About
Life is what you make it.
I’m an artist, creator, traveller, speaker and athlete turned sports marketer. I push the limits of what’s possible in art, sport, technology and life.
Georgia Sapounas is VP, AI Strategy & Transformation at Rock Entertainment Group, the organization behind the Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Sirens, Cleveland Monsters, Cleveland Charge and Rocket Arena, where she builds the systems, education and governance that help teams adopt AI across the organization.
Before AI, she spent more than a decade in digital, growth marketing, loyalty, data and content for two of the biggest stages in sport. At the Cleveland Cavaliers she rose from Director to Vice President of Digital Products and Innovation. She was the architect of Cavs Rewards, a first-of-its-kind loyalty platform in professional sports, built on secure card-linking technology, that connects everyday fan behavior to partner ecosystems and team experiences. She grew Cavs ID to 125K+ registered fans and generated $8M+ a year in digital partnership revenue. Before that, she led digital platforms, content, data strategy and digital partnerships for Team Canada across three Olympic Games, growing its social channels from 200,000 to 2 million followers and creating the Canadian Olympic Club, one of the earliest national fan identity and rewards platforms in sport, which reached nearly half a million registered members in its first three years.
Across Team Canada and the Cavaliers, her work focuses on building scalable systems that strengthen direct relationships between teams, partners and fans.
Before her career in digital, she spent nearly a decade on the Canadian National Team, becoming a 4x National Champion and World Bronze Medallist in synchronized skating. She is also an international speaker, having spoken at 48 events, from the IOC Marketing Seminar in Rome to Leaders Week in New York.
Why it works
AI transformation works better when you have run the business it is changing.
AI OS starts with real use cases, not tools, because I have spent my career inside the work it changes.
Growth & digital marketing
Grew Team Canada's social channels from 200K to 2 million followers. Most social interactions of any National Olympic Committee at PyeongChang 2018. Scaled campaign and paid media efforts to drive Olympic Club membership, and an 800% increase in Olympic.ca visits at Sochi 2014 over London 2012.
Loyalty & CRM
Architect of Cavs Rewards, the first card-linked loyalty platform in major league sports: 21,000+ fans and 4.6M+ consumer transactions after its first year. Earlier, the Canadian Olympic Club, a social-login, gamified fan club that reached nearly half a million members.
Data & customer identity
Cavs ID grew to 125K+ registered fans. A new single sign-on provider and progressive profiling took the average fan profile to 8 unique data points, which powers personalization and lifecycle marketing across CRM, email and SMS.
Content & social
Led all Team Canada content and creative, social and video production for seven years. #WeAreWinter, the most used hashtag of Sochi 2014 after #Sochi2014. 1,600 personalized videos delivered per season inside the Cavs app.
Digital products
GameDay+ and the Cavs app, with an 83% lift in downloads from personalization and automated video. Cavs Gold Pass, one of the NBA's earliest web3 access and loyalty experiences. Olympic.ca, which won three Gold awards.
Partnerships & monetization
$8M+ a year in digital partnership revenue at the Cavs. At the COC, built the branded-content sales strategy and valuation method that brought in over half a million dollars of new revenue in six months. Partners include Coca-Cola, Visa, Samsung, Toyota and RBC.
What drives me
It’s all about connection
Fuelled by curiosity, passion and pushing limits.
Driven by competitiveness and a need for continuous momentum.
Fulfilled by connection, contribution and creation.
Athlete first
Twenty years on the ice
I started skating at four and synchronized skating at eight. For twenty years, skating was my biggest passion. I loved the sound of an edge purring in the ice, the wind on my body, gaining speed, and simply feeling free.
Competing on the world stage with 20 of your closest friends and teammates was an incredible experience. A team that trains together every day at an elite level and works toward a common goal is the best life training there is. We went through the biggest ups and the biggest downs together. This team was a family. We had huge successes and huge failures. What a ride.
4x Canadian National Champion. World Bronze Medallist. Almost a decade on the Canadian National Team.
National Champion
Synchronized skating · World Bronze Medallist
Track record
Large organizations, built from nothing
The through-line isn’t sports or AI. It’s arriving somewhere before the capability exists and building it.
