# Erika Ayers Badan

Erika Ayers Badan (formerly Nardini; born November 6, 1975) is an American businesswoman and CEO of Food52.
Badan served as the first CEO of Barstool Sports from 2016 to 2024.

## Early life and education

Badan spent much of her childhood in New Hampshire and Vermont. She received a bachelor's degree in sociology from Colby College in Maine.

## Career
### 1998–2015: Early career, marketing

Badan began her career working at the legal department of Fidelity Investments, before switching to marketing. She was the senior vice president of sales and marketing at Demand Media. Prior to that, she held executive marketing positions at Yahoo! and Microsoft. From January 2013 to December 2014, she was the chief marketing officer of AOL. Ayers was then the president and chief revenue officer of New York-based start up Bkstg.

### 2016–2024: CEO of Barstool Sports

In July 2016, Badan was named the CEO of Barstool Sports. Badan oversaw the company's expansion into multimedia, merchandising, streaming and pay-per-view programming. The company's expansion into pay-per-view included the acquisition of amateur boxing league Rough N' Rowdy in 2017.
The valuation of Barstool Sports doubled from $15 million to $30 million during her first year as CEO. It grew to $100 million in 2018. In 2018, Fast Company named Badan as one of its "Most Creative People in Business", citing Barstool Sports' expansion into multimedia and merchandising during her tenure. That same year, Forbes ranked her 25th on its "Most Powerful Women In U.S. Sports".
In 2019, she was ranked as #19 on The Big Lead's list of "The 75 Most Powerful People in the Sports Media Business." That year, she was included on Crain's New York's "Notable Women in the Business of Sports". Adweek named Badan as one of its "Most Powerful Women in Sports" in 2017 and 2020.
In 2020, Badan was elected to the WWE's board of directors, resigning from that position in September 2022. Erika was also on the board of directors at Torchy's Tacos.
In an interview with Digiday, Badan discussed Barstool Sports' growth during her tenure, from a valuation of $15 million in 2016 to $450 million in 2020. In September 2021, Badan stated that the company's revenue was expected to exceed $200 million in revenue, doubling the company's $100 million revenue in 2020.
In 2022, under Badan's leadership, Barstool Sports progressed more into live sports and streaming by hosting and broadcasting its first College Basketball Invitational and the first Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl.
In 2022, Barstool Sports also launched its NIL marketplace platform, TwoYay, which connects college athletes directly to advertisers.
In March 2022, Erika joined the board of directors for the Premier Lacrosse League.
Badan has been named Forbes' Most Powerful Women in Sports, recipient of Crain's Notable Women in Sports, AdWeek's Most Powerful Women in Sports, Cynopsis’ Top Women in Media, a top player in the U.S. Betting Space and Podcasting by Business Insider, and one of Variety's Most Impactful Women in Entertainment of 2023.
In the September 2023 issue of Vanity Fair, Badan was featured in a lengthy article about driving the success of Barstool Sports.
After more than seven years at Barstool, Badan resigned as CEO on January 16, 2024.
On January 15, 2024, the New York Post reported that Badan would be departing Barstool Sports. The next day, she announced in a video on X that she was stepping down as CEO of Barstool Sports.

### Since 2024: Food52

In April 2024, Badan was named CEO of the culinary, lifestyle and homeware company, Food52.
She serves on the boards of global public safety technology leader AXON Enterprise, The Premier Lacrosse League, VICE, and Malaria No More. She is an advisor to Quinn.

### Podcast host and public speaking

Badan is the host of the podcast Work, where she navigates what’s great about work, what’s terrible at work, and what you need to know to make work, work for you.
In 2023, Badan ended her podcast Token CEO, which was about business and sports news. She was an early supporter of the Premier Hockey Federation (then National Women's Hockey League), and interviewed NWHL players Kelly Babstock and Rebecca Russo on her podcast.
In 2023, Badan began hosting a daily 1:1 social media series where she answers fan-submitted work-related questions and gives career advice.
She is a frequent public speaker, and has given talks at the Milken Institute, CAA World Congress, the MIT Sloan Sports Conference, the SALT Conference, G2E Las Vegas, and the Barrett Sports Media's annual summit.

### Publications

Badan's debut book, Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure Is Good, the Great Ones Play Hurt, and Other Hard Truths, was published on June 11, 2024, by St. Martin's Press. Intertwined with anecdotes from her own career, Erika shares insights into how work really works and how you can get it to work for you.
Badan also writes the newsletter The Great Ones Play Hurt.