When Tom Yaps, an agent for Evolution Management & Marketing, signed Tanner Hall in 2006, 95 percent of his job was finding endorsement deals. Over the years, Yaps has helped produce Hall’s films with Eric Iberg and Inspired Media Concepts, as well as the Tanner Hall Invitational. When he started working with Tom Wallisch in 2009, Yaps founded TW Media to produce The Wallisch Project, for which he secures funding and distribution deals and runs the books, taxes and contracts.

“I like his laid back approach,” says Wallisch. “He’s somebody I can easily talk to, hang with and be around, and he also does a good job on the business side of stuff. But really, he’s more of a good friend.”

Yaps studied sports business in grad school at New York University, then went to work for SFX in the talent marketing department, where he met his current business partners. Yaps co-founded Evolution Marketing & Management in 2005 when he signed his first client—Sarah Burke. He signed Hall shortly thereafter. In addition to Hall and Wallisch, Yaps currently manages Nick Martini, Mike Riddle, Maddie Bowman, Maggie Voisin, Willie Borm, Colby Stevenson and Andy Partridge.

Amy Stanton, the Santa Monica, CA-based founder and CEO of Stanton Company, got into the business through her work with snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler, whom she still represents. She signed Kristi Leskinen in 2008 and now manages two skiers, Grete Eliassen and Brita Sigourney. With a background in traditional marketing, Stanton works to build brands around her athletes—brands that extend beyond the industry.

“My goal is to represent radically different personalities,” says Stanton. “But they all have a desire to do more than just excel in their sport, they want to have a positive impact and give back.”

She says the traditional sponsorship model has changed and that most athletes can’t rely on their contracts alone to make a living. Stanton encourages her clients to develop skills in different areas. For example, Eliassen has graduated from the University of Utah and worked in a governor’s office as well as with the Women’s Sports Foundation. “She’s developed a skill set beyond skiing, which is a great model for athletes to follow,” says Stanton.

Though more and more agents have popped up in the freeskiing scene, the profession requires a specific skill set. Negotiation skills are obviously a must. And when you hear agents claim, “It’s all about relationships,” it’s true.

“It helps when you have a personal relationship with people at the brands,” says Yaps. “You know who’s going to be honest and whether there’s any wiggle room— basically being able to read people when they say, ‘This is the most I can offer.’”

A legal background helps, too. Spencer says high-profile athletes need almost 24/7 access to an attorney. “I’ve seen too many things go wrong when people have agreed to things they shouldn’t have,” he says.

The hours are relentless. For the most part, agents are available to their athletes around the clock. Spencer is in touch with all of his athletes on a weekly basis. In the past 11 years, the longest he’s gone without talking to Dumont? Five days.

Michael Svenningsen, founder of Sven Sports Management and Allegiance Sports Group, joined Spencer at Wasserman Media Group in October, bringing his roster of clients that includes Joss Christensen, Aaron Blunck, Alex Beaulieu-Marchand and Alex Schlopy. The 29-year-old New Jersey native met Peter Olenick in 2003, when they both attended the University of Colorado at Boulder. Olenick was coming off winning an X Games High Air gold medal and interested in finding nonendemic sponsors. He knew Svenningsen (or “Jersey” as he’s known to many) could fight his tough battles.

“Beyond just taking care of contracts, he was really hands-on at events,” says Olenick. “If I broke a binding, he’d scramble to get me new skis. He took it to a more personal level.” Olenick says agents make it easier to remain friends with team managers—it’s hard to negotiate with friends. But, says Olenick, when things become less personal, it’s also easier for team managers to drop athletes when they’re dealing with an agent instead of the athlete directly.

When it comes to nonendemic deals, most of the time is spent on the front end, educating the company and “getting them to buy into the sport,” says Spencer. While establishing a relationship might take years, nonendemic negotiations tend to be more straightforward than endemic deals, which generally are more time consuming.

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