UT Athletic Director Mike Hamilton to Speak October 8

The UGA Sport Business Club will be hosting the “College Sports Speaker Series” for the second year and the University of Tennessee Director of Athletics Mike Hamilton will discuss the major issues in intercollegiate athletics with an emphasis on finance, fundraising, and public relations when he speaks on Friday, October 8th at the Rankin Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center.  

The session, the second in the UGA Sport Business Club's College Sports Speaker Series, will also include tips on how to raise money in sports business while affording listeners a chance to ask questions at the lecture's conclusion.  The 41-year-old athletic administrator has quickly risen through the ranks with a history of success in fundraising and marketing at both UT and Wake Forest University.  In 1998, Hamilton was named “National Fundraiser of the Year” within intercollegiate athletics.  Hamilton has not only taken the Volunteers' annual and capital giving to new heights, but he has also escalated the scholarship fund from $4 million to over $23 million. 

The event will begin at 2 p.m. in the Rankin Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center located behind Stegeman Coliseum.  Admission is free to SBC members who have paid their dues and $3 for non-members.  Though the event is open to all, seating is first-come, first-serve.  Attire is business casual.

Students and friends from all walks of the university are welcome to attend, but especially those within the Terry College, the Grady College of Journalism, the Law School, the Franklin College of Arts & Sciences, the College of Family & Consumer Sciences and the College of Education. 

Hamilton is the latest of successful intercollegiate athletic administrators that have taken the time to visit with UGA students, faculty, and staff.  LSU director of athletics Skip Bertman spoke on October 1st and last year's speakers included Jeremy Foley (director of athletics – University of Florida), David Housel (director of athletics – Auburn University), Debbie Yow (director of athletics – University of Maryland), Lew Perkins (then director of athletics – University of Connecticut), and Lee Fowler (director of athletics – North Carolina State University).

For more information on this and future special events with the UGA Sport Business Club, please visit www.geocities.com/sportbusinessclub or contact Robert Zullo at Zullo@sports.uga.edu.   To join the UGA Sport Business Club, please visit www.geocities.com/sportbusinessclub  for the application form and membership information.

** Mike Hamilton's bio:  http://utsports.collegesports.com/genrel/063003aag.html