Executive Director and Past President

Dr. Eric C. Schwarz
Saint Leo University
Chair and Associate Professor
Department of Sport Business
and International Tourism

Dr. Schwarz is in his fifth year as Associate Professor of Sport Business at Saint Leo University and third year as Department Chair. He has been recognized by Saint Leo in 2010 with the Distinguish Publications Award, and in 2011 with the School of Business Excellence in Teaching Award.
Previously, he spent nine years at Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire, where he was an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of Sport Management within the School of Business, Management, and Professional Studies. During the 2006-2007 academic year, he took a sabbatical leave to serve as Visiting Senior Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Ballarat in Australia.

Dr. Schwarz has presented on various topics in sport marketing and experiential learning at conferences in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. He has been most active with the Sport Marketing Association (SMA), where he has been a regular presenter, with articles published in the conference book of papers. He served as the Conference Academic Committee Chair for the conference held in Cleveland, Ohio in October 2009 and New Orleans, Louisiana in 2010, and served as President of the organization from 2010-2012. In addition, he was the recipient of the 2009 Honorary Service Award by the SMA.

Dr. Schwarz has published numerous articles in journals including the International Journal of Sport Manangement and Marketing, the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, and the Journal of Applied Marketing Theory, Dr. Schwarz is the lead author of “Advanced Theory and Practice in Sport Marketing”. Published by Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier in 2008 (1st edition) and Routledge in 2012 (2nd edition), this university-level textbook fills a much needed niche in sport management curriculum support by breaking new ground in pedagogy by providing both in-depth theoretical discussions and practical applications in sport marketing. In addition, he is the lead author of his second book, titled “Sport Facility Operations Management: A Global Perspective”. This book was written with a group of international academicians, was published by Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier in early 2010.

Dr. Schwarz received a B.S. degree in Physical Education from Plymouth State University in 1991; a M.Ed. in Administration and Supervision from Salisbury University in 1992; and an Ed.D. in Sport Management from the United States Sports Academy in 1998.

President

 Dr. Gregg Bennett
Texas A&M University
Director and Associate Professor
Center for Sport Management
Research and Education

Dr. Gregg Bennett is the Director of the Center for Sport Management Research and Education at Texas &M University. Dr. Bennett, the founder of the Sport Marketing Association, has published over 50 manuscripts in scholarly journals with a research focus on sports marketing, specifically event marketing and action sports. His work has appeared in journals like Sport Marketing Quarterly, the Journal of Advertising, the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, and the International Journal of Sport Management.

Dr. Bennett has presented over 100 papers at academic conferences. Two of his presentations have won the best research poster competition at the SMA conference and he has been named a research fellow for the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM). Dr. Bennett has obtained research consultations with NBC Sports, Mountain Dew, Octagon, and the Florida Sports Foundation.

Further, he has obtained close to $1 million in extramural funding, including a US State Department grant . Dr. Bennett has extensive interests and background in research, teaching and coaching. He coached college baseball at Tennessee Tech, the University of Southern Mississippi and Auburn University. Dr. Bennett founded the Twelve Baseball Academy based in College Station, one of the most widely respected youth baseball academies in the United States.

President Elect

Dr. Nancy Lough
University of Nevada Las Vegas
Associate Professor – Sport Leadership

 Alma Mater: University of Northern Colorado
Areas of Expertise: Corporate sponsorship and marketing of women's sport, Leadership development in intercollegiate athletics, Title IX and Gender Equity
Research Interests: Antecedents for Professional Advancement in Athletic Administration, Exploration of Work-Life Balance in Intercollegiate Athletics: Policies, Programs, and Institutional Climate, Sponsorship valuation and enhancement for women's sporting events, Marketing and media influence on the success of women's sport properties.

Dr. Nancy L. Lough is an Associate Professor in the Sport Education Leadership department and directs the graduate program in Athletic Administration. Dr. Lough has worked in sport extensively, with experience as a collegiate coach, athletic administrator and consultant. Prior to assuming her position at UNLV, Dr. Lough served as sport management faculty at the University of New Mexico , Iowa State University and Kent State University . Her years of experience in the sport management field have also included coaching and teaching in NCAA Division I and II programs in California and Texas in addition to public and private high schools in Colorado. She has consulted with professional sport organizations such as the LPGA and amateur sport organizations such as the Native American Sports Council. Her primary teaching areas include Marketing & Promotions for Athletic Programs, Financing Sport, Leadership Theory in Sport, Intercollegiate Athletic Administration, Sport Facility & Risk Management and Women in Sport. She is the Associate Editor for Sport Marketing Quarterly and has served multiple sport management organizations including NASSM (North American Society for Sport Management), NAGWS (National Association for Girls & Women in Sport) and the SMPRC (Sport Management Program Review Council).

Vice President of Industry Relations

Dr. Steve McKelvey
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Associate Professor, Sport Law & Sport Marketing

Steve McKelvey joined University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s Sport Management Department in September 2002 and is currently Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director. He research lies at the nexus of the law and sport marketing, and he is considered on the leading authorities on ambush marketing. He has also written extensively on athlete right of publicity and sport sponsorship issues.

Prior to joining the UMass faculty, McKelvey spent 15 years in the sport industry.  He served for two years as President of Fan Guide, Inc., a sports publishing and marketing firm headquartered in New York City, and has also held senior marketing positions for a number of other NYC-based sports entities. From 1995-2000, McKelvey spearheaded the creation and growth of an in-house sports marketing/sponsorship consulting division within PSP Sports, the country’s leading publisher of gameday sports magazines.

