FOUNDER

Fred A. Whitfield Founder & President of HoopTee Charities Inc.

Fred is a respected operating executive, community leader and innovative marketer with experience leading businesses and iconic brands through periods of significant change, unprecedented crisis and bold transformation. He brings in-depth experience in business operations, turnarounds, growth strategy, legal and compliance matters, crisis management, brand management, contract negotiations and sports marketing and is a trusted advisor to CEOs and government leaders on topics related to economic development, public/private partnerships, public policy and long-term value generation.

Fred is President and Vice Chairman of Hornets Sports & Entertainment, where he oversees all business operations for the Charlotte Hornets and Spectrum Center. Since joining the franchise in 2006, Fred has served as Chief Architect of the franchise’s dramatic transformation and restructuring, an effort that has increased the value of the Hornets organization from less than $300 million in 2006 to over $1.5 billion today and has generated double-digital profitable growth every year over the past decade. In addition to steering the franchise out of multi-year operating deficits and stabilizing the business, Fred led the Spectrum Center’s COVID-19 response including mobilization of a safe return to work plan with a prioritization on employee safety, workforce resilience and operational continuity. He has worked alongside North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on the COVID-19 economic recovery plan in addition to serving as Co-Lead of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Return to Work subcommittee.

During his 15-year tenure with Hornets Sports & Entertainment, Fred has been instrumental in leading the team’s rebranding efforts including the team’s name change from the Charlotte Bobcats to the Charlotte Hornets in 2014 and the naming rights from Time Warner Cable Arena to Spectrum Center in 2016. Additionally, he oversaw the strategic design of the reimagined in-arena experience for fans, solidifying Spectrum Center as a premiere sports and entertainment destination and host for over 150 events annually including sports, concerts and conventions. In recent years, he has led Spectrum Center’s efforts to secure the 2019 NBA All-Star Game, the 2019 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament and the 2020 Republican National Convention. Under Fred’s leadership the organization secured $40 million in renovations for the Spectrum Center, reached long-term agreements with Ticketmaster and Live Nation, hosted the 2012 Democratic National Convention and in 2008 simultaneously signed an arena naming rights deal with Time Warner Cable and a television broadcast rights deal with FOX Sports, while making the largest donation ever given to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools by a professional sports franchise.

Prior to joining Hornets Sports & Entertainment, Fred held executive leadership roles with the Jordan Brand, a division of Nike, Inc., the Washington Wizards, Nike Basketball, Falk Associates Management Enterprises (F.A.M.E) and his own private law practice. Fred is widely credited with facilitating the methods to dramatically improve the Wizards’ troubled salary cap situation, enabling the franchise to rebuild through trades and free agency, and helped lay the groundwork for the rapid rise of the Jordan Brand from $300 million in revenues in 2003 to over $3.1 billion in global revenues today.

A native of Greensboro, North Carolina, Fred is the founder of HoopTee Charities, Inc, a North Carolina based non-profit corporation whose mission is to provide scholarships for disadvantaged youngsters to attend camps and educational based programs across the country, and the Achievements Unlimited Basketball School, which has served more than 10,000 kids in Greensboro and Charlotte over the last 35 years.

He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Campbell University and on the Executive Committees of the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, the Charlotte Sports Foundation, and the Foundation for the Carolinas. Additionally, he is a member of the Governor Roy Cooper’s North Carolina Business Council of Management and Development and the Governor’s North Carolina Coronavirus Economic Recovery Task Force, co-chairing the Hospitality and Mass Gathering subcommittee. He serves on the Mecklenburg County Coronavirus Business Leaders Task Force and serves as an Alternate Governor on the NBA Board of Governors and as a member of the NBA Global Inclusion Council which provides strategic guidance and benchmarking, policy review, culture assessment and advocacy for the NBA’s diversity and inclusion efforts worldwide.

In 2019, Fred was awarded the prestigious Citizen of the Carolinas Award from the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance and was the recipient of the UNC Charlotte
Distinguished Service Award. In 2017, he received the Charlotte Chamber Economic Growth Champion Award for his contributions to the business growth and economic development of the region following his stewardship as an influential member of the small group of business leaders that worked closely with both political parties and Governor Roy Cooper to repeal the controversial HB-2 “bathroom bill” which garnered national attention and led to lost economic opportunities and jobs, boycotts and significant damage to the North Carolina economy.

He is a 2018 North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame inductee and was named one of Charlotte Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs (2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021) in addition to being selected to Business North Carolina’s Power 100 (2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021).

A graduate of Campbell University, Fred was a varsity basketball player, All-South Selection, team captain, MVP and was inducted into the school’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. He earned a BBA degree in economics and then completed his MBA at Campbell while serving as Assistant Basketball Coach for the Camels. From there, he earned a Juris Doctorate Degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law where he served as Student Bar Association President.

Fred and his wife, Mary, reside in Charlotte.