Jessica Fergesen, 29

Cedar Rapids Director of Marketing and Community Relations @ Cedar Rapids Kernels

Jessica Fergesen has been a baseball fan all of her life. For six seasons, she has been a significant part of the Cedar Rapids Kernels.
Fergesen does a little bit of everything, including scheduling, writing, and purchasing radio, TV, newspaper and all other advertising in and out of season. She works special events like the hot stove banquet, college tournaments, high school games, charity walks, company picnics, expos and concerts. Occasionally, she will even participate in tarp pulls, setting up tables for concourse displays, changing out garbage and passing out giveaways at the gate.
“The Kernels play 70 home games. However, an additional 60-plus events take place at and around Veterans Memorial Stadium each year,” Jessica says. “Many of these I schedule, lead or am a part of. On most game days, our work day starts at 9 a.m. and isn’t over until 10 or 11 p.m.”
She started her career in 2002 as an intern with the Houston Astros minor league baseball team in Battle Creek, Texas. She soon switched to another minor league team as a group sales representative for the Lugnuts in Lansing, Mich. It wasn’t long before home began calling her name.
“John Rodgers, the voice of the Kernels, was visiting Lansing with the team and he found out that I was on (the Lugnuts) staff and from Iowa,” Jessica says. “He asked that I come meet him in the broadcast booth and he told me about positions that were opening up at the end of the season in Cedar Rapids. We went to lunch the next day and the rest is history.”
Throughout the years, her job has evolved from a sales representative to suite manager to community relations director to her current position as director of marketing and community relations.
“I love to see a big crowd cheering on the Kernels. It has been so much fun to help be a part of some great promotions we have done over the years,” Jessica says. “I will never forget the homecoming ceremony that was held at Vets in 2005 for the 234th Signal Battalion. That ceremony is probably the most memorable experience I have had at this stadium.”
Planning for the Kernels season begins the minute the previous season ends. When next season schedule is created, the staff begins setting game times, booking entertainment and coming up with ideas of how to improve upon the previous season.
The staff takes a two-day retreat to brainstorm ideas on how to make the Kernels experience more fun for the fans. New logos, theme nights and game time changes are created at these outings. After the retreat, they begin selling groups, suites, company outings, school and community nights and corporate sponsorships. There is only about six to seven months to get ready for the next season.
“We try to create lifelong baseball fans,” she says. “I have never regretted my choice to leave Michigan and return home to Iowa.”

— JUSTIN