He joined Major League Baseball in 1985, and was instrumental in the creation and growth of MLB’s first-ever corporate sponsorship program.  He was promoted to Director of MLB’s Corporate Sponsorship division from 1989, and as head of MLB’s corporate sponsorship strategy and sales was responsible for the negotiation of multi-year contracts with Upper Deck, MCI, Gatorade, Procter & Gamble, and Warner-Lambert (Rolaids), among others.

McKelvey holds a B.A. in American Studies from Amherst College, M.S. from the University of Massachusetts Sport Management Program, and a J.D. from Seton Hall School of Law, and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1993. He is also an MLBPA-certified player agent and a partner in the firm of DiaMMond Management Group.

Vice President of Academic Affairs

Dr. Khalid Ballouli
University of South Carolina
Assistant Professor
Department of Sport and Entertainment Management

Dr. Khalid Ballouli is an assistant professor in the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management at the University of South Carolina. His research and teaching interests include marketing and branding strategy, specifically as it relates to theory and applications ofconsumer behavior, social dynamics, and fan experience in the sport industry. His research has led to publications appearing in refereed journals such as Sport Marketing Quarterly, International Journal of Sport Management, International Journal of Sport Communication, and Sport Management Education Journal, among others. Dr. Ballouli has made more than 30 research presentations at national and international conferences. He is the author of three book chapters, and is currently an investigator for numerous funded studies examining consumer behavior and fan experience at sport events.

SMQ Editor

Dr. Dan Funk
Temple University
Professor & Washburn Senior Research Fellow Director of Research and PhD Programs

Dr. Funk joins the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management from Griffith University in Australia and also holds a joint appointment in the Fox School of Business. He has taught courses in sport marketing, sport promotions and communications, sport consumer behavior, and event marketing and sponsorship at Griffith University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Louisville. He also currently serves as a professor at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

With research expertise ranging from sport television media to sport motivations, Dr. Funk has participated in nearly 20 grant-funded studies. Currently, he is serving as a chief investigator on two Australian government research projects, with total funding of $1.16 million, to examine the impact of new professional sporting teams on community engagement and fan development, funded in part by the Australian Football League, and a second project on improving qualifications for Australian sports talent classification. His research offers marketing and management solutions to businesses, communities and governments that provide sport, tourism, event and recreation services or products.

Dr. Funk has written a refereed scholarly book, a sport marketing textbook, an industry book and has written or contributed to more than 60 articles published in a variety of journals, including Journal of Sport Management, Journal of Leisure Research, Tourism Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Sport Management Review, Sport Marketing Quarterly and Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management.

Dr. Funk's articles have ranged from a case study of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the impact of the 2002 FIFA World Cup on football spectators in Japan, an examination of gender differences among sport spectators at NCAA basketball games, an exploration of participant motives at Lance Armstrong Foundation events, segmentation of running involvement among Miami Marathon participants, and travel decision-making for international participants of the Gold Coast Marathon and European Athletic Championships.

Dr. Funk earned his PhD and master's degree in sport management from Ohio State University and his bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Kansas. Prior to academia, he worked in industry developing and promoting recreational sport programs and special events in the United States.

Member At-Large

 Dr. Joris Drayer
Temple University
Assistant Professor
Sport & Recreation Management
Sport Industry Research Center (SIRC)

 After working for 3 years in the golf industry and 4 years for the Oakland Athletics, Joris continued his education at the University of Northern Colorado where, in 2007, he earned his Ph.D. and was awarded the prestigious "Graduate Dean's Citation for Excellence."  Now an assistant professor at Temple University, Joris conducts research in two primary areas: pricing and consumer behavior.  With a particular interest in the interaction between primary and secondary tickets markets, Joris  has published several articles related to the dynamic that exists between these two separate but related industry sectors, including two in Sport Marketing Quarterly and two in Sport Management Review.  In addition to his academic work in the area, Joris has thrice been invited to speak at the industry-driven TicketSummit  Conference, including twice as a speaker on the keynote panel.  He has also provided expert commentary on the topic for media sources such as the New York Times, Bloomberg News, the Newark Star Ledger, and the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The research on consumer behavior has included studies which bridge the gap between pricing and consumer response; however, the majority of his research in consumer behavior has been conducted with regard to mediated consumption primarily within the realm of fantasy sports.  Along with co-authors Brendan Dwyer and Stephen Shapiro, Joris received the Best Paper Award at the 2010 Sport Marketing Association Conference for a paper entitled "Segmenting Motivation: An Analysis of Fantasy Baseball Motives and Mediated Sport Consumption" and has published several other articles on the topic.

At Temple University, Joris is a member of the Sport Industry Research Center (SIRC) and teaches classes in Finance, Marketing, and Research Methods.

Education
B.A. (2001) - University of California - Santa Barbara
M.A. (2003) - University of San Francisco
Ph.D. (2007) - University of Northern Colorado

Social Media Consultant

 Beth Grupsmith
Managing Director of the Sports Business Education Network (SBEN)

 Beth Grupsmith is the Managing Director of the Sports Business Education Network (SBEN), a non-profit organization linking industry leaders to the classroom through the use of Livestream. She has been apart of the SBEN building process since its inception in September, 2012. Beth has created relationships with various organizations around the country helping to market and expand the organization's growth through both the live and archived videos of their conference. She has increased the network's following from 0 to 1,650+ in a three-month span. Beth is also the Media & Technology Coordinator for the Boston Chapter of Women in Sports & Entertainment (WISE).

Beth holds a B.S. in Sport Management and a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. There she participated in the Fall 2011 NASCAR Kinetics Program and was Volunteer Manager and head of the CRM committee for the 10th Annual Supercuts SoccerFest.