George Bodenheimer is an ESPN and cable industry pioneer and was the company’s longest-tenured president, a position he held from 1998-2011, overseeing all multimedia sports assets of The Walt Disney Company from 2003-2011 and serving as co-chairman, Disney Media Networks from 2004-2011. He served as Executive Chairman of ESPN, Inc., from 2012-2014. Bodenheimer graduated from Denison University with a degree in economics. He is married with three children.
About Every Town Is a Sports Town: Business Leadership at ESPN, from the Mailroom to the Boardroom
ESPN’s rise is one of the most remarkable stories about business and sports in our time, and nobody can tell it better than George Bodenheimer.
It may be hard to believe, but not long ago, getting sports updates was difficult and frustrating. ESPN changed everything.
George Bodenheimer knows. Initially hired to work in the mailroom, one of Bodenheimer’s first jobs was to pick up sportscaster Dick Vitale at the Hartford airport and drive him to ESPN’s main campus–a couple of trailers in a dirt parking lot. But as ESPN grew, so did George’s status in the company. In fact, Bodenheimer played a major part in making ESPN a daily presence not just here, but all over the world.
In this business leadership memoir–written with bestselling author Donald T. Phillips–Bodenheimer lays out ESPN’s meteoric rise. This is a book for business readers and sports fans alike.
