The Professional Gridiron Group gathered for the 2nd Annual Spring Networking Event on Thursday at Oak Barrel in Valley View. The networking group celebrated the NFL Draft in style with two guest speakers of other non-profit organizations who celebrate football in the local community.
The first guest speaker of the evening was Leslie Graf, Chief Financial Officer of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Leslie has a dynamic career that spans over 20 years of accounting, audit, litigation, and destination
management experience. She shared stories of her past success in financial leadership (notably Destination Cleveland and the Republican National Convention) and how her career has continued to transform now with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is led by passionate individuals, and Leslie was able to portray that with her enthusiasm towards the organization. She also excited the audience with multiple updates and fun happenings that are taking place within the Village! Visit profootballhof.com to learn more.
Coach Steve Opgenorth of Oberlin College then hyped up the crowd with his energy and offered advice using his pillars of success. Coach O’s beliefs and analogies resonated quite a bit with the PGG members, with multiple requesting his services to pump up their teams! Coach O has a 17-year coaching career at the college level and has mentored countless student-athletes. He is entering his third season with the Yeomen after spending the previous five with Baldwin Wallace University. Check out Oberlin football at goyeo.com/sports/football.
Members in attendance of the PGG included those from manufacturing, real estate, engineering consulting, financial service, and education development industries. The mission of the PGG is to provide a platform for members to network and share best practices, and many new relationships were formed. In addition, two other non-profit organizations were in attendance in the GCFCA (gcfca.org) and Sam’s Scholars (coachsams.org) who also have upcoming events!
The networking event was sponsored by All Pro Recruiting. APR was established in 2019 to provide companies with a cohesive solution for recruiting needs. They are a team-oriented, strategic consulting firm that helps organizations throughout the region on permanent and contract staffing solutions.
Visit allprorecruit.com to learn more!
NEXT UP for the PGG: The Inaugural Golf Outing on Monday, June 27! To learn more about the Professional Gridiron Group, sponsorship, and ways of giving back to the game of football.
