Bob Rose

One of the most accomplished sports public relations executives in the country, Bob Rose offers more than 40 years of experience and expertise to clients.  Working for high profile organizations ranging from Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the Olympics and world-renown universities such as Stanford and UC Berkeley, Rose has earned widespread acclaim for his innovative and ground-breaking PR initiatives.

During his career, he has been a senior advisor to many newsmakers, including such sports industry leaders as Tex Schramm, Brian Sabean, Ned Colletti, Harry Usher, Don Klosterman, Joe Bailey, Steve Gladstone and Billy Beane.  The Auburn, Calif. native has also managed media coverage for many Hall of Famers, All-Stars and MVPs over the years, including John Elway, Steve Young, Aaron Rodgers, Dennis Johnson, Mike Scott, Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, Darryl Strawberry, Manny Ramirez and Hideki Matsui.

A 1975 journalism graduate from Pepperdine University, Rose began his public relations career at his alma mater as sports information director (1973-78).  He returned to his Northern California roots in 1978, accepting an assistant sports information director position at Stanford University.  Less than a year later at the tender age of 25, he was promoted to Sports Information Director (at the time, the youngest SID at NCAA Division I school).

Following John Elway’s Heisman Campaign in 1982, Rose accepted the public relations director job with the United States Football League’s Los Angeles Express, the first professional spring football league in history.  Harry Usher, the USFL commissioner, summoned Rose to the league office in New York in 1985 to serve as director of communications.  A year later when the USFL was suspended, he left the up-start league to join the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals as director of public relations.

In 1988, Rose was hired by Russ Cline & Associates as regional marketing director in St. Petersburg, Fla. where he aided in the city’s efforts for a MLB expansion franchise and was also in charge of the grand opening of the Florida Suncoast Dome (now Tropicana Field), where the Tampa Bay Rays now play.  Later in 1990, Tex Schramm hired Rose as his vice president of communications for the NFL’s World League of American Football, the first-ever international football league which featured franchises in Europe, Canada and the United States.

His remarkable career path then led back to the Bay Area in 1993, when Rose was named director of public relations for his childhood team, the San Francisco Giants.  Eventually elevated to vice president of communications, the veteran PR man played a prominent role in the team relocating to a new downtown ballpark in 2000.  He then returned to his college roots, accepting the position of executive associate athletic director for communications at nearby University of California in Berkeley in 2001. 

In more recent years, Rose operated his own public relations consultancy business from 2005-2008 before returning to professional sports with a six-year stint as public relations director for the Oakland Athletics.

Rose, who was inducted into his high school Hall of Fame (Placer High in Auburn) in 2007, has also served in responsible roles at many prestigious events during his career, including several Super Bowls, the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the 1983, 1984 and 1985 USFL Championships, the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation’s Liberty Weekend in 1986, the 1991 and 1992 World Bowls, the 2006 World Baseball Classic, and the 2015 Special Olympics World Games.