A top level executive with the NCAA will visit West Virginia University as part of WVU’s College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences 2011 Sport Summit April 16 at the Erickson Alumni Center. Greg Shaheen, who oversees the strategic operation of the NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship, will speak at 7:45 as the keynote speaker at the annual event, which is hosted by the CPASS Sport Management program.
Earlier in the program, Jim Schaus, director of athletics at Ohio University and CPASS alumnus, will receive the distinguished alumnus award.
Shaheen, who oversees the NCAA’s nearly $11 billion contract with broadcast partners Turner/CBS and ESPN, also supervises the NCAA corporate broadcast and marketing programs. Since August 2010, he has overseen the strategic development and operation of all NCAA championships, covering more than 750 sites and involving some 45,000 student-athletes annually.
“Having Greg Shaheen, executive vice president of the NCAA, as our Sport Summit keynote speaker this year is a big plus for the sport management program and West Virginia University,” said Dr. Dallas Branch, a professor with CPASS.
“He is arguably the second most powerful and influential person in college athletics.”
Among his accomplishments, Shaheen has overseen the broadening of activities surrounding the NCAA Final Four and was named to Sports Business Journal’s prestigious “Forty Under 40” list for three consecutive years.
He earned his bachelor’s degree with high distinction in business from Indiana University and is a board member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Schaus received his bachelor’s degree from Purdue and master’s degree from WVU. He worked as an intern for the NFL’s New England Patriots, and after graduation as a publicity assistant for the LPGA Tour before heading to Washington to become the director of marketing for the Washington Redskins.
“This year’s 2011 Distinguished Alumnus, Jim Schaus, is a great story of a ‘local boy does good,’ ” Branch said. “The son of former NBA executive and WVU Athletic Director Fred Schaus, Jim’s career success is an example for our Sport Management students to emulate.”
Schaus has been a member of the initial NCAA Division I Committee on Academic Performance, an 11-member committee, which is made up of conference commissioners, athletic directors, NCAA staff and associate ADs, and oversees academic reform.
For more information, contact Branch at 304-293-0861 or dbranch@wvu.edu.
—WVU—
4/13/11
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CONTACT: Kimberly Cameon, CPASS
304-293-0827, Kimberly.Cameon@mail.wvu.edu