Mets hire media mogul as new president of operations

Nov. 27 (UPI) -- The New York Mets announced Monday that M. Scott Havens has been hired as president of business operations, and will be instrumental in shaping the future of the franchise, the team said.

Havens, who was most recently chief executive officer of Bloomberg Media, will run all day-to-day aspects of the team's business strategy other than baseball operations, the team said in a statement. He will report to Mets co-owner, chairman and CEO Steve Cohen.

"Bringing someone on board of Scott's caliber is an exciting development for the Mets organization," Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen said. "Scott has vast experience leading world-class media and digital technology-led companies such as Bloomberg Media and Time Inc. and he'll provide a modern vision and strategic direction for our organization. Havens will be instrumental in shaping the future of the franchise, driving financial success, and continuing to build on the Mets reputation as a beloved institution in New York," the team said.

Havens is perhaps best known for his work at Bloomberg, where he played a large role in the company's digital transformation, global growth and burnishing of the company's brand and reputation worldwide.

During his tenure, Bloomberg set new revenue and audience highs and forged a handful of high profile global partnerships.

"The opportunity to join the Mets organization is a lifelong dream fulfilled," said Havens. "I'm thrilled to build upon the great work under way, accelerating the push to modernize our strategy across the organization, driving new digital and media innovation, and ultimately, to provide our fans with the best experience in sports. I'm grateful to Steve and Alex for this opportunity and am looking forward to working with the entire leadership team to shape the future of the Mets together."

To date, Havens has largely focused on the strategic development of digital products within the news, business, sports, and entertainment publications, but this will be his first foray into the business side of baseball which can be notoriously unforgiving in New York City, where the Mets and cross town Yankees have been bitter rivals for decades.

Havens also sharpened his business credentials as senior vice president of Time, Inc., president of The Atlantic, executive director at Condé Nast Business Media and at Portfolio.com, a business site he founded.