Influential Woman · College Athletics Live Events

Melissa Blankenship

Director, Athletic & Entertainment Facilities, Missouri State University

Springfield, MO

2Awards received

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's of Science in Accounting Degree Missouri State University Degree Master's of Business Administration Member Venue Coalition Member NACDA (National Association for Athletics)

Her Story

About Melissa

I began my career in college athletics 13 years ago as a student employee working as an usher for athletic events while earning my Bachelor's of Science in Accounting at Missouri State University. What started as a part-time job grew into a passion as I became more involved and realized this was the career path I wanted to pursue. I spent time figuring out how my accounting background and athletics could work together, and discovered they're more connected than you might think from a distance. I worked my way up through the ranks, starting as a graduate assistant, then becoming assistant director for Athletic and Entertainment Facilities, then associate director, and was promoted to director in 2022. Since August 2024, I've been serving as Acting Executive Director for Athletic and Entertainment Facilities at Missouri State University after our previous Executive Director unfortunately passed away. In my role, I oversee all booking for special events including concerts, conferences, and any non-Missouri State athletic events in our facilities. My expertise spans revenue generation, facility management, capital projects, scheduling for athletic teams, and managing about 25 full-time employees across maintenance, operations, and marketing. On event days, I'm fully involved from load-in to load-out. On non-event days, I focus on future planning, meeting with university departments, pitching our venue to promoters, preparing for upcoming events, problem-solving, and working with third-party contractors for concessions, security, and parking. My most notable achievement has been leading our team through the devastating loss of our executive director while continuing to be successful and demonstrating resilience. I've also generated 100K in additional event revenue this year through new programs I developed.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Melissa

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

Get involved. This career field is really based on experience, so if you're in college, email your athletic department and get involved. I would also suggest working in various sectors like marketing, facilities, communications, etc., to really figure out what area within the athletics world that you would thrive in. Experience is crucial, whether it's interning, getting a part-time job, or volunteer work, because not only do you get the experience, but you also kind of know what you're signing up for. This career entails a lot of nights and weekends. It's a lot of fun work, but it's also really hard work that when you're on the outside you maybe don't necessarily see. Getting that experience helps you showcase that you are interested and that you've done the work and you know what you're getting yourself into. Continue to show up every day, and even if you start off at an entry-level position that maybe isn't your end role, opportunities are always going to present themselves, whether it's in your current institution or another one. Networking and building connections is also really important. The athletics industry is big, but it's also small, and the likelihood that you're gonna work with someone and meet them in the future is really high.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

The live entertainment industry and college athletics landscape is always changing, and it's being able to consistently keep up with those changes and remain competitive. At my current institution, we don't always have the funding to completely redo the facility to make it top of the line, so the challenge is how do we continue to stay competitive and continue to get clients and succeed when maybe we don't have all the newest technology that's out there, or maybe we don't have the amount of seats that they really would desire in order to host an event. We've been able to do that through offering great customer service. When you are in our venue, you're treated really well, we take care of you, you feel the importance, you feel like you know what you're getting. We do other things to stay competitive within our industry to make sure that we can still be competitive as the future goes on. We're constantly looking at new ways that we can update our facilities and prepare for the future, even with the limitations that happen whenever you're working for an educational institution.

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