About Us

Mission

The SACP mission is to advance STEM education in the United States and promote STEM relevant professional careers for young women and men, driving sports as the educational platform. The SACP’s transformative learning environment is built on interdisciplinary teamwork that excites mathematics skill development by teaching the “nuts and bolts” of data analytics and by preparing students to communicate data dashboard visualizations to key stakeholders.

 

The critical priority of the SACP mission is to address the under representation of young women and African American and Latinx youth in advanced STEM studies. In the context of developing a national scale project, the SACP mission is totally inclusive of a diverse cross-section of students across cultural and socioeconomic lines.

2022 990 Form

Our Vision

SACP’s vision is to develop a nationally recognized network of several hundred Sports Analytic Clubs with incremental expansion of programs to include options in Sports Journalism, Sports Architecture/Engineering, and potentially Sports Science.

Co-Founders

Robert L. Clayton

Co- Founder & Executive Director
Partner Goldstein & McLintock LLLP

Robert L. Clayton is an experienced attorney with a focus on labor management relations, employment, sports, education, regulatory compliance, and government affairs. He advises technology and energy companies on privacy and data protection regulations, and guides clients in understanding the regulatory framework and procurement policies of federal and state agencies. He represents corporations and public institutions in labor and employment litigation and has substantial experience in handling EEOC discrimination cases. His education practice includes advising universities and secondary school districts on crisis management, labor relations, Title IV, VI, and IX, and NCAA compliance matters. He is a nationally recognized lecturer on diversity in higher education and is a frequent speaker at legal conferences.

 

Robert L. Clayton focuses his practice in the areas of labor management relations, employment, sports, education, regulatory compliance and government affairs. Mr. Clayton serves as a trusted advisor to technology and energy companies on regulatory and legal matters in privacy and data protection. He routinely counsels clients in policy development and regulatory compliance under HIPAA and FERPA, COPPA with a focus on cloud provider services. His government affairs practice guides clients in understanding the regulatory framework and procurement policies of federal and state agencies with oversight for secondary and higher education and healthcare. Mr. Clayton provides expert advice on the impact of proposed policy changes and FAQs to advance business objectives.

Ben Shields

Cofounder and Board Member Emeritus
Professor MIT Sloan School of Management

Professor Ben Shields is a member of the faculty at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He studies technological change through the lens of sports. His current research explores how people and organizations in the sports industry use data analytics to guide strategy and decision making. He teaches a variety of courses and programs at MIT Sloan, including Analytics Management: Business Lessons from the Sports Data Revolution. He is the author or co-author of three books, The Sports Strategist: Developing Leaders for a High Performance Industry (Oxford University Press, 2015),The Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Marketplace (McGraw-Hill, 2006)

 

and Social Media Management: Persuasion in Networked Culture (Oxford University Press, 2016). He is the co-host and Executive Producer of “Counterpoints”, the sports analytics podcast from the MIT Sloan Management Review. He serves as Faculty Advisor to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. He is also the Faculty Director of the Formula 1 Extreme Innovation Series with MIT Sloan Executive Education. Prior to MIT, he was the Director of Social Media and Marketing at ESPN, where he led the ESPN social media brand team from 2009-2014. He holds a B.S. and M.A. in Communication Studies, and a Ph.D. in Media, Technology, and Society, all from Northwestern University.

Ed Tapscott

Cofounder and Board Member
Former CEO and President, NBA Charlotte Bobcats

Ed Tapscott received his bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from American University Washington College of Law. He was an assistant to Gary Williams at American University in the 1970s while a law student, and took over head coaching duties in 1982. By the time Tapscott left American in 1990 to finally use his J.D. as director of team sports for Advantage International (a sports marketing and management firm), he was the coach with the 2nd highest winning percentage. He subsequently led the team to one of the program’s biggest victories.

 

On December 15, 1982, in his fifth game as coach Tapscott guided the Eagles to a 62-61 upset over its cross-town rival Georgetown who were led by Patrick Ewing and ranked fifth in the nation. The game is also notable because the Washington Cardiovascular Institute had given the coach a portable heart monitor to wear during the game, with his heart rate jumping from a pregame rate of 68 to 130 to 170 in the second half. Tapscott almost scored another upset over a highly ranked Georgetown four years later but the Reggie Williams-led Hoyas held on 62-59 and Coach John Thompson dropped American University from its schedule thereafter.

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An NBA executive level professional for years, Tapscott was the first employee hired to lead the Charlotte Bobcats as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer but resigned after serving as President and Chief Executive Officer in 2006.

Board of Directors

Joe Briggs

Head of Executive Strategy, Amazon Web Services

Ken Borkan

Founder & President, KB Capital

Damon Jones

Vice President, Assistant General Manager & Baseball Legal Counsel, Los Angeles Dodgers

Tiffany Kelly

Former Associate ESPN Sports Analytics Team

Linda Keene Solomon

President and CEO Linda Keene Solomon & Associates,
Former Principal Deloitte Consulting LLP

Julie Petrini

Petrini & Associates, P.C.,
Former Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Microsoft Corporation

Ed Tapscott

Former CEO and President, NBA Charlotte Bobcats

Leadership Team

Robert Clayton

Executive Director

Jerry Charlup

Chief Financial Officer

Christien Oliver

National Program Manager

William Boyd

Managing Director for Research