A Career Hat Trick
Jon Waldman (MMM ‘11) pivoted from private equity to the National Hockey League with the help of Northwestern's MBA + MS Design Innovation (MMM) program.
As a child, Jon Waldman (MMM ‘11) maneuvered pixelated representations of National Hockey League (NHL) stars up, down, and around gamified ice on his Sega Genesis, using his imagination to bring games he’d seen on television to life.
Three decades later, Jon is leading an effort to innovate advanced AI systems that allow much more polished avatars of NHL players to compete in live games that capture the next generation of hockey enthusiasts.
Jon is vice president of strategy and innovation for the NHL and a graduate of Northwestern's MBA + MS Design Innovation (MMM) program — a dual-degree program between Northwestern Engineering and the Kellogg School of Management. In his role with the world’s top hockey league, Jon’s mission is to accelerate the NHL’s growth by expanding audiences, deepening fan engagement, and driving global commercial opportunities.
“I now have three kids playing hockey, and that personal connection makes the work incredibly rewarding,” he said. “I’m not just driving business outcomes; I’m helping grow a game I’ve loved since childhood.”
Part of his work led to the creation of the Big City Greens Classic and the NHL Hockeyverse. Both initiatives leverage NHL EDGE, the League’s data and analytics platform that integrates the most advanced player‑ and puck‑tracking technology in professional sports alongside cutting‑edge AI.
The Big City Greens Classic is a collaboration with broadcast partner ESPN and Disney that renders real-time 3D animated versions of a live game using avatars of the real players. For example, in the March 14, 2023, inaugural Classic, the New York Rangers’ Vincent Trocheck and the Washington Capitals’ Evgeny Kuznetsov were portrayed as animated characters Cricket Green and Tilly.
NHL Hockeyverse is an animated alternate universe designed to recap and showcase NHL games in a dynamic, gamified format. It uses the same NHL EDGE positional data to create avatars of the players and visualize real action with on-ice camera angles not possible in the actual game. It features a weekly show that debuted in February called “NHL Hockeyverse Matchup of the Week” – a 30-minute animated recap that airs on the league-owned NHL Network, Canadian outlet Sportsnet, and YouTube.
“This is one of the most fun and novel projects I’ve worked on,” Jon said. “It’s an entirely new way to experience hockey, especially for younger fans. My kids absolutely love it, and seeing their excitement reinforces why these initiatives matter: they make the game accessible and engaging for the next generation.”
Jon’s work with the NHL is the result of a career pivot empowered by the MMM program. After more than 15 years in private equity and consulting, Jon realized he wasn’t getting as much fulfillment out of his work as he wanted.
“I learned that I enjoyed my work a lot more when I was working on projects or with companies that I had a personal interest in,” he said. “I’ve always been passionate about sports and wanted to leverage what I’d learned across my career, including my time at Northwestern in the MMM program, to do something more closely aligned with that passion.”
Now, instead of trying to find the next great company to invest in, Jon’s focus is on finding the next great technology to help make the NHL more accessible across the world. In addition to his efforts helping develop and grow the Big City Greens Classic and the NHL Hockeyverse, Jon spearheaded the creation of the league’s digitally enhanced dasherboards (DEDs).
Rather than static advertising messages on the actual boards that encircle the ice, this new rink-side signage allows for dynamic, digitally inserted ads that allow the NHL to deliver targeted, region-specific advertising as part of the natural flow of the game long-time fans expect.
“It’s not just a tech upgrade,” he said. “It’s a revenue engine that unlocks new value for partners and creates a more modern, flexible platform for monetization.”
Just how much of a revenue engine? The NHL reported DEDs helped drive a 21 percent increase in sponsorship revenue during the 2022-23 season, attracting more than 700 brands, and another 10 percent in the 2023-24 season.
At the core of all of this work are the lessons Jon learned in the MMM program.
“Whether we’re mapping fan journeys, ideating new digital products, or evaluating emerging tech, the MMM toolkit – user-centered research, rapid prototyping, design thinking, and cross-functional collaboration – is foundational to how we operate.”
Through MMM and with the NHL, Jon has found a better direction for his career, he said.
“We have the best sport in the world,” he said. “There’s nothing more rewarding than designing experiences that make the game better for existing fans and introducing the sport of hockey to new audiences.”