Virtual roundtable: Female leaders in MiLB

Earlier this month, the Miami Marlins named Kim Ng the first female general manager in the Major Leagues, joining a growing list of inspiring executives in affiliated baseball.

In the wake of that historic news, six senior leaders from Minor League clubs came together virtually to exchange stories, celebrate Ng’s accomplishments and offer their own advice for success. Joining MiLB.com’s Kelsie Heneghan were:

Laurie Schlender: Triple-A Omaha, vice president and general manager
Katie Beekman: Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, general manager
Emily Jaenson: Triple-A Reno, general manager
Christine Kavic: Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore, CFO and co-general manager
Katie Dannemiller: Class A Greensboro, vice president of baseball operations
Jen Yorko: Class A Lake County, general manager

Unlike their Major League counterparts, Minor League GMs and baseball ops staff don’t have player trades and contracts on which to focus, but that doesn’t mean their days aren’t packed with tasks crucial to their teams' success. While MiLB employees are used to wearing a lot of different hats, job descriptions have expanded even further this year as the COVID-19 pandemic and canceled seasons affected staffing.

“I think we can classify ourselves as Jills of all trades,” Jaenson said. “We do a little bit of everything to keep the business running.”

Kim Ng has made history. pic.twitter.com/wGHpMaTnPh

— MLB (@MLB) November 13, 2020

The executives took a break from selling suites and managing philanthropic efforts to share some of the biggest challenges they face as women in a traditionally male-dominated industry. They discussed people assuming they’re not in charge and debated the importance of acknowledging gender in the workplace at all.

Ng’s historic hiring brings the question of "Does it matter that she’s a 'first woman?’"

Jaenson thought back to when she was first hired in 2018, becoming the first female GM at the Triple-A level in 20 years. Initially, she did not understand why her gender was in every headline about her job. Then the thank yous came pouring in.

“One woman after another or one girl after another would come up to me and say things like, ‘I didn’t know I could do that until I saw you,’” Jaenson said. “And so once I had a shifted perspective on what others may view that position as or what it should have been is when my mind really started to shift along the spectrum.”

A similar experience stood out to Kavic, who just three years ago came from a “not male-dominated industry.” Although there were several women who'd been in baseball longer than her, they never thought they could advance within the business before she took her senior role.

“I think it’s important to make it known that we can and we will continue to move forward and can do just as good, if not better jobs in some areas,” she said.

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Dannemiller added Ng is a role model not just because of the representation she brings, but also because of the way she carries herself.

“The way she has a very confident voice, yet she’s very open and very much appreciative of her role and she appears to me to be a wonderful individual in a team environment,” Dannemiller said. “She embraces everyone’s opinions, everybody’s ideas and now she’s going to have the luxury of maybe being the ultimate authority in her very humble manner.”

Aside from the mental roadblock, another obstacle to having more women in management roles is having more women interested in breaking into sports in general. Yorko said if they have an intern class of eight, only two may be women. But she has a few ideas on how to fix that.

“I think maybe we can start by advising some younger females about what the baseball world could really offer them,” she said. “It’s not just maybe knowing baseball on the field, but it’s event planning and it’s accounting and all these other jobs that maybe they don’t know are available.”

Being in sports for two decades, Beekman has seen a lot of change over the years. She is encouraged by her young staff with the RailRiders, noting if women can continue to break down barriers and occupy the highest seats, one day the headlines and plaques won’t need to point out gender, it will simply be about the merits that got that a woman to the top spot.

“Every female that’s coming in is ready to take over the world and talk about sitting in the GM’s seat or going on to work for the Yankees or whoever else they want to work for,” Beekman said. “I’m finding that the empowerment of females coming into sports and the mind-set that people are coming in with now is much stronger than it used to be.

“Now are we there where we need to be? No. I don’t think we’re anywhere close, but compared to a year ago or even five years ago or even 10 years ago, we’ve made leaps and bounds. So we’re definitely headed in the right direction, but there’s still a long road ahead of us.”