Molly West was promoted in 2007 to Senior Director, Business Operations supporting Advertising Sales. Molly manages the NY and CT ad sales operations team to provide best in class customer service for the ESPN multimedia sales force. Her responsibilities include driving effective post-sales processes for day to day book of business, improving cash flow by millions of dollars by decreasing outstanding bills, maximizing staffing for the growing marketplace, and hiring entry level talent that feeds into next level and beyond Sales and Marketing positions.
In addition to her core responsibilities, Molly serves on a leadership team that created the first ESPN Sales Development Program in 2008. The resulting one-year rotation was designed to provide top notch candidates a global view of the divisions in sales and marketing at ESPN. Ultimately, the result of the program is that participants have the perspective to determine what division best suits their interests and skills.
Molly is passionate about employee development and was selected as both a Mentor and Mentee in the ESPN Mentoring Program. She also initiated a more effective internal process to integrate & welcome new hires and interns.
In 2004, Molly transitioned to ESPN as an Associate Director managing the NY advertising sales operations team. She was promoted to Director in 2006 and focused on implementing the process and technical changes needed to support a growing multimedia sales support team. Over the past 6 years, Molly’s team has grown from 12 to 40, and expanded from supporting Broadcast media to also supporting Digital, Magazine, and Mobile media. Her team’s focus on collections, improving process, and agency relationships increased the company cash flow by $34 million in 2009.
Molly began her career at International Family Entertainment in 1997 as a Sales Assistant. She quickly mastered her position and moved into inventory planning. Seeing a need for process improvements, training, and efficiencies within the department, she developed the first Manager of Sales Assistants position at the Family Channel/Fox Family Channel. After 5 years, she moved into planning management at the newly formed ABC Family Network to work on maximizing commercial inventory.
Molly started her team development/ leadership skills early in her life. She graduated from Cornell in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in Human Services and a certificate in Social Work. Molly was a goalie and elected team captain of the women’s field hockey team, garnering first team All-American honors and Second team All-Ivy League honors. She led her team to their first time bid to the ECAC tournament.
Molly lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with her husband Brian and her 4 year old son Logan.
