Fred Whitfield (executive)
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Fred Whitfield (born in 1958) is the
chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...
, president, vice chairman, alternate governor, and minority owner of the
Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...
. Whitfield is the only African-American COO in the
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
. In July 2006, Hornets Sports & Entertainment announced the hire of Whitfield as president and COO.
Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
said “I’ve known Whitfield for over 35 years, and we have been through a lot together...We worked together when he worked with my agent, at Nike when we launched the Jordan Brand and he worked with me in the front office of the Wizards...I am thankful to have him as the team president and as my friend.” Whitfield was honored the prestigious Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence (2011) and
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
George Williams Award (Volunteer of the Year 2012), the Key to the City of Greensboro (2013), the UNC Charlotte Distinguished Service Award (2019), and named the 2019 Citizen of the Carolinas by the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. He is currently a member of the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, Charlotte Chamber of Commerce board of directors, the Charlotte Sports Foundation board of directors, and his alma mater Campbell University's board of trustees. Whitfield and his wife Mary reside in
Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...
.


Early life and career

Whitfield was born and raised in
Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...
, by his parents, Fred Sr. And Janol Whitfield. Whitfield received his BBA in economics in 1980 and
MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...
from
Campbell University Campbell University is a private Christian university in Buies Creek, North Carolina, United States. Campbell's main campus in Buies Creek is home to its College of Arts & Sciences, College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, Divinity School, Scho ...
. During this time, Whitfield was an All-South team MVP basketball player and assistant basketball coach for the
Campbell Fighting Camels The Campbell Fighting Camels are the athletic teams that represent Campbell University, located in Buies Creek, North Carolina, in intercollegiate sports at the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily ...
. In 1998, Whitfield received his JD degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law, where he acted as president of the Student Bar Association. In 2018, Whitfield was inducted into the NC Sports Hall of Fame. Whitfield's career experience includes private law practice, the Jordan Brand as director of business and legal affairs, the
Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...
as director of player personnel and assistant legal counsel, Nike basketball as director of player development, and Falk Associates Management Enterprises as director of Carolina's Region for player representation. Whitfield founded Achievements Unlimited Basketball Camp and HoopTee Charities, a North Carolina non-profit committed to giving scholarships for disadvantaged groups to attend camps and educational programs across the country.


Charlotte Hornets

Whitfield played a crucial role in bringing the 2019 NBA All-Star Game, 2019 ACC men's basketball tournament,
2012 Democratic National Convention The 2012 Democratic National Convention was a gathering, held from September 4–6, 2012, at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which delegates of the Democratic Party nominated President Barack Obama and Vice Pr ...
and 2020 Republican National Convention to
Spectrum Center The Spectrum Center is an indoor arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Located in Uptown Charlotte, Uptown, it is owned by the city of Charlotte and operated by its main tenant, the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
. Whitfield oversaw the business operations for the $40 million renovations to Spectrum Center. Whitfield formed long-term partnerships with
Ticketmaster Ticketmaster Entertainment, LLC is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Ente ...
to serve as the ticketing provider and
Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American multinational Entertainment industry, entertainment company that was founded in 2010 following the Mergers and acquisitions, merger of Live Nation (events promoter), Live Nation and Ticketmaster. It ...
to book entertainment. In 2016, Whitfield and the Hornets signed an arena naming rights deal to switch name from Time Warner Cable to Charter's Spectrum. In 2018, Whitfield and the Hornets extended television broadcast rights deal with Fox Sports Southeast for $20 million per year. In April 2016, Whitfield delivered a commencement address at
Shaw University Shaw University is a private historically black university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded on December 1, 1865, Shaw University is the oldest HBCU to begin offering courses in the Southern United States. The school had its origin in the fo ...
. During the COVID-19 outbreak, the
Spectrum Center The Spectrum Center is an indoor arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Located in Uptown Charlotte, Uptown, it is owned by the city of Charlotte and operated by its main tenant, the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...
was utilized as a vaccination center and as an early voting location for the 2020 election. Whitfield said “we have always looked at the Spectrum Center as a community asset...to us, this was as big or bigger than any...because this is about saving lives and trying to sustain people’s lives.”


See also

*
List of National Basketball Association team presidents This is a list of National Basketball Association team presidents. Key Current list ; Notes # ''An asterisk (*) following 'Date of Hire' denotes Head of Basketball Operations. See the respective team articles for more information.'' Hist ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitfield, Fred 1958 births Living people NBA executives