About Our Authors
Nola Agha
Nola Agha (Ph.D. in Management, UMass Amherst) is an associate professor in the Sport Management Program at the University of San Francisco. She has experience in international business operations and has consulted to some of the world’s largest sporting leagues. To bring a multi-disciplinary approach to her research, she combines her training in economics and management to focus on the economic impacts of teams and stadiums, the efficiency and equity outcomes of stadium subsidies, and a variety of issues related to minor league baseball. Her research can be found in the Journal of Sports Economics, Sport Management Review, International Journal of Sport Finance, and more.
Brett Albert
Brett Albert is a Lecturer in UMass Amherst’s Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management.
Before coming to UMass, Brett worked for several years as an economic
consultant for Regional Economic Models, Inc.
In this role, Brett specialized in economic impact analysis for various
governmental and non-profit entities, such as the City of Miami, The Eastern
States Exposition, and the Rhode Island Department of Revenue. Brett currently teaches Sport Marketing
Research at UMass Amherst. He holds a
B.S. in Management from Penn State University, and an MBA and MS in Sport
Management from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst.
Jordan Bass
Jordan R. Bass, Ph.D. is the Associate Department Chair, Sport Management Program Director, and Associate Professor in the Health, Sport, and Exercise Sciences Department at the University of Kansas. Dr. Bass has published in journals such as Sport Management Review, Journal of Intercollegiate Sport, the International Journal of Sport Management, the International Sport Coaching Journal, Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, and the Journal of Applied Sport Management. His current research agenda focuses on the organizational behavior of athletics programs, the role of athletics in a higher education setting, and social issues in intercollegiate athletics. Dr. Bass also serves as the founder and co-editor of the Journal of Amateur Sport.
Greg Bouris
Greg Bouris, the
founder and president of power x communications and director of the Adelphi
University (Garden City, NY) sport management program, is a 1983 graduate of
the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Upon
graduation, he spent nearly a year with the National Hockey League’s marketing
and public relations department, while also working game-nights for the New
York Knickerbockers of the NBA. In 1984, he was hired by the NHL’s New
York Islanders as the team’s publicity assistant, and the following year was
promoted to assistant publicity director. Entering his third year with the
Islanders, he was tabbed by Bill Torrey, the late Islanders’
Hall of Fame president and general manager, to lead the team’s public relations
department. In 1993, after nearly nine seasons with the Islanders, Bouris
joined Bill Torrey in helping launch the NHL’s Florida Panthers expansion
franchise. Bouris returned to Long Island in 1996, where he worked with
SportsChannel New York and 1800Flowers.com, before embarking on a nearly
19-year career as the director of communications for the Major League Baseball
Players Association
Brian Bunk
Brian D. Bunk is Senior Lecturer in the History
Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His research in sport
history has been published in the Journal of Urban History, Sport in
History, The Journal of Sport History, The Journal of American
Ethnic History and Sport in Society. He is the creator of the Soccer
History USA podcast, a monthly program examining the history of the American
Soccer League season-by-season from 1921-1930. The podcast along with brief
episode notes is available at www.SoccerHistoryUSA.org.
Frances Esguerra
Frances Marie Esguerra is an Administrative Coordinator in
the Ticket Operations department at the Golden State Warriors. She holds a B.S.
in Exercise Biology from UC Davis and an M.A. in Sport Management from the
University of San Francisco. While obtaining her Master's degree, Frances was
offered a position by Dr. Nola Agha as her research assistant. It was in this
role that she was able to combine her interests in writing, creative analysis,
and NBA basketball by seizing an opportunity to work with Dr. Agha in
co-writing "The NBA and Esports: Potential Value Chain Alignment," a
case study that later became Frances' first publication.
Kevin Filo
Dr Kevin Filo is an Associate Professor for the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management within the Griffith Business School at Griffith University. His primary research focus examines the synergy that exists between sport and charity in the participatory event context. Prior to his academic career, Kevin served as the merchandising coordinator for the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF). During his time with the LAF, the organisation launched the LIVESTRONG wristband campaign, the most successful cause-related marketing campaign of all time. While Kevin served as Merchandising Coordinator, the LAF sold over 57 million wristbands in 14 months, and to date, the organisation has sold over 80 million wristbands.
Matthew Fisher
Following a ten-year career as a small business entrepreneur in the real estate and lending sectors, Dr. Fisher teaches a wide variety of courses spanning economics, entrepreneurship, operations, innovation, philosophy, management, and marketing. Dr. Fisher’s signature courses are strategic management, market strategy, brand management, and sales management. Professor Fisher is an award-winning case writer with high profile case studies focusing on Tesla, Shinola, Seabourn Cruises, Theranos, Coinbase, and Peloton.
Tom Frank
Tom Frank is a
writer in Washington, D.C. He spent 12 years writing for USA Today, where he
was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for explanatory reporting, covered homeland
security and reported extensively from Iraq. He also has worked for BuzzFeed
News, CNN, Newsday, the Denver Post, the Providence (RI) Journal and the
Express-Times in Easton, Pa. He was an adjunct journalism professor at the
University of Maryland for 10 years. A native of New York City, he is Barry
Frank's son.
Michael Goldman
Michael Goldman is an Associate Professor in the Sport Management Program at the University of San Francisco. He is also an Adjunct Faculty member with the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of Emerald Publishing’s Emerging Markets Case Studies collection. Michael teaches, researches, and consults within a number of marketed-related themes, including marketing strategy, sport marketing, sport business development & sales, branding, and sponsorship. He completed his MBA and Doctorate with the University of Pretoria.
