6-13-2023
MEETING LOCATION CHANGED TO THE COWBOY!!!!
Anne Oakley Event Center: after entering the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, go right at the End of the Trail sculpture and then take a left at the Canyon Princess (cougar) sculpture to go out the doors to the event center.
=>NO LIVESTREAM AVAILABLE!!! NO VIDEO!!!
Pat Fitzgerald is a native Oklahoman with nearly 40 years of experience in various industries, including senior executive positions at Apple and Walt Disney Studios.
Patrick Fitzgerald is a senior executive and business pioneer with over 37 years of experience in various industry’s (Museum/Guest Experiences – National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Technology/Retail – Apple iTunes, Entertainment/Guest Experiences – Walt Disney Studios, Financial Services – Citibank Caribbean & Latin America, Consumer Goods – Campbell soup, and Private Equity – Virgo Investment Group). Pat has an exceptional track record for innovation, execution, leadership, change management, and success and mastery of various disciplines (General Management, Sales/Distribution, Marketing, Operations/Supply chain, and Business Development) with global responsibilities at both Apple and Walt Disney Studios.
Pat is currently the President and CEO of The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum where he is building on the rich Art, Artifacts, Culture, and History of the West through and with the addition of transformational Guest Experiences and Story Telling. This National Museum is a treasure located in the heart of the United States in Oklahoma City and is frequented by Guests from all around the world.
Prior to this current role Pat owned and ran a consulting practice working with investment companies, industry leaders, Entrepreneurs, and Philanthropists to install best practices and drive results. He also recently worked at Virgo, a Private Equity firm based in San Francisco, as an Operating Partner and was engaged in working with and advising Entrepreneurs and mid-sized companies that are seeking operational expertise and capital to realize their potential. Prior to this Pat had a two year stint as a special advisor and Cabinet member to the Governor of Oklahoma in the areas of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Entertainment
for the State of Oklahoma where he led and installed best practices across various economic, educational, state agency, and privately held companies that have made Oklahoma a stronger and more viable place to work and live.
Prior to this Pat worked at Apple as Vice President and General Manager of iTunes where he led global video products development, deals, marketing and merchandising for various products (Movies, TV, Books, Podcasts) while also leading Operations for all of iTunes products as well as leading the Gift Card business. During his tenure they successfully launched the Global Movie business, refined the TV and Podcast businesses, launched the book business, overhauled and scaled the iTunes operations/supply chain to allow for product improvements and easy facilitation and scaling for global expansion as well as significantly growing the Gift Card business.
Prior to Apple, Pat worked at Disney as acting COO for the Home Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Studios where he led the launch of the DVD and BluRay physical products across all Disney Divisions, led and executed the first digital strategy and deals in the Entertainment industry for the Movies, helped develop the future Digital strategic direction for a direct-to-consumer strategy at Disney (Currently called Disney+), and led the first Global retail marketing and branding campaign for the Disney division that is still in place today. He also installed global Sales, Operations/Supply Chain, and Retail Marketing into “Customer
teams” which greatly improved the time to market, service and increased sales velocity and profit. Pat also was called upon to lead many of the key global retail relationships at WalMart, Target, etc. for Disney across product lines and for Global strategies. Notable is his 8 years as SVP/EVP for Disney where he helped build and substantially grow the Home Entertainment market for Disney making it a key element of profit for the studio and the leading studio in the industry comparative sales 7 of the 8 years.
While at Citibank Pat led the sales and distribution strategies for Latin America across all business lines, unifying and installing cross-sell and up-sell techniques and recognition. Pat also led the installation of the first cross platform system for Citibank LA to better serve the customer by seeing all the product relationships on one system and thus improving the ability to cross-sell additional products. In addition, Pat led in the design and installation of “micro” branches to better serve key areas of the targeted consumer while substantially decreasing the cost to serve and helped to roll this design out to Latin America and abroad.
At Campbell Pat held various Sales and Marketing positions and was recognized frequently with Merit awards which are given out to the top 1% of the sales/retail marketing field team. Pat also was part of a cross functional team that led the first business change for the Consumer Packaged Goods market in the area of supply chain by installing a continuous product replenishment (CPR) program for retailers which greatly improved the in-stock ratio and sale for products and the program is widely used in the CPG industry today. Pat and the team received the first ever Dorrance Award from Campbell for this achievement.
Pat also remains very active in several companies at a board level and is actively helping others as a mentor, coach, or advisor
Pat has relocated frequently and through this and his travels has been very fortunate to experience new places and opportunities. Pat received his BS from Southwestern Oklahoma State University with a double major in Marketing & Accounting. Pat moved back to Oklahoma in 2015 with his wife Barb of 35 years and they have a daughter, son, daughter-in-law and two grand daughters who also reside in Oklahoma.
Chair of the Day
Jeff Ewing serves as the EVP & Chief Development Officer of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. In his current position, he oversees all fundraising, donor development, major events, membership programs, and strategic partnerships for this nationally recognized institution of Western heritage and culture.
After graduating from Missouri Baptist University in 1999, Ewing has worked on a variety of sports, community, and entertainment projects across the United States and Canada.
Prior to his current position, Ewing served as the President of Prodigal and the Oklahoma Energy FC. In addition to operating the Energy FC soccer team, Prodigal co-promoted PBR (Professional Bull Riders) events in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, operated OKC Fest, the Bricktown 4th Fest in downtown Oklahoma City, OKC’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, the WinterShoppes at Myriad Gardens and oversaw the Prodigal Sports Group, which represented 15 of the best rodeo and bull riding athletes in the world as well as baseball athletes.
He came to Oklahoma during a lengthy career with Bruno Event Team based in Birmingham, AL. While with Bruno Event Team, he served in various roles including Vice President of the golf and motorsports divisions.
In April 2012, he received the inaugural Outstanding Young Alumni Award from Missouri Baptist University and was also named to the 2015 class of the Achievers Under 40 presented by the Journal Record.
Ewing enjoys working and being involved in community efforts. He is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City Class 34 and Leadership Oklahoma Class 33. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City, the Latino Community Development Agency, the Last Frontier Council -Boy Scouts of America, the S.H.A.R.E. Foundation, and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. He is a member of Rotary Club 29 of Oklahoma City and has participated in events with First Tee of Oklahoma City, Peaceful Family Solutions, Fields and Futures, and Special Olympics Oklahoma. He lives in Edmond, Ok with his wife Abby and son Jack. An avid golfer, he also enjoys hunting, fishing, snow skiing and traveling.