StubHub, the world’s largest ticket marketplace, recognizes Canada as a market with a large potential for growth. Last month, the company announced the appointment of Jeff Poirier as the new Country Manager of StubHub Canada. Jeff will lead the continued expansion in Canada and grow StubHub as an effortless end-to-end experience for Canadian fans.
During his time in Toronto for Canadian Music Week (CMW), I had the opportunity to ask Jeff a few questions about his newly appointed role with StubHub Canada.
HM: Your previous experience was as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs. How has that influenced the work you do with StubHub?
JP: I came into my first role at StubHub focused on [Mergers & Acquisitions], investments and strategy, so aside from it being in a corporate environment, it was very similar to the work I had done before at Goldman Sachs. The difference was that I got to know the StubHub business very well across nearly all functions of the business. That, along with the important relationships I have built, have allowed me a particularly smooth and natural transition into this new role. I work closely with my incredible Canadian team in making sure we stay true to the Canadian fans and do our best to ensure their experiences are second to none with StubHub.
HM: Taking on the Canadian fan-base and market, what can the fans expect from the products you are helping develop for Canada, specifically?
JP: We are excited about a number of product enhancements we’ve been making to our site and mobile app and mobile web offerings for all of our territories. We are dedicated to providing a seamless experience for fans to be able to plan events they want to go to. This means providing them tools and an experience to do everything from initially discovering the events through our personalized recommendation tools; to giving more background information, allowing them to research more about the events; to planning the events with friends, getting the tickets, sharing the experience and more. Right now we have our StubHub Music concert discovery iOS app that can scan your music library and make recommendations of events you don’t want to miss, recommend other acts you might like and much more based on your music listening preference.
Similarly, our StubHub app for android and iOS recommends events across sports, music, theatre and more, has content about scores, team stats and stories with content partners ESPN and makes mobile ticketing easier – also a key feature of our StubHub App is it’s on the Apple Watch. As we develop these products and build out these experiences for all of our fans in North America and the UK, we’re also looking at improvements for the Canadian fan’s experience. We know that there is a need to support transactions with the Canadian dollar and that offering a French language site are things that can enhance their experiences overall and something we’re looking forward to being able to offer, among a number of other plans.
HM: Besides Toronto Rock, any other hints on some of the partners that will be joining with the StubHub Canada team?
JP: I can’t hint at any particular partners at the moment but we are definitely looking into how we can work with current partners in a more integrated fashion to enhance the event-going experience. All our partners help us offer a more seamless and robust experience in the whole event planning process. Similarly, we’ll look to bring on new partners that can work with us in these efforts.
HM: For those who may not be aware, could you explain the StubHub Rising Star initiative?
JP: StubHub’s Rising Star program is our way of giving back to fans and future performers and athletes. Through the Rising Star program, we spotlight local, grassroots charities for at-risk youth through sports, music and arts programs. We provide support to them through not only grants to help financially support them from the StubHub Foundation (a corporate advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation) but also by offering our platform and resources in a number of ways to support the programs.
In Canada, our first Rising Star is Unity, which is dedicated to teaching youth how to express themselves artistically to make positive life choices. They foster more productive citizens, safer schools and, ultimately, a healthier community from their programs dedicated to performance art and they have made a tremendous impact on children across Canada. In addition to a two-year grant that we’ve provided them, we’ve offered ticketing support for some of their major fundraising events and our staff stays frequently involved and supportive of the organization.
HM: Lastly, what does this appointments as StubHub’s Canada Country Manager mean to you professionally and personally?
JP: Professionally, this is exactly where I want to be: leading a great team, in an operational role, where there is immense opportunity in the Canada market. I think we are well positioned to continue building our business to serve fans here in Canada and I’m genuinely excited to get it done.
Personally, it’s sort of ironic. I always knew of my French Canadian roots on both sides of my family. Starting in the late 1800’s, I had grandparents of grandparents born and living in Montreal and other parts of eastern Canada. I would have never guessed that one day I would find myself as the Canada Country Manager of StubHub. While I will be spending a great deal of time away from my wife and kids back in San Francisco, they are supportive and understand this is a great opportunity for which I am thankful.
From my perspective, it seems StubHub Canada has gained a very valuable team leader in Jeff. It is great to hear how he sees the Canadian version of the site and apps expanding, which will help fans not only attend some of their favourite events, but also discover some new interests. The company’s work with Unity in Toronto is also outstanding. Looks like good changes are coming for the company and for Jeff, as well.
StubHub is an eBay company (NASDAQ: EBAY). For more information on StubHub, visit StubHub.com.