Doron Goldman
Doron “Duke” Goldman is a three- time
award-winning historian and presenter specializing in the Negro Leagues and the
process of Baseball integration as well as Sports and Social Justice. A
former practicing attorney and full time marketing lecturer at the Isenberg
School of Management at UMass Amherst, Duke appears once a month on “Talkin’
Baseball with the Duke” and twice a month discussing Sports and Social Justice
in a segment he created called “Fair Play”, both on WHMP- FM in Northampton.
Doron is currently writing a biography of Hall- of- Famer Monte Irvin for
McFarland & Co.
Sam Grant
Sam Grant is currently the Director of Ticket Operations at UVM Athletics, and a 2018 recipient
of MBA and MS in Sport Management degrees from the Isenberg School of
Management at UMass Amherst. Before arriving at UMass, Sam worked as a consultant
implementing technology at organizations in the finance and healthcare sectors.
In 2017, he worked for The Aspire Group’s Ticket Sales and Service team
with UMass Athletics. He holds a B.A. from Colby College, where he was a member
of the cross country and track & field teams.
Jeff MacCharles
Jeffrey MacCharles is a PhD Candidate in Sport Management at
UMass Amherst. His research focuses on diversity and inclusion in sport
organizations, particularly as it relates to human resources policies and
practices. He has taught a broad range of courses in sport management,
management, psychology and sociology at several colleges throughout
Massachusetts since 2012. Prior to entering academia, he worked in marketing
and advertising as well as in fitness center management. He holds an MA in
Sport Management and a Postgraduate Certificate in Business from London
Metropolitan University (London, UK), as well as a BS in Biology and a BA in Psychology
from the University of Ottawa (Ottawa, Canada).
Aaron Mansfield
Aaron
Mansfield is an Associate Editor at ESPN and PhD graduate of the Mark H.
McCormack Department of Sport Management at UMass Amherst. He is a graduate of UMass Amherst (M.S. Sport Management) and
the University at Buffalo (B.A. English/Journalism)
Steve McKelvey
Steve McKelvey, J.D., is Associate Professor in the McCormack Department of Sport Management in the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. McKelvey’s research lies at the nexus of sport marketing, sponsorship and intellectual property law. A noted international authority on ambush marketing, he teaches Sport Law and Sport Sales Promotion at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Prior to joining the UMass faculty in 2002, McKelvey worked for 15 years in the sport marketing industry in New York City, including 6 years in MLB’s Corporate Sponsorship department and 9 years with sport sponsorship consulting agencies. He holds a B.A. from Amherst College, M.S. in Sport Management from UMass Amherst, and a J.D. from Seton Hall School of Law.
Will Norton
Will Norton is a full-time Lecturer and the Director of the McCormack Center for Sport Research & Education in UMass Amherst’s McCormack Department of Sport Management. Prior to his time at UMass, Norton worked in a variety of sports industry segments, spending 4 years at STATS, LLC as a data analyst and partnership sales manager for NBA, NFL and MLB league accounts, and 4 years at Epsilon, as a marketing and sport sponsorship consultant for a variety of CPG clients. He is the recipient of Chief Marketer’s 2015 GOLD award for “Best Regional Sponsorship Campaign”, for his work on Poland Spring’s Boston Marathon / The One Fund campaign. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from The College of Wooster, and an MBA and MS in Sport Management from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst.
Alan Pandiani
A ’09 UG + ’11 MBA
Student-Athlete and Graduate of Providence College, Alan currently serves as
Associate Athletic Director of Sales & Fan Experience for UMass Athletics.
A native of Massachusetts, Pandiani previously spent time with sport marketing,
consulting, and research firm The Aspire Group Inc. out of Atlanta, Georgia. In
his time with Aspire, Pandiani consulted and worked with best in class
properties across collegiate, amateur, and professional sport worldwide-
specifically in the realm of revenue enhancement, ticket marketing, ticket
pricing, ticket sales, and ticket service. In his current role with UMass
(arrived in 2015) Pandiani oversees and directs all non-fundraising related
revenue generating and fan-centric activity across ticketing, marketing,
sponsorships, and media placement.
Ben Pereira
Ben Pereira strives to help drive engagement, innovation and creativity as well as lead education, programming and strategy implementation for organizations with their diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives. Pereira served on MiLB’s Diversity and Inclusion team from January 2019 - May 2020. In this role he helped launch and manage MiLB Pride – the largest Pride celebration in professional sports. Pereira currently serves on the board of directors for HomeField Alliance, a nonprofit focused on the advancement of LGBTQ+ professionals in sports and entertainment. Ben is a Massachusetts native, a 2017 graduate of the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a 2018 graduate of Florida State University where he received his MS in Sport Management.
Kelsey Sampson
Kelsey Sampson is the Assistant to the Athletics Director at Iowa State University. Prior to Iowa
State, she worked at San Jose State, UC Berkeley and Coe College. Kelsey was a
former basketball student-athlete at Coe College (B.A. Biology/Secondary
Education) and graduate from the University of San Francisco (M.A. Sport
Management).
Matthew Sauber
Matthew Sauber (Ph.D) is a professor of marketing in the
College of Business at Eastern Michigan University (EMU). He specializes
in integrated marketing communications, global business, and online teaching
and learning. He has developed and taught courses in digital
marketing, database marketing and direct / interactive marketing
communications.
Keevan Statz
Keevan Statz is a PhD student at the University of Kansas. His research focuses on marketing and branding, specifically cause related marketing in the sport industry. Prior to pursuing his PhD, Keevan worked for Harvard University Athletics and the Green Bay Packers. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska, and holds a Master of Science in Sport Management from the University of Massachusetts.
