Drew Bolero was recently named to Front Office Sport’s Rising 25 Class of 2021 for his role as Manager, Data Strategy at Navigate. The Front Office Sports Rising 25 Award, established in 2017, was created to honor up and comers in the sports industry. Navigate’s Kevin Kane received the same honor last year as part of the class of 2020.

Front Office Sports selected 25 recipients this year from a pool of nearly 500 nominees. Drew’s impressive list of accomplishments and high-level experience set him apart from the other candidates and earned him the award.

In his time with Navigate, Drew has carried out over 25 projects in valuation and consultation for Navigate clients including:

  • The NBA G League
  • Orlando Magic
  • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Chicago Cubs

He has valued over $400M in sponsorships of all kinds, with a particular expertise in naming rights and jersey patch deals. He also directed Navigate’s data visualization objectives and strategy.

“Drew has been an integral member of the Navigate team from day one, taking over an important and time-consuming league assignment from a departing colleague and making the transition seamless,” said Jeff Nelson, President of Navigate. “That client remained happy throughout the duration of the engagement, and Drew has continued to support our leaders on major assignments with the kind of consistent dependability and positive attitude that is crucial for our success.”

“I’m thrilled to be able to represent Navigate in this year’s Rising 25 class,” said Drew Bolero. “My teammates at Navigate have given me all the resources I could ask for to grow personally and professionally over the past few years—I feel incredibly fortunate being in this position among all these other superstars in the industry.”

Prior to joining Navigate as a Sponsorship Research Intern in 2018, Drew graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Business Analytics and Information Systems from the Henry B. Tippie College of Business. While at Iowa, he co-founded a company that collected and analyzed data on NBA officials to identify tendencies that teams could use to gain a competitive advantage.

Drew will be recognized at the Front Office Sports Rising 25 Award & Gala this fall (date TBA).