Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization

Michael Crowley
President, Oakland Athletics

Michael Crowley, one of the top executives in professional sports today, enters his 19th year with the Athletics’ organization and his 18th as team president. He was named to his current position Sept. 28, 1998, and his tenure as president is the longest in Oakland history.

A limited partner in the Athletics ownership group, Crowley is responsible for the overall day-to-day functioning of the Athletics’ organization both on the business and baseball sides of the operation, working directly with owner and managing partner Lew Wolff.

Crowley also serves as managing director of Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes. He led the Earthquakes’ first-year launch in 2008, and assisted in the team’s building of Avaya Stadium, a new state-of-the-art, soccer-only stadium in San Jose that was opened in March, 2015. 

After spending three years in the San Jose office of Price Waterhouse and nine years with I.C.I./Fuller O’Brien Paints, Crowley joined the Athletics organization in July 1997 as vice president and chief financial officer. Considered a key figure in the A’s resurgence as one of baseball’s elite franchises, Crowley has been committed to fielding a championship caliber team with homegrown talent. He works closely with executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane on key player decisions and issues relating to the baseball operations’ overall objectives and philosophies.

Crowley developed a business model with goals and objectives designed to provide an affordable entertainment product on the field, as well as delivering the absolute highest levels of customer service to fans attending games at the O.co Coliseum. While Crowley stays involved with all aspects of the organization’s business affairs, including finance, sales, marketing, public relations and community affairs, he has been at the forefront of building an outstanding team that continues to deliver premium value. Crowley also serves on Major League Baseball’s International Committee.

In 1999, Crowley and his wife, Kathy, were the driving force behind Breast Cancer Awareness Day, which has raised $1.5 million for the American Cancer Society over the last 17 years. Crowley has also served on the Bay Area’s Board of Trustees of KIPP schools, which aims to create a respected, influential and nationwide family of schools that are successful in helping educationally underserved students develop the knowledge, skills and character to succeed in college and the competitive world beyond. He also served on the board of top business executives and community leaders which attempted to land the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in the Bay Area. Crowley also has served on Santa Clara University’s President’s Intercollegiate Athletics Commission and currently sits on the university’s advisory board for the Institute of Sports Law and Ethics.

A native Californian, the 52-year-old Crowley graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1985 with a degree in business administration with an emphasis in accounting. He earned his MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business in 1992. In November of 2002, Crowley was named one of Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal’s “40 Under 40,” honoring the nation’s top sport executives under the age of 40.

Michael resides in Los Gatos, Calif. with his wife, Kathy. The Crowleys have three children.

Ted Griggs is president and general manager of CSN Bay Area and CSN California, both part of NBC Sports Regional Networks. CSN Bay Area and CSN California serve more than four million households in Northern California, Nevada, Southern Oregon and Hawaii. CSN Bay Area, the television home of MLB’s San Francisco Giants, NBA’s Golden State Warriors, and the official regional sports network of the San Francisco 49ers, also features a robust lineup of Emmy Award-winning news, analysis and original programming. CSN California offers live coverage of MLB’s Oakland Athletics, NBA’s Sacramento Kings, NHL’s San Jose Sharks, MLS’s San Jose Earthquakes and is the official regional sports network of the Oakland Raiders.

Collectively, these networks deliver more than 600 live sporting events per year, over 1,500 live studio shows, including SportsNet Central, SportsTalk Live, Pregame Live, Postgame Live, Press Conference Live, as well as compelling digital content, up-to-the-minute scores, highlights and breaking news via www.CSNBayArea.com and www.CSNCalifornia.com.

Day-to-day, Ted is responsible for the operations of the networks, including affiliate relations, advertising sales, programming, production, marketing and public relations. He has been with the network since 1998, first serving as vice president of production and operations, in 2007 as vice president and general manager and in 2012 he was promoted to president. 

