Hollifield of HGA joins ‘The Chase’

By David Yarger

Co-Host “The Chase”

Happy Friday everybody and welcome to the weekend! “The Chase” was live for its final 11 a.m. show of the week and it was one heck of a production. The crew had Jordan Hollifield on the show this morning. Hollifield is the CEO of HGA (Hybrid Gaming Approach) and had a plethora of positions before settling into his new role with HGA. 

Hollifield, who resides in Knoxville, TN, is a big Philadelphia Eagles fan and said he’s been a collector majority of his life. Additionally, before working in the hobby, he worked as an electrician, at AT&T and as a regional manager of a security company, so he’s had a vast array of experiences. Nevertheless, he said whatever the position may be, it never changed his work ethic, because all his jobs have been hard-working positions. 

“From growing a company from something small to something big with previous jobs I’ve had, the marketing experience, as well as the operational experience. All of those kind of fit into the role I have now as a CEO. Even if you go back to the beginning as an electrician, that’s hard work. That’s something that takes a toll on you and your body, but you just have to grind through it. So at a young age – I’ve worked since I was 15 – hard work is just another day for me,” he said. 

As far as HGA, Hollifield wants the company to be known for their honest and transparent grading. He added that they bring an interesting twist to the grading industry, using AI, but also including the human element to grading, as well.

“We want to be that company that innovates, that’s always pushing other companies to be better, come out with new products, think outside the box and do different things in the industry,” he said. 

He added, “The backbone of HGA is our grading and authentication department. … Using that hybrid approach – utilizing AI, but also utilizing the human element of it as well is the big part that separates us.”

Hollifield added that listening to the industry and evolving to how the company and industry sees fit is a huge part to their success. 

Moving forward, and speaking as a collector, he understood that with it being the 21st century AI grading is going to be a big thing moving forward, but he said he doesn’t want his cards graded by a computer. 

“I don’t want a computer just doing it. But, if I can utilize that technology to give me good, honest, consistent grading, then absolutely. I do believe in the future that if you’re not utilizing some sort of technology to help you grade, then I believe that you will fall off, you will fall behind,” he said. 

Hollifield added that he’s excited for the future that the hobby holds with Fanatics coming aboard. 

“Fanatics is a massive, massive brand and they’ve invested a lot of money into what they’re going to be doing. … I think they’re going to come out with some really, really cool stuff. So I’m really excited to see what happens over the course of the next couple years,” Hollifield mentioned. 

To see the whole clip with Hollifield, click here! Additionally, check out HGA’s website.

Also on “The Chase” …

PSA announced it has a new president to the company. Kevin Lenane, who has served as PSA President for the past year, is now taking on the role of vice president of PSA sales.

PSA gave Lenane credit for all he’s done during his time as president saying, “Kevin led PSA out from under its massive backlog of trading card submissions and directed the return of all service levels that were suspended due to the 2021 backlog.” 

He also led the relaunch of PSA’s collectors club and the company’s continued capacity expansion efforts with new grading operations being built in New Jersey and Japan.

Taking over will be Ryan Hoge who joined the company in July 2021. 

Ryan, a lifelong card collector who worked previously at Microsoft for 16 years in a variety of leadership roles, has led the product team on multiple fronts since his arrival and was instrumental in growing that team and the successful launch of the Collectors Vault in July.   

Additionally, Troy ripped some of the new AEW Spectrum and had a stellar box, including an Adam Cole auto out of 25. To win these cards comment on the YouTube video what your favorite Halloween candy is. A winner will be announced Monday.