LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 12, 2026) — When thousands of fans gather for Shaq's Fun House during Super Bowl weekend, they come for the music, carnival attractions and the chance to experience an event hosted by basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal.
Behind the scenes, an entirely different set of decisions helps bring the experience to life. Budgets must be developed, venues evaluated, vendors contracted and financial risks managed long before the doors open.
For University of Kentucky alumnus Harrison Swinney, those decisions are all part of the job.
Swinney, a 2013 graduate of the Gatton College of Business and Economics, recently became chief financial officer of Medium Rare, a live entertainment company that partners with athletes, artists and major brands to produce festivals and events across the country.
His path to the entertainment industry began with degrees in accounting and finance, followed by a career that took him from public accounting at PwC to corporate finance at Churchill Downs and eventually to the financial leadership of a growing entertainment business.
It's a career he hoped might one day involve sports or entertainment, even if he wasn't sure how he would get there.
"I was certainly hopeful," Swinney said. "A career in sports and live entertainment is something that I'd always kind of wanted to get into."
As a student, however, he had little idea what his professional future would look like.
"I just had no idea what I wanted to do," Swinney said. "I really just wanted to learn everything I possibly could about the business world."
That curiosity ultimately shaped the decisions that followed.
Swinney arrived at UK knowing he wanted to understand how businesses operated. He chose accounting because he believed it would provide an essential foundation for understanding financial decisions and business performance.
He added finance as a second major, in part because it offered flexibility while he considered his career options.
"I didn't really know what I wanted to do, so keeping my options open was important," he said.
At Gatton College, Swinney found opportunities to develop both his technical knowledge and his leadership skills.
He participated in the Global Scholars Honors Pathway Program, where a close-knit cohort helped him build relationships within a large university. He also became involved with Beta Alpha Psi, a registered student organization for accounting, finance and information systems students, eventually serving as chapter president.
He credits Professor Emeritus Jennifer Siebenthaler, who served as the organization's faculty adviser, with encouraging him to pursue that leadership role.
"She was the one who encouraged me to serve as president, and that was one of my first real leadership roles, which I think was incredibly important for my growth," Swinney said.
Other faculty members also left a lasting impression.
He remembers Professor Emeritus Sean Peffer's commitment to helping students understand cost accounting, while courses taught by Professor Kristine Hankins helped establish a foundation in corporate finance that he would later use throughout his career.
Through a stock-picking program led by Professor Emeritus Brad Jordan, Swinney gained experience researching companies, valuing investments and presenting stock recommendations while working with real money.
Those lessons have continued to influence his approach to financial analysis.
Even today, Swinney occasionally returns to the fundamentals he learned as an accounting student when working through complex financial questions.
"I still, every now and then, have to do T accounts when I'm trying to think through journal entries for month-end close or something like that," he said.
The relationships he built through Gatton College's recruiting and networking events also helped him secure an internship with PwC during his junior year. That experience led to a full-time position after graduation.
Swinney began his career in January 2014 as an audit associate with PwC in Louisville, primarily serving clients in the healthcare industry.
He considers public accounting a valuable introduction to professional life, but as he gained experience, he began looking for an opportunity to work in an industry that interested him personally.
In 2017, that opportunity came at Churchill Downs.
Born and raised in Kentucky, Swinney had always been drawn to the horse industry and the Kentucky Derby. When Churchill Downs expanded its corporate financial planning and analysis team, he pursued the position.
"I've always loved the horse industry and I've always loved the Derby," he said. "I thought that the ability to work there and to be a part of something so important to the fabric of the state was really exciting."
As a senior analyst, Swinney helped monitor financial performance across the company's business lines, including the Kentucky Derby, TwinSpires and its regional casino properties.
His responsibilities expanded to include financial modeling for potential acquisitions, evaluating returns on capital investments and assessing how major business decisions could affect the company's long-term financial strategy.
The experience gave him a broader understanding of corporate finance and introduced him to the leadership decisions that shape an organization's future.
It also helped him recognize what he wanted from his own career.
