St. Louis Cardinals

Account Executive

Emalee Steiger, '06

Needless to say, being an account executive for the St. Louis Cardinals has its perks.

There's the privilege of sharing Busch Stadium's workout facilities with the guys on the team. Then there is the whole idea of having your office located inside the same facility that the likes of Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina call their workplace. And, of course, there are the tickets.

Emmalee Steiger, who graduated cum laude from MBU in the spring of 2006, has been working for the St. Louis Cardinals ever since she completed her undergraduate degree. Steiger graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management, a program that within the St. Louis region is only offered at MBU and one other institution. MBU is actually one of only three institutions in Missouri to offer the program. In addition, the MBU program has received national accreditation through the Sport Management Program Review Council.

The sport management program at MBU is designed to assist students in developing skills to organize, administer and facilitate sport programs at the corporate, agency, professional and amateur levels. Opportunities are provided to develop knowledge and skills relevant to the performance of these functions. Included in such opportunities
are internships.

Steiger largely credits the experience she received through her internships with landing her job during a particularly popular time to be associated with the Cardinals. Steiger was offered her job following the Cardinals' 2006 World Series Championship against the Detroit Tigers.

"My program opened a lot of doors," Steiger said. "I learned a lot about networking and my internships gave me what I needed to get in with the Cardinals."

In particular, Steiger said the knowledge she learned from working with season ticket holders as an intern with the River City Rascals, a minor league baseball team located in O'Fallon, Mo., helped her score her job with the Cards. She also completed an internship with the St. Louis Sports Commission.

As a season sales account executive, Steiger works with more than 1,300 clients every year to ensure their experience at Busch is their best ballpark visit, bar-none. That means sometimes taking them to batting practice with the team or maybe something more administrative, like working with vendors to sell the tickets that her clients are going to use.

She also coordinates the Cardinals' Season Tickets Charitable Donation Program, which allows ticket holders to donate tickets to a specific philanthropic organization. Last year, Steiger helped coordinate the donation of more than 500 tickets. A large number of those tickets went to foster care families, Boys & Girls Clubs' youth members, volunteers and as employee recognitions.

"I come from a Cardinals family, so I am a lifelong Cards fan," said the Washington, Mo., native. "To work for them is really a dream come true."