Taylor Traub
Senior Vice President, Business Strategy + Innovation
Ilitch Sports + Entertainment
Born: Rochester Hills, Mich.
Education: Oakland University, B.A., English; University of Michigan, M.A., sport management, and Master of Urban Planning; Johns Hopkins University, MBA
Family:Spouse, Lauren; children, Emerie (7) and Brooke (5)
Taylor Traub’s background before joining Ilitch Sports + Entertainment was in real estate, but these days, he is focused on a different kind of building.
Since starting at the Detroit Tigers and Red Wings parent company in 2019, Traub has established its financial-planning infrastructure, created a centralized analytics operation and helped develop new business lines. Now, he is laying the groundwork for an artificial intelligence venture that Ilitch hopes to commercialize across the sports industry.
Traub, who played college baseball at Oakland University, always intended to work in sports. His path into the industry, however, ran through real estate and finance. He spent the first several years of his career in the real estate sector, including a stint within Dan Gilbert’s Detroit business empire, before moving into a product role at Rocket Companies.
When Traub saw a posting for a finance position at Olympia Entertainment, now part of Ilitch Sports + Entertainment, he recognized an opportunity to fulfill that ambition.
“In terms of looking for the side door to get into sports, my eyes lit up, and I’m like, ‘This is it,’” Traub recalled.
Today, Traub is a key driver of Ilitch’s strategic direction as the organization evolves from a collection of separate businesses — the Tigers, Red Wings, venues, parking and entertainment — into a unified sports and entertainment platform capable of supporting new investments and revenue streams.
His latest project involves applying AI across Ilitch’s core operations, such as ticket and premium sales, event staffing and venue operations, and developing those capabilities into solutions that can be sold to other sports and entertainment companies. Through a joint venture with New York-based AI technology firm Tenex, Traub believes helping other sports organizations develop and implement their own AI strategies and tools can be a major new revenue driver for the Ilitch organization.
For a kid from suburban Detroit whose fondest childhood sports memories were made at Tiger Stadium, it is an ideal place to be.
“The fact that I’m working in an industry that I have a passion for, but it happens to be in my hometown — it’s definitely not something that’s lost on me,” Traub said. “Even on days like today that are really busy and there’s some news delivering and things are going sideways, there are many, many moments where I kind of have to take a step back and pinch myself and have a lot of gratitude and appreciation for it.”