"I knew I wanted to be a decision maker," Swinney said. "I wanted to be in the room where the decisions were being made."
He credits several leaders at Churchill Downs with giving him opportunities to grow, including fellow UK graduates D.C. Storm and Chad Dobson, along with Chief Financial Officer Marcia Dall.
Their mentorship allowed him to participate in high-level financial discussions and gain experience that would eventually prepare him for an executive role.
"I credit all those people and the rest of the Churchill Downs leadership with putting me in a position to pursue a leadership role," he said.
In late 2021, Swinney and his wife had an opportunity to relocate to Southern California.
Around the same time, he connected with the owners of Medium Rare through LinkedIn. His experience at Churchill Downs, particularly his familiarity with large-scale events and corporate finance, made him an attractive candidate for the growing company.
He joined Medium Rare at the end of 2021, overseeing financial functions ranging from accounting and treasury to investor relations.
At the time, the company was producing only a handful of events annually. Today, Medium Rare produces approximately 15 to 20 events each year, with Swinney helping guide its financial operations and long-term growth.
Its portfolio includes Shaq's Fun House, Sports Illustrated: The Party, Guy Fieri's Flavortown Tailgate and Experts Only Festival, a two-day music festival in New York associated with DJ John Summit.
Each event presents a different financial challenge.
Some depend heavily on ticket sales, while others generate much of their revenue through sponsorships, hospitality packages or table sales.
Medium Rare also operates through a partnership model in which the company shares an event's net proceeds with its celebrity or brand partner.
As CFO, Swinney helps evaluate potential venues, estimate production costs, oversee budgets and manage the financial risks associated with bringing large-scale events to life.
Venue selection alone can have significant financial implications.
"The cost structure of hosting an event inside an existing venue is a lot different than if we were to build an event outdoors in a park," he said.
Those decisions become particularly important during Super Bowl week, when Medium Rare may produce several events in a matter of days.
The company works with dozens of partners, each with its own financial arrangements and expectations. Swinney and his team maintain detailed, continuously updated financial reports to monitor revenue and expenses throughout the planning and production process.
The unpredictable nature of live entertainment also requires careful risk management, including event cancellation insurance and contingency planning.
For Swinney, the work combines the analytical skills he developed through accounting and finance with the excitement of an industry he has followed since childhood.
One of his favorite moments comes near the end of Guy Fieri's Flavortown Tailgate, when the team has an opportunity to reflect on everything it accomplished during an especially demanding week.
"It's a great moment and it's one of my favorite times of the year to see our team celebrate," he said.
Since joining Medium Rare, Swinney has watched the company grow from a small operation into a business producing major entertainment experiences across the country.
His recent promotion to CFO has brought greater involvement in the company's strategic direction, working alongside its ownership group to evaluate opportunities and plan for future growth.
For someone who began college without a specific career destination in mind, the experience has reinforced the value of developing transferable skills and remaining open to opportunities.
The accounting and finance principles Swinney learned at Gatton College have remained relevant throughout his career, even as the industries and responsibilities around him have changed.
His work today still draws on the same fundamentals he used at PwC and Churchill Downs, whether evaluating a potential business opportunity, developing financial projections or assessing how a decision might affect a company's future.
And while his professional path has taken him far from Lexington, he continues to recognize the people and experiences that helped him get there.
Looking back, Swinney encourages current students to explore their interests without feeling pressured to have their entire careers mapped out.
"When I was in school, there were definitely people who knew what they wanted to do with their life from the second they stepped on campus," he said. "I tend to think that those people are usually the exception and not the norm."
He also encourages students to reach out to professionals whose careers interest them, even when those connections might seem out of reach.
"Phone call, email, carrier pigeon, it doesn't matter," he said. "You would be surprised how willing people are to talk about themselves and their own career journey."
For Swinney, those conversations and the willingness to pursue new opportunities helped turn an interest in business into a career that now takes him behind the scenes of some of the country's largest entertainment events.
And with Medium Rare continuing to expand, he is looking forward to what comes next.
"I don't think there is a limit to what this company can become," he said, "and I look forward to continuing to help drive that growth."
