Thad Sheely is the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

of the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

and

State Farm Arena State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena) is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Atlanta Hawks. It also served as home to t ...

since 2015.

Early life and career

Sheely was raised in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...

. Sheely received an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

from

Stanford University Graduate School of Business The Stanford Graduate School of Business (also known as Stanford GSB) is the graduate business school of Stanford University, a private research university in Stanford, California. For several years it has been the most selective business scho ...

, and

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

urban studies Urban studies is based on the study of the urban development of cities. This includes studying the history of city development from an architectural point of view, to the impact of urban design on community development efforts. The core theoreti ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

. Sheely started his career as an investment banker with

Prudential Securities Prudential Securities, also formerly known as Prudential Securities Incorporated (PSI), was the financial services arm of the insurer, Prudential Financial. In 2003, Prudential Securities was merged into Wachovia Securities, a division of Wachov ...

' sports facility finance group. Prior to joining the Hawks, Sheely has worked in the sports/real estate industry for over 20 years, including his involvement in the development of Hudson Yards as SVP of operations for

The Related Companies The Related Companies, L.P. is an American real estate firm in New York City, with offices and developments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi, London, São Paulo and Shanghai. Related has more than 3,0 ...

MetLife Stadium MetLife Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 5 mi (8 km) west of New York City. Opened in 2010 to replace Giants Stadium, it serves as the home for the New York Giants a ...

for the New York Jets and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

, and

American Airlines Arena FTX Arena (known as American Airlines Arena from 1999 to 2021) is a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and designed by the architecture ...

for the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

. In 2010, Sheely was a recipient of SportsBusiness Journal's "40 Under 40" Award for his role in the MetLife stadium project. At this time, Sheely resided in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New Yor ...

, with his wife, Gabby, and their two sons, Ben and Nick. Sheely has served as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the gener ...

at NYU's Tisch School of Sports/Hospitality/Management, lecturing on sports facility finance. Sheely is on the board of trustees at The Paideia School.

Atlanta Hawks

Sheely was the lead decision maker for the design/construction of the Hawk's new practice facility (Emory Sports Medicine Complex in Brookhaven), and the $200M remodel of State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena). Under the direction of Sheely, the Atlanta Hawks made a historic agreement to refinance its $35 million construction loan for Emory Sports Medicine Complex with syndicate Black-owned banks to help bridge the racial equity gap.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheely, Thad Living people National Basketball Association executives Year of birth missing (living people) Columbia College (New York) alumni Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni

Early life and career

Atlanta Hawks

See also

References