To the Victors Valiant

Valiant Management Group (“VMG”) was founded in 2021 by former University of Michigan football player Jared Wangler. Jared played fullback for the Wolverines from 2014 to 2018 and was a four time Academic All Big Ten player. Jared studied psychology and entrepreneurship in his time at Michigan and always had a passion to pursue business opportunities that would align with his love and deep respect for college athletics.

Jared co-founded the Valiant apparel brand with his father, John Wangler, in 2016 with the mission to create a brand specific to the University of Michigan. Upon graduation, Jared began interning at a professional sports agency with the dream to one day become an NFLPA certified agent. Once the NCAA released their name, image and likeness (NIL) guidelines, Jared jumped at the chance to bring NIL services to Michigan athletes in a manner that aligns both with the university’s high standards and the unique needs of a student-athlete.

Jared defines the strategy and direction for VMG, bringing an enthusiasm and competitive edge to each day in order to create the most compelling opportunities for the student-athletes he represents.

Anna Britnell joined Champions Circle in April of 2023. As a former student-athlete and team Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative at the University of Michigan, Anna dedicated off-field time to organizing department visits to Mott Hospital and acting as Chair of the legendary Mock Rock event. As a two-time Academic All Big Ten athlete, she also committed to serving the School of Kinesiology in Sport Management related initiatives.

As the Executive Director of Champions Circle, Anna will lead initiatives related to network development, membership programs, fundraising through special events and exclusive experiences, donor engagement and athletic team management. 

Before joining Champions Circle, Anna served as the Executive Director of Communications and Community Relations for a prominent Michigan public school district. In this role, she successfully executed a $180 million dollar bond campaign, developed sustainable fundraising initiatives, and spearheaded an all-encompassing facility sponsorship program that generated thousands of dollars for the organization. In addition, Anna was instrumental in building the School District’s media, communications, and public relations department. She holds a B.A. in Sport Management and Communications (University of Michigan) and a M.A. in Educational Leadership (Wayne State University). 

Through these experiences, Anna brings both passion, leadership and enthusiasm for the future of NIL for Michigan Athletics.

Morgan Banta joined Valiant Management Group in September 2021 as Creative Director and Operations Assistant to help manage the company’s focus on apparel and content quality. On the apparel side, Morgan focuses in areas such as Equitable Team Apparel, Jersey Tees, and Gameday Apparel. On the marketing and content side, she focuses on delivering quality content to our partners.
Morgan is in the Sport Management Program at the University of Michigan and graduates with the Class of 2024.

Before joining Valiant, Morgan interned with Michigan Football, Michigan Athletics, LUG Sports, and worked in Operations at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.

Ryan Doyle is responsible for executing the brand partnership campaigns with our Michigan Student-Athletes. He tells the story of each individual Student-Athlete in alignment with our partnering brands and for Valiant as a whole.

In addition to his role with Valiant, he runs his own video production company (Video Vision 360) and multiple e-learning companies. Ryan is a University of Michigan graduate and has worked with the Michigan football team both on the academic side and the athletic side. Additionally, he has managed Michigan football players through their NFL careers. Lastly, he produces e-learning content for NFL players transitioning to post-sport life for the Players Trust, an organization powered by the NFLPA.

As a lifelong serial entrepreneur with deep ties to University of Michigan and the athletic department, he is a natural fit for Valiant’s startup growth and a catalyst for the personal brands of Michigan Student-Athletes.

Phil Hollyer brings VMG over 30 years of experience as a founder, senior executive and value creator. Phil is a serial entrepreneur who thrives on building new businesses and creating meaningful experiences for their customers. After leading product development for a successful early stage software startup, Phil went on to found two digital agencies that began as ideas and grew to be nationally recognized brands serving hundreds of clients across North America including Domino’s, Mars, Coca-Cola, JP Morgan Chase, Wilson Sporting Goods and others. He is currently executive chairman of Bounteous, the latter one of these agencies, which is now a New Mountain Capital portfolio company. Bounteous is also a key innovation partner to VMG.