Cleveland Cavaliers / Rock Entertainment Group
VP, AI Strategy & Transformation
- Own the commercial AI vision, strategy and prioritization framework across revenue growth, productivity and fan experience
- Built AI OS, the internal operating system for organizational AI adoption
- Lead AI literacy and workforce enablement, and move initiatives from experiment to scalable capability with measurable outcomes
VP, Digital Products & Innovation
- Architect of Cavs Rewards, a card-linked loyalty platform and a first in major league sports: 21,000+ fans and 4.6M+ transactions after year one, high six-figure sponsorship revenue in year one
- Grew Cavs ID to 125K+ registered fans; implemented a new single sign-on provider and progressive profiling
- $8M+ a year in digital partnership revenue; Cavs app downloads up 83% through personalization
- Launched Cavs Gold Pass, one of the NBA's earliest web3-enabled access and loyalty experiences
- Led growth marketing, loyalty, CRM, email, SMS, augmented reality and gamification across five franchises and the venue
Canadian Olympic Committee
Director, Digital
- Led a team of ten across all Team Canada digital: brand strategy, products, content, creative and video, social, business intelligence and monetization
- Grew Team Canada social channels from 200K to 2 million; most social interactions of any National Olympic Committee at PyeongChang 2018
- #WeAreWinter, the most used hashtag globally during Sochi 2014 after #Sochi2014
- Canadian Olympic Club, the first gamified, social-login fan club for any National Olympic Team
- Created the branded-content sales strategy that brought in over half a million dollars of incremental revenue in six months
- Activated partners including Coca-Cola, Visa, P&G, Samsung, Toyota and RBC
- First Facebook Live studio at the Olympics (Rio 2016); the Maple Mirror with Twitter
lululemon athletica, Ontario Real Estate Association, BMO
Digital, social and community roles
- Community and ambassador program for lululemon from 2007
- Social media strategy, governance and content for the Ontario Real Estate Association, plus the OREA blog and app
- Social campaigns for BMO with the Canadian Hockey League, Toronto FC, AIR MILES and MasterCard
- Independent consultant; brand, digital and social
- University of Toronto, Visual Culture, Communication and Information Technology. Sheridan College, Digital Communications
Education & recognition
Where the foundations came from
- University of Toronto: Visual Culture, Communication and Information Technology
- Sheridan College: Diploma, Digital Communications
- Smith School of Business at Queen’s University: Queen’s Executive Education, Business Administration and Management
- 4x Canadian National Champion, synchronized skating
- World Bronze Medallist, synchronized skating
Beyond the title
The human behind it all
Almost a decade on the Canadian National Team
4x National Champion and World Bronze Medallist in synchronized skating. What I believe about coaching, culture, repetition and continuous improvement, I learned there first.
Portraits, florals and bending the rules
One definition of creativity is “characterized by sophisticated bending of the rules or conventions,” and I'm about that life. The first thing I saved up for, at six years old, was a camera.
See the work →
42 countries, most of them solo
Asia, South America, North America, Europe and Australia / Oceania. Let's spread joy, live passionately and take the road less travelled. We gotta live a little while we can.
Wander with me →
Help people play full out
My personal development company. The goal isn't more. The goal is more of you.
Visit Win at Life →FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Who is Georgia Sapounas?
Georgia Sapounas is an artist, creator, traveller, speaker and athlete turned sports marketer, now an AI transformation leader, pushing the limits of what's possible in art, sport, technology and life. She is VP, AI Strategy & Transformation at Rock Entertainment Group (Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Sirens, Cleveland Monsters, Cleveland Charge, Rocket Arena). She spent seven years leading Team Canada's digital fan experience across three Olympic Games, and is a former Canadian National Team synchronized skater (4x National Champion, World Bronze Medallist).
What is AI OS?
AI OS is an internal operating system for organizational AI adoption that Georgia built. It has seven parts: an Opportunities Dashboard, an AI Pipeline, AI Wins, Idea Submission, How We Made It, a Prompt Library and an AI Training Camp.
Does Georgia speak at events?
Yes. She has given 48 talks, including the IOC Marketing Seminar in Rome (2019) and Leaders Week in New York (2018). She is available for keynotes, executive workshops and leadership offsites.
What has Georgia built in digital?
At the Canadian Olympic Committee: the Canadian Olympic Club fan club, the responsive relaunch of olympic.ca, and the #WeAreWinter campaign. At the Cleveland Cavaliers: the Cavs app, Cavs Rewards, Cavs Gold Pass and a ticket intelligence dashboard, plus the AI, digital products and growth marketing team.
How can I contact Georgia or book her to speak?
Email hey@georgiasapounas.com with the date, audience and topic, or connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/georgiasapounas.
Work with me
Let’s talk.
Speaking, advisory and workshops on AI transformation, digital experience and how organizations evolve with AI.