Fanatics Commerce Names Krishna Rao CFO

Krishna Rao has joined Fanatics, the digital sports platform, as chief financial officer of Fanatics Commerce, the division that oversees licensed sports merchandise sales for professional leagues, teams, colleges and associations globally.

In this new role, Rao will oversee all finance functions and strategic planning for the commerce business and will report to Doug Mack, chief executive officer of Fanatics Commerce and vice chairman of Fanatics.

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Mack said, “Over the course of his career, Krishna has served as strategic financial leader and investor for world-class brands and has a strong mindset for profitable growth and value creation. His strategic approach and financial expertise will have an immediate impact on our company and our unrelenting mission to continually enhance the fan and partner experience worldwide.”

Rao was formerly CFO of Cedar, a health care payments and patient engagement platform. Before that, he was global head of corporate and business development at Airbnb, where he helped the company navigate the pandemic and raise more than $10 billion in equity and debt capital as well as the company’s financing for its initial public offering. He was also a private equity investor at Blackstone and as a strategy consultant at Bain & Co.

Fanatics has long been rumored to be considering an IPO of its own, although no firm plans have been revealed at this point.

“I have long admired the transformative business that Fanatics has built over more than a decade,” he said. “The opportunity to partner with Doug and the incredibly talented global commerce team as they continue to revolutionize the licensed sports industry is truly exciting. I am energized to join such an innovative company and broader digital sports platform that is hyper-focused on creating memorable experiences for sports fans around the world.”

Rao will be based at Fanatics’ San Mateo, California, innovation center.

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