Julie Giese is the Vice President of Market Development & Strategic Scheduling for NASCAR, and President of NASCAR Chicago. In her role as NASCAR’s VP of Market Development & Strategic Scheduling, Giese is entrusted with the development and rollout of the entire NASCAR competition schedule for all three national series across the nation, including breakthroughs in schedule innovation in new and untapped racing markets. In her role as President of NASCAR’s Chicago office, she led the groundbreaking initiative to bring NASCAR racing to city streets for the first time in the organization’s 75-year history. Under Giese’s stewardship, the NASCAR Chicago Street Race Weekend drew visitors from 25 countries and all 50 states and resulted in more than $340 million in economic impact for the city. Named “Sports Event of the Year” by Sports Business Journal, the 2023 and 2024 Chicago Street Races represented the two most-watched Cup Series race on NBC since 2021. Since 2022, Giese has led a team of nearly two-dozen full-time staff in Chicago. In keeping with NASCAR’s passion for enriching the communities where it races, Giese has overseen the development of a robust community engagement program that has invested more than $6 million in local community-based initiatives throughout Chicago to-date.

From 2018-2022, she served as President of Phoenix Raceway, overseeing the promotion and operation of the top motorsports and entertainment destination in the Phoenix market. While leading Phoenix Raceway, Giese also oversaw the marketing efforts for NASCAR’s 13 national series track properties in her role as NASCAR’s Vice President, Track Marketing. Prior to those roles, she served as the Managing Director of Business Operations for International Speedway Corporation’s (ISC) Design & Development, leading the coordination between ISC’s 13 race tracks, internal corporate departments and the Design & Development team on the company’s significant capital investment and redevelopment projects, including the $178 million modernization project at Phoenix Raceway.

Joining ISC in 2001, Giese has taken on roles with increasing responsibility, from Director of Public Relations at Watkins Glen International to Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Daytona International Speedway, where she spent 12 years overseeing all aspects of consumer marketing, branding, creative, advertising, digital, public relations and event entertainment at the “World Center of Racing.” Giese played a leading role in the redevelopment of the Daytona International Speedway, managing the marketing and branding of the project as well its opening in 2016.

Giese has been recognized as one of Forbes’ “Women in Sports to Watch,” Sports Business Journal’s “Game Changers,” Crain’s Chicago Business “Woman of Influence,” Cynopsis’ “Top Woman in Sports,” and Axios Chicago’s “Power Players.”

Giese, a native of Wisconsin, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. She serves on the Board of several prominent organizations throughout the region, including the DePaul University School of Hospitality and Sports Business, the Grant Park Music Festival, and the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.