Mary Shepro - President of Business Operations

Mary Shepro was elevated to Columbus Crew President of Business Operations in November 2025 after serving as the Crew’s Vice President & General Counsel and HSG Assistant Counsel since November 2022. Shepro leads the Club’s business strategies and initiatives, overseeing fan engagement and marketing; community impact; matchday experience and facility management; ticket sales and services; corporate partnerships and revenue generation; and organizational administration.

When joining the Crew and HSG, Shepro spearheaded the Club’s legal and government affairs for business and soccer endeavors. She played an integral role in the Club securing major corporate partnerships and marquee events, highlighted by the 2024 MLS All-Star Game and “Summer of Soccer,” which generated more than $30 million in economic impact for the region, per the Greater Columbus Sports Commission. Shepro’s sporting functions encompassed matters such as the facilitation and execution of contracts for player acquisitions, led by General Manager Issa Tall. Additionally, she provided key contributions as the Crew have ranked among the top of MLS for the past three years in revenue categories such as partnerships, ticketing and premium sales, emphasized by Columbus’ enhanced in-stadium hospitality offerings and Club-record streak of 35 MLS regular season sellouts from 2023-2025.

In 2023, Shepro expanded her responsibilities to incorporate oversight of the Black & Gold’s community relations efforts, which resulted in the creation of the Crew’s “Soccer in Schools” program and further local expansion of the “Stay in the Game!” Attendance Network.

Shepro has also offered pertinent guidance for HSG’s most significant long-term community investment projects, including the advancement of the Browns’ new enclosed Huntington Bank Field in Brook Park and the expansion of the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea. In Central Ohio, she supported the renovation of Kilbourne Run Sports Park, in partnership with the City of Columbus, and the continued development of Astor Park, in collaboration with the Pizzuti Companies.

Prior to her time in Columbus, Shepro was an associate attorney at Jones Day in Chicago from 2015-2018 and spent five years (2018-2022) as an associate attorney with DLA Piper in Chicago focusing on sports, media and entertainment law as a counsel for multiple teams, owners and other parties in litigation, investigations, mediation and transactions related to professional and collegiate athletics. In this capacity, she worked on various sports legal matters including the launch of Nashville SC and the development of Geodis Park and SoFi Stadium, as well as on behalf of the State of Qatar surrounding preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, encompassing transportation, stadium and broadcast issues, international arbitration before the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and proceedings before the United Nations. Shepro also provided counsel and representation in several investigations related to professional athletes and leagues, as well as representing Major League Soccer’s exclusive broadcast partner, Apple, in class action privacy lawsuits.

Shepro graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University, obtained a M.Sc. in Global Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and earned her J.D. cum laude from Notre Dame Law School, where she served as the Managing Senior Editor of the Notre Dame Law Review.