50 women who have made a positive difference to me – Anna Jensen

2022 - On the 50th anniversary of Title IX, I have been and will continue to shine a light on 50 women who have been amazing teachers, thereby affecting my sports career as well as the careers of other women and men in sport.

Anna Jensen: The Sports Industry is a Field of Dreams

“Field of Dreams” is the memorable ballpark in Dyersville, Iowa created for the 1989 Universal Pictures sports movie starring Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella. A few cornfields down the road is the home of Anna Jensen, a teacher and field experience director who is making dreams come true for students interested in the field of sport business.

This fall, Anna will begin her eighth year as a faculty member and Director of Field Experience in University of Iowa’s Sport and Recreation Management program. Anna is one of our more active professors in our TeamWorkU program and considers students’ abilities to navigate and utilize the platform a key to their professional preparation. Anna has seen the power of professional development & experiential learning throughout her career.

Anna didn’t start her career in sports. She grew up a daughter of business owners and, like many other women, began her career in one of the few professions to which women in her day were directed—retail. As the buyer for several regional department stores and the consolidation of that industry, she was a buyer for women’s apparel. After stint on a merger team allowed for an exit from corporate retail - a leap faith landed Anna in Athens, OH, on the campus of Ohio University.

Ohio U. is the birthplace of Sports Management as a college curriculum and that momentum combined with Anna’s entrepreneurial spark. She became a Business (growth) Consultant to Ohio entrepreneurial technology companies while leading Ohio MBA/MSA students through real-world consulting projects. This led to an Associate Director role in Ohio University’s innovation Center and her own earned Masters in Sports Administration degree soon followed.

In 2014, Anna moved to Iowa City to help grow The University of Iowa’s newly-refocused sports management degree program. Anna teaches alongside her partner, Packy Moran, fulfilling a dream they saw begin to take shape in Athens.

In an industry of startups and dreamers, Iowa is becoming a new birthplace for sport entrepreneurship. The many major and minor league teams employing Anna’s students sing their professors’ praises.

“If you build it, they will come”. We are glad that Anna, Packy and the University of Iowa continue to build it … both the dream and the program.

TeamWork Online is the leading hiring platform and talent community in sports and entertainment. Our mission is to connect talented people with the right employers. If your career has been positively affected by one of the women, please share your comments.