Michael T. Sherman, presently an independent PR and Sports Marketing consultant in the SF Bay Area, was Vice President of Corporate Relations for Visa International, where he worked for nearly 16 years prior to his retirement in November 2007. At Visa International he was responsible for communication strategies and applications for all global sponsorships and partnerships, including the Olympic Games, the Rugby World Cup, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup events, Visa’s global member meetings, as well as such Visa partnerships as the Walt Disney Company and Marriott. In supporting these programs, he provided a consistent and integrated brand message worldwide and created legacy programs to increase visibility at these events.
Following his retirement in 2007, at Visa’s request he continued to work for Visa Inc. Corporate Communications as a consultant to assist with strategy, tactics, and issues management both prior to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and onsite in Beijing running Visa’s Press Operations.
Prior to his retirement, Sherman coordinated all of Visa’s international public relations programs for six Olympic Games — the Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake, Athens and Torino Olympic Games — as well as the last two Rugby World Cups. He is currently coordinating all PR aspects of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as a consultant and recently completed overall management of the Rugby World Cup 2007. He also launched Visa’s eight-year Olympic Games renewal agreement with the International Olympic Committee and Visa’s ongoing partnership with the NFL. During his tenure at Visa he managed internal and external communications, websites, and PR for brand, travel and entertainment (T&E), partnerships and product launches.
Sherman raised awareness of Visa’s Olympic and Paralympic sponsorship by creating and managing the Visa Press Office, a combined (International/Regional) communications office essential to Visa’s onsite operations. In addition to an extensive international media outreach program around the Games, he created a number of media events to step above the clutter at the Games including community outreach programs at the Paralympic Games for Paralympians, opening festivities at the Visa Olympians Reunion Center, coordinating the global children’s art contest – Visa Olympics of the Imagination, and special “Business of Sponsorship” briefings for business-oriented media. All of these were recognized by media as meaningful, newsworthy events. Additionally he created and maintains strong relationships with the PR groups within the IOC, the 11 TOP Olympic sponsors, FIFA, and the International Rugby Board.
