If Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers can battle their way through the playoffs and advance to Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz., a very capable cheesehead will be eagerly waiting there to greet them.
Bob Sullivan, a native of Waukesha and a graduate of Carroll College, is the president of the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, the private, nonprofit Arizona corporation that serves as the liaison between the National Football League and the people of Arizona.
The NFL throws the annual mother- of-all parties, but Sullivan’s committee is the host.
I tracked Sullivan down on his cell phone recently week between plane flights as he enters the home stretch of a professional assignment that began in October 2006.
My first question for him was, “Did you grow up a Packer fan, and do you still consider yourself to be a Packer fan?”
His response came quickly: “I did. I do. That would be the ultimate icing on the cake if they get in the year I’m running the Super Bowl!”
Sullivan’s parents, the late Cyril and Eleanor Sullivan, cranked out a very productive flock. Bob’s brother, Tim, is the chief executive officer of South Milwaukee-based Bucyrus International Inc. Their sister, Patty Santiago, is a junior high school principal in Santa Barbara, Calif., and their sister, Susie Krummel, went to nursing school and is raising her children in Los Altos Hills, Calif.
Bob, Tim and Patty each graduated from Carroll College, where their mother was a librarian.
Bob Sullivan hit the streets in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in business.
Carroll College doesn’t have the name recognition that many universities have, but Sullivan said he was ready for action in his chosen field when he graduated. Most of his teachers were not pure academics, but most had real-world experience to share with their students.
“They emphasized a lot of hands-on education and training, very much so,” Sullivan said.
With diploma in hand, Sullivan set out on a career in broadcast journalism. He became the assistant news director at WISN-Channel 12 in Milwaukee. He left that position for bigger markets and bigger ventures in 1987.
He eventually formed his own company, Sullivan & Associates Consulting, in Paradise Valley, a suburb of Phoenix, Ariz., where he lives with his wife, Meri (an Oconomowoc native), and their two children, Ryan and Delaney.
Along the way, Sullivan met Arizona Cardinals vice president Michael Bidwell. Bidwell was so impressed with Sullivan, that he called him a few months later and asked him to lead the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee.
Sullivan accepted the assignment, which was not for the faint of heart. He was first asked to raise $15 million. As he closed in on reaching that target, the committee raised the ante to $17 million. Sullivan is confident he’ll get there.
When the final seconds tick off of the Super Bowl clock on Feb. 3, Sullivan will have one bright, gaudy bauble on his resume – one that he believes will help his company grow significantly.
“It’s a nice contract to have, and it’s high-profile for the company,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan is sharing his experience with his alma mater. He worked with Carroll College to create a class in which students competed to be among the nine chosen to go to Arizona to help the committee conduct studies on the economic impact and media coverage of the Super Bowl.
You’d think Sullivan would be looking forward to putting this Super task behind him.
“Actually, it’s kind of melancholy. It’s been a great run,” he said. “It’s kind of like a political campaign. Relief isn’t the right word. It’s a sense of accomplishment.”
