The Beyond Our Sidelines Podcast is hosted by Ryan Plourde, a former athlete turned sport for development professional and coach.Listen to the conversations, dialogue, and inspiration with individuals, athletes, and organizations that believe strongly in the power that sports have in our communities. The game matters and we seek to explore why.www.beyondoursidelines.com

Currently working with this start-up company to help with capacity building, partnership development, customer service, and product placement and design. As part of this rapidly growing company, I handle the business side of the company as we grow into new markets and expand our reach outside of Ethiopia.

- Assists the President in defining and aligning the mission, vision and goals of FoEF- Oversees partnership development for FoEF both in the US and abroad. Primary responsibilities include fundraising, resource generation, and event sponsorship recruitment.-Chair of the Partnerships sub-committee and in collaboration with Executive Director recruits active members of this committee. - Ensures consistent attendance and active participation at quarterly board meetings is enforced- Since we are an active Board, other duties as necessary for the effective management and operation of FoEF programs and mission.

- Managed a staff of three full-time employees and more than 20 volunteers- Oversaw a 40%+ growth in program participation- Managed an education program that graduated 100% of program youth- Diversified and grew funding sources to include corporate partnerships, community foundations, national grants, yearly campaigns, and individual donors- Developed, stewarded, and renewed numerous strategic corporate partnerships with organizations such as Magnolia Hotels, Coors, Colorado Health, Marley Coffee, Human Bean, Liberty Media, TeleTech, Immunotec, Northern Colorado Soccer Club, Colorado Storm, Kroenke Sports, and many others. - Planned, organized, and facilitated important community events, including a first of its kind "World Refugee Day" International Soccer Tournament

Worked as Program Manager for Peace Corps and Grassroot Soccer (GRS), focusing on implementing and expanding the Peace Corps Skills curriculum and overseeing the flagship Camp GLOW program throughout Ethiopia. Directly responsible for managing more than 400 Peace Corps Volunteers in 5 regions of the country. Additionally, developed, strengthened and supported local partnerships and monitoring and evaluation systems for all of Peace Corps and GRS programs and projects.- Managed 142 Peace Corps Volunteers running Grassroot Soccer across five regions, with programs reaching more than 2,000 youth to date- Planned, coordinated, and ran seven separate Grassroot Soccer trainings over two years- As Camp GLOW coordinator for Peace Corps Ethiopia, directly oversaw 25 summer camps and more than 300 Peace Corps Volunteers in 5 regions across Ethiopia, reaching more than 2,000 youth- Working with local government agencies and NGO's to bring 22,000 indestructible soccer balls from One World Futbol to be distributed throughout Ethiopia- Responsible for monitoring and evaluation, reporting (using salesforce), curriculum and partnership development, event planning, and project reports and editorials

Worked in collaboration with the local agriculture extension office to help build capacity and increase the breadth of the current work in the region. Focused mainly on permagardening, tree nursery development, and family level food security, as well as a personal focus on youthdevelopment and locally initiated health projects- Initiated and Implemented the pilot Grassroot Soccer program for Peace Corps Ethiopia- Organized Malaria training in collaboration with Ministry of Health, USAID, FHI360, and C-Change for 60 rural health extension officers, as well as planned and implemented the distribution of over 13,000 mosquito nets to 10 rural areas outside Alamata- Created, organized, and ran in a 289 KM run through the Tigray region to raise money and awareness for a local NGO working on education in Ethiopia- Organized a nationwide photography project for "Inside Out- Be The Change" to coincide with World Peace Day. Out of 18 countries worldwide, Ethiopia was the only Sub-Saharan African country to participate- Selected by Peace Corps language teachers to give the end of training speech in the local language, Tigrinia- Put together a nationwide art/poetry book that showcased local artists and poets from across Ethiopia

* Responsible for the 24/7 supervision, safety and well-being of a cabin of up to 8 kids* Led various daily activities, including being the activity head for both Baseball and Soccer* Practiced CIS (constant intelligent supervision) for more than 750 kids (ages 6-14) over the summer* Supervised, participated and planned various special days, overnight camping trips and other activities* Responsible for various camp duties such as maintenance, clean-up, set-up and break down of camp

* Responsible for supervision, safety and well-being of all B&GC members* Lead all daily activities in a designated area with varying age groups throughout the day* Head coach for the B&GC Flag Football and Soccer Leagues* Able to improvise and implement activities for groups of 25+ kids* Responsible for various duties such as maintenance, clean-up, set-up and break down

Recruited to be a member of the initial senior level sales team for the Arizona Diamondbacks. As part of this inaugural team, I was responsible for securing sales from and developing relationships with upper level executives (CEO, President, VP) and major corporations in order to meet pre-determined personal, department, and organizational goals. Worked with the rest of the staff to develop sales trainings, and important materials to be used for future industry sales staffs* Managed a multi-million dollar portfolio of executive level clients, corporations, and individuals* Through networking, prospecting, and relationship development, consistently performed at the top of the department in new revenue* Secured sales ranging from $500-$80,000+ using a wide range of sources (cold calls, direct email/mail, corporate presentations, referrals, networking events) and from a variety of organizational types* Responsible for the sale, service and renewal of all accounts* Exceeded individual, department, and organizational goals in each season* Maintained numerous personal and professional business to business relationships, the majority of which were developed organically* Consistently made a minimum of 60 calls/day, with a focus on acquiring new business and developing new relationships* Maintained consistent involvement with the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation and its charities

* Responsible for full menu inventory: selling season tickets, groups tickets, suite and hospitality events* Maintained numerous personalized and professional business to business relationships* Aggressively made a minimum of 55 calls/day, with the focus on acquiring new business* Held game day sales booth duties and other important external appointments* Learned and developed skills in CRM direct track managerial tool* Consistently performed in the top 2 of department reps

* Created and reconfigured client databases * Handled all sales calls coming into the Hall of Fame* Completed and organized weekly, quarterly, and yearly sales reports* General administrative duties, such as filing, faxing, mailing, and copying* Booked group visitation into the Hall of Fame* In charge of sales and accounting for the annual induction weekend