Bernard J. Mullin, PhD, is chairman and CEO of the Aspire Group,
a leading global management and marketing consulting business focusing
on the sport and entertainment industry. He previously served as
president and chief executive officer of Atlanta Spirit, LLC, where he
was responsible for overseeing all team and business operations for the
NBA's Hawks and NHL's Thrashers and management of the world-class
Philips Arena.
Mullin has more than 30 years of experience in the sport management
industry involving executive positions with professional teams and
leagues, where he specializes in start-ups and turnarounds, breaking
numerous all-time league ticket sales and attendance records. In
addition to his position in Atlanta, Mullin served as the NBA’s senior
vice president of marketing and team business operations, president and
general manager of the IHL’s Denver Grizzlies, senior vice president of
business operations for the Colorado Rockies, and senior vice president
of business for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He has also acted as the owner’s
representative on major design and construction projects, including
Coors Field and University of Denver’s award-winning athletic facilities.
Before and during his career in professional sports, Mullin spent
several years in intercollegiate athletics and higher education. He
served as vice chancellor of athletics for the University of Denver and
as professor of sport management at the University of Massachusetts.
Mullin holds a PhD in business, an MBA, and an MS in marketing from the
University of Kansas, where he coached the varsity soccer program. He
holds a BA in business studies from Coventry University in England,
where he played soccer semiprofessionally for the Oxford City Football
Club.
Stephen Hardy, PhD, was a professor of kinesiology and affiliate
professor of history at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) until his
retirement in 2014. In the 2003-2004 academic year, he served as interim
vice provost for undergraduate studies. Hardy also taught at the
University of Massachusetts (where he earned his PhD), the University of
Washington, Robert Morris College, and Carnegie Mellon University. Over
three decades, he taught courses in sport marketing, athletic
administration, and sport history as well as a popular introduction to
the sport industry. Besides Sport Marketing, his publications
include How Boston Played (1982, 2003) and numerous articles,
book chapters, and reviews in academic presses. He is completing a
coauthored history of ice hockey. His reviews and opinions have appeared
in popular outlets such as the Boston Globe, New York Times,
and Sports Business Journal. From 1995 to 1999, he was coeditor
of Sport Marketing Quarterly. In 1997, he was elected a fellow of
the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education. He has won
college and university awards for excellence in research and teaching.
Hardy has extensive experience in college athletics. He played hockey
for Bowdoin College in the late 1960s and cocaptained the 1969-1970 team
with his twin brother, Earl. After coaching stints at Vermont Academy
and Amherst College, he joined the Eastern College Athletic Conference
in 1976, where he served as assistant commissioner and hockey supervisor
until 1979. During that time, he supervised collegiate championships in
venues such as the Boston Garden and Madison Square Garden, and he
worked closely with the NCAA Ice Hockey Committee and its affiliated
championships. He served on the board of directors of the America East
Athletic Conference from 2000 to 2002. In 2003, he was selected by the
Hockey East Association as one of 20 special friends to celebrate the
league’s 20th anniversary. At UNH he served as faculty representative to
the NCAA and chaired the president’s Athletics Advisory Committee from
1996 to 2011. He is a founder of the Charles E. Holt Archives of
American Hockey, which are located at UNH’s Dimond Library. He lives
with his wife, Donna, in Durham, New Hampshire.
William A. Sutton, EdD, is the founding director and professor at
the sport and entertainment business management graduate program in the
management department at the University of South Florida. He is the
founder and principal of Bill Sutton & Associates, a consulting firm
specializing in strategic marketing and revenue enhancement. Sutton has
gained national recognition for his ability to meld practical experience
in professional sports with academic analysis and interpretation.
His consulting clients cover a who’s who of professional athletics: the
NBA, WNBA, NHL, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, MSG Sports, and New York
Mets. Sutton frequently serves as an expert on the sport business
industry. His insights and commentary have appeared in USA Today, New
York Times, CNBC.com, Washington Times, Fox Business, Orlando
Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Advertising Age,
and Brand Week. On the international front, Sutton is a
contributor to the Italian publications Basketball Gigante and FIBA
Assist.
Sutton served as vice president of team marketing and business
operations for the National Basketball Association. In addition to
working at the NBA, Sutton was past president of the North American
Society for Sport Management (NASSM), a founding member and past
president of the Sport Marketing Association (SMA), president of the
Southern Sport Management Association, a special events coordinator for
the City of Pittsburgh, a YMCA director, vice president of information
services for an international sport marketing firm, and commissioner of
the Mid-Ohio Conference. He was inducted into the College of Education
Hall of Fame at Oklahoma State University (2003) and as an inaugural
member of the Robert Morris University Sport Management Hall of Fame
(2006), and he received lifetime achievement awards from the Southern
Sport Management Association (2012) and the Sport Entertainment & Venues
Tomorrow conference at the University of South Carolina. He lives with
his wife, Shana, in Tampa and Clearwater Beach, Florida.
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