In 2007, Griggs oversaw the network's relocation and construction of its state-of-the-art 37,000 square-foot HD studios, newsroom and office space in downtown San Francisco. In 2008, Griggs was ranked first in the San Jose Mercury News’ “Bay Area’s 25 Most Powerful Sports People” and has remained in the top five on the annual list. He was the executive producer for the 2010 “Out. The Glenn Burke Story,” about the first openly gay MLB player, which earned critical acclaim, including nominations for Outstanding Documentary at the annual national GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Awards and at the Northern California Area Emmy Awards. Also, in 2011, the sports news division began producing live daily sports news segments for NBC Bay Area’s 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. During his tenure, the network has won 80 Northern California Emmy Awards and three Beacon Awards. The Beacon Award is cable television’s highest award for public affairs excellence.

He spent 15 years (1982-1997) at Golden Gate Productions (GGP) as a producer, senior producer (1982-1994) and vice president, executive producer (1994-1997). Griggs has worked on numerous sporting events at GGP, including Sports Illustrated For Kids Olympics Special for NBC, World Cup Soccer Preview for ABC, MCI Downhill Replays for NBC and CBS, eleven years of NFL Super Bowl Specials (hosted by John Madden, Dan Dierdorf, and Dick Enberg), twelve years of Pre-Olympic programming for national/international distribution, Stanford University Football, and World Cup Downhill Skiing. While at Trans World International, TWI (IMG), Griggs was a senior producer (1997-98) and produced several network ski series (FOX, NBC, CBS). He also directed events for WNBC and ESPN. Prior to GGP and IMG, Griggs was a sports producer for KRON-TVs Sports Final (1981-1982).

Griggs has also guided CSN’s community relations efforts, which include the All-Star Teacher Award and Comcast Cares Day; programming and promotional support for the Special Olympics of Northern California and the Make-A-Wish Foundation Greater Bay Area Chapter; fundraising support for the Willie Mays Boys and Girls Club at Hunters Point; and is a board member of Coaching Corps and provides promotional support for the annual Coaching Corps Game Changer Awards.

A native of Hayward, Calif. and a graduate of Moreau Catholic High School and San Francisco State University, Griggs resides in San Rafael, Calif. with his wife Amy and has three children, Jace, Griffin and Sydney. He is a past president of the Novato Lacrosse Club, a youth non-profit that provides opportunities for boys and girls ages 7-14 to play lacrosse and to learn life lessons through positive coaching.

Glen Kuiper begins his 13th season in the A’s television booth as the club’s lead play-by-play voice. 

Kuiper has covered the Bay Area baseball scene for Comcast SportsNet since 1992, serving as pre-game host and fill-in play-by-play announcer for both A’s and Giants telecasts. He has also worked on Comcast SportsNet’s Golden State Warrior and San Jose Sharks telecasts, along with numerous collegiate assignments. He has also handled sideline reporting duties for select National Football League games on Fox. Kuiper has won seven Northern California Emmy Awards for his coverage of Bay Area sports teams.

Glen is the youngest brother in a talented broadcasting family. His oldest brother, Duane, is a longtime member of the San Francisco Giants announcing team while older brother, Jeff, produces the Giants Comcast SportsNet Bay Area telecasts.

Kuiper graduated from San Francisco State University with a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting. He also attended the University of New Orleans and spent three years in the minor leagues. A native of Racine, Wis., Kuiper resides in Danville, Calif. with his wife, Amanda and two children, Jack and Annette.

Jim Leahey enters his 10th season with the Oakland Athletics as vice president, sales and marketing. He leads the team’s sales and marketing efforts, including corporate partnerships, tickets, advertising, and promotions. Under his direction, the Athletics have won multiple awards for their advertising campaigns. The “Green Collar Baseball” campaign was most recently recognized by the National Sports Forum with a 2016 first place ADchievement award in the television category. Leahey is spearheading the organization’s efforts to deliver exceptional value through an outstanding fan experience.

Prior to joining the A’s, Leahey spent 14 years with Sony Corporation, working in product development, marketing and general management roles. Spending time in Sony’s US and global operations, he worked in Latin America as general manager and country manager of Sony Peru, and in the United States as general manager and vice president of the Peripherals and Enhancements (accessories) Group. Leahey joined the A’s in December of 2006.

A native of Rhode Island, Leahey earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Brown University and his master’s in business administration from the Harvard Business School. Jim resides in Danville, Calif. with his wife, Kira, and their three children.