During his tenure at the helm of these firms, he has led and grown teams from sales, marketing, HR, finance, technology, design and analytics. He has worked on numerous early stage companies as well as Fortune 500 brands and personally led teams responsible for launching some of the most successful digital enterprises including Apartments.com and Dominos.com.

Phil has experience with private equity, venture capital and M&A and is currently lending his expertise to VMG in the areas of finance and fundraising. Phil also advises the founders in the areas of strategy, digital marketing and operations.

Phil has a passion and love for the University of Michigan coming from a family which now spans four generations of Wolverines. He graduated cum laude from a combined graduate and undergraduate program in the EECS department in 1987. He is also passionate about supporting the University of Michigan in athletics and academics. The VMG mission aligns with Phil’s desire to give back to the University of Michigan while helping it achieve at the highest level with great integrity. Phil and Les were roommates at Michigan.

Les Winograd brings VMG over 30 years of industry and consulting experience in the fields of technology, marketing, and operations. Currently serving as COO of Bounteous, a leading digital experience consultancy and partner of VMG, Les has helped some of the world’s most ambitious brands achieve transformative results through the innovative application of technology to solve business challenges.

Les was recruited into Bounteous in 2013 to help bolster its operations and client service capabilities to enable its ambitious corporate growth strategy. At the time, the company employed less than 50 people. Bounteous now boasts over 1,500 team members across the globe, partnering with such brands as Domino’s, Shake Shack, Coca-Cola, Mars, Caesars Entertainment, and Wilson.

Prior to joining Bounteous, Les held a variety of leadership positions over a 12-year career for Ally’s North American Operations. Les was responsible for developing and executing Ally’s first B2C and CRM strategic plans in the early 2000s and was the lead Ally IT Executive responsible for maintaining alignment with General Motors in the areas of Dealer and Consumer systems. Les’s final position at Ally was that of Global eCommerce Executive where he was responsible for eCommerce applications across all Business Units and geographies. Les also enjoyed a 12-year career with Accenture after graduating with High Distinction from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1987.

Les is deeply passionate about, and committed to, not only the Wolverines’ athletic success, but also leaving a legacy of support that ensures Michigan maintains our status as the Leaders and Best for future generations. This commitment is directly aligned with VMG’s mission and is articulated in the feature story of Les and his brother Randy on the front page of support.mgoblue.com.

Randy Winograd brings VMG over 25 years of experience in the fields of law, finance, operational management, marketing and public relations.

Currently he is President of Beverly Hills-based Nimes Real Estate (“NRE”), an institutional-caliber investment firm housed within the Nazarian family office. Randy has overseen investment underwriting, deal structuring, and management of NRE’s historic portfolio of ~$1 billion in assets while also leading NRE’s internal team. He also serves as Chief Operating Officer of Nazarian Enterprises and Nimes Capital, where he is responsible for oversight of the operations of the Nazarian family’s vast private equity investment business and related legal matters.

Randy began his tenure with the Nazarian family of companies at SBE Entertainment Group (“sbe”) serving as President, founding CFO and General Counsel. At sbe, he was instrumental in managing the growth of the company from a nascent venture into a hospitality branding and development powerhouse and played a key role in the strategy, structuring, execution and oversight of more than $2 billion in hotel, restaurant and nightclub acquisitions and development projects.

Before joining sbe, Randy was COO, CFO and General Counsel of a prominent production company focused on the creation of advertising and motion picture content that generated in excess of $150 million in annual revenue. In this capacity, Mr. Winograd was responsible for all business, legal and corporate operational affairs, including: corporate strategy, negotiation and structuring of strategic partnerships, intellectual property licensing and clearances, human resources, and real estate.

Randy is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, is a past Director of the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans and was previously on the Board of Directors of Film L.A., Inc..

Randy is an unapologetically loud and proud Michigan Wolverine, having been reared in a family of passionate Michigan graduates and then earning his BBA (1991) and JD (1994) from Michigan. While at Michigan, Randy volunteered for over six years in the University of Michigan Athletic Department’s Media Relations Department, assisting with the Michigan Football and Men’s Basketball teams.