Houston Texans’ Jennifer Davenport named Houston Grand Opera’s first-ever Chief Marketing and Experience Officer

Jennifer Davenport, who most recently served as the Chief Marketing Officer for the city’s NFL team Houston Texans, will join Houston Grand Opera in a newly created leadership position.

In a press release today, HGO announced Davenport’s appointment as the company’s first Chief Marketing and Experience Officer, who “will head initiatives to grow and engage the organization’s audiences.”

Her position begins on September 6, 2022 – in time for HGO’s 2022-2023 season, which opens with Verdi’s La Traviata on October 21 at the Wortham Center.

“I’m so excited to be joining HGO at this extraordinary juncture,” said Davenport in a statement.

“Under the company’s forward-thinking new leadership, we have a wonderful opportunity to reimagine how we engage Houstonians through opera. I cannot wait to work alongside the incredible artists and professionals that form the HGO community,” she said.

Davenport’s hire comes at a time when HGO says that it has spent the past year recruiting new leadership talent – including a new Music Director of HGO Studio (Maureen Zoltek), Composer-in-Residence (Joel Thompson, in a newly created full-time position), Director of Community & Learning (Jennifer Bowman), and Board Chair (Claire Liu).

HGO says it recruited Davenport for her unique expertise and experience, which encompasses more than a decade with the Texans, as well as previously serving as Marketing, Promotions, and Events Manager for the Houston Rockets and Toyota Center and Director of Promotions and Marketing for Clear Channel Radio/iHeart Media in Austin.

[Jennifer Davenport’s] track record of drawing crowds from across our diverse community together through unforgettable shared experiences is exactly what our organization needs as we seek to increase access to this transformative art form.

Khori Dastoor, HGO’s General Director and CEO, in a statement

As the Texans’ Chief Marketing Officer since 2021 (having started as Director of Marketing and promoted four times during her career with the Texans), Davenport was responsible for creating community-focused strategic marketing plans, increasing the fan base, improving the gameday experiences, and leading initiatives that secured corporate partner investments, according to a press release.

Davenport is a founding board member of Houston’s Women in Sports and Events chapter and served on the YMCA of Greater Houston Board of Directors for 11 years. She was also a Lead Executive and Marketing Committee member for the Houston Super Bowl LI Committee.