeared in our newsletter, “Carnegie Corner,” Issue No. 5.
Ken Gelman is the Chief Commercial Officer for The Carnegie Initiative (The CI). He has more than 25 years of experience of providing leadership and direction for several premier sports and entertainment properties and emerging brands. Prior to joining The CI, Ken was most recently the Chief Operating Officer of live-event fight sports entity KASAI Elite Grappling based in New York City. Ken also founded G-Funk Sports & Entertainment in 2006 that focused on business and content development, distribution drives, digital marketing solutions and partnership marketing for sports and entertainment brands.
Ken also held executive positions with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the National Hockey League (NHL). He is well-known as one of the initial creators of NHL Center Ice and has been instrumental in launching a broad array of pioneering sports video subscription products and highly adoptive end-user offerings.
CI: What attracted you to joining The Carnegie Initiative? And, since you’ve been here since the beginning, what do you believe is the greatest accomplishment of The CI to date?
KG: Many years ago, I was fortunate to attend an event in New York City where Herb Carnegie was the guest speaker. Herb’s impassioned words left a lasting impression. The person that extended the invite was my colleague at the National Hockey League at the time, Bryant McBride. Fast forward a couple of decades and for the second time, I accepted Bryant’s invitation. He, along with Bernice Carnegie, asked me to join The Carnegie Initiative as Chief Commercial Officer.
It’s been a magical ride over the past (almost) three years since the idea was conceived and a little more than two years since The CI officially launched. In that time, we have achieved a great many things — from hosting groundbreaking gatherings like our two CI Summits in Boston and Toronto, to awarding academic grants to further academic research, to developing programming and events ranging from our Herbert Carnegie Trailblazer Awards program to a first-of-its-kind Disability Skills Competition celebrating the on-ice talents of persons with disabilities. Recently, The CI even helped produce an incredible documentary film, “Beyond Their Years – The Incredible Legacies of Herb Carnegie and Buck O’Neil.”
The accomplishments are many, but what I believe to be our greatest accomplishment as an organization has been our ability to bring people together across the hockey world. We have a mantra that “connectivity and collaboration” is vital to the growth of our sport and the work we have executed reflects that. This work is only made possible by our incredible partners and those individual partnerships is something I am most proud of. Allyship means everything.
CI: How has your experience with The CI differed from your other roles in sports throughout your career?
KG: I have been very fortunate throughout my more than 25 years in the sports and entertainment industry to work for and with some of the biggest and most progressive brands and organizations in the business, ranging from the National Hockey League to emerging startups. This is the very first time however I find myself working in the non-profit sector. It has been an adjustment for me in many ways and the personal rewards have been immense. My work with The CI has been some of the most rewarding work of my entire career. Just knowing the work we are doing every single day directly impacts people in need and supports and provides opportunity for marginalized groups and individuals that would not otherwise have a “voice” within or access to our sport is incredibly fulfilling. And the best part of the story is we’ve only just left the starting blocks on what we expect will be a long and exciting journey.
CI: Was there a particular instance in your life you recall as the moment you fell in love with hockey?
KG: Hockey has been a constant throughout my life, from my youngest days. Watching The “Miracle On Ice” team on television as a kid instantly hooked me as a fan. From there, growing up a New York Islanders fan during their dynasty years and playing street and ice hockey with my friends as a teen secured my fandom and love of the sport. The fact that I got to help shape the business side of the sport early in my career at the NHL was an incredible honor and one that bonded me a “hockey guy” and ultimately led to my appointment with The CI.
CI: What do you feel are some of the most important lessons from hockey that can be applied to life?
KG: Succeeding in any sport is all about teamwork and sharing a belief and a common goal with your teammates. It also takes everyone on the roster all the way up and down the line for the team to become a success. We live that firsthand at The Carnegie Initiative. One of the reasons The CI has ascended is we have a very dedicated team that works together to achieve our goals. Some of our best ideas have come from managers and interns and we encourage everyone to provide independent and diverse opinions and ideas, no matter where they may sit on the org. chart. Championships are won and lost well before you set foot on the ice or field of play and The CI applies these important lessons to our work every day.
CI: What do you deem as the most immediate challenges The CI must focus on to see more progress in making the sport more inclusive and welcoming to all?
KG: You can never have enough support to feed your mission and to that end, The CI needs more allies and partners that believe in our mission to join us. The CI has been fortunate to have such a strong Board of Directors and the benefit of an unparalleled personal network of contacts at every level of the sport. These relationships have greatly helped us establish ourselves as a leader in our field, but the work does not stop there. Our partners have been instrumental to our growth to date, and they have come from many sectors: corporate, governing bodies, educational institutions, individual donors, and more. We must continue to align ourselves with likeminded partners that want to accelerate the sport’s growth by creating more diverse spaces and opportunities. As the NHL’s Kim Davis likes to say, we are part of a “movement, not a moment” and we must do everything to advance that movement here at The CI.