The Rose City Rollers, an increasingly beloved Roller Derby unit that calls Portland home, have become a bit of a religion to those participate in and who follow the league’s various incarnations.
There are those who skate on one of the league’s two traveling teams, those who occupy spots on the Rollers’ rec teams and an effort designed to attract junior skaters.
We caught up with Kim Stegeman, the group’s executive director, this week to talk about how the team operates. We came away very impressed with the strategies, borrowed from her business background (she worked for the ad agency Davis Elen before launching the Rollers), that guide the organization.
Like all good businesses, she performs plenty of research and uses the metrics to inform her choices. For instance, as she seeks a new practice space for the growing Rollers group, she’s studied the locales of skaters’ homes to ensure they can reach their destination efficientlyS
She’s also not above firing sponsors, much in the same way an ad agency will jettison a burdensome client, if they prove to be high-maintenance or otherwise challenging.
Comments are closed.