Friend and coworker of former North Carolina superstar Michael Jordan, president and chief operating officer of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, business school and law school graduate—Fred Whitfield is a man of many talents.
A Greensboro, N.C. native, Whitfield oversees the day-to-day activities in the Bobcats’ front office, from negotiating sponsorships with major corporations to making sure all Charlotte basketball fans enjoy their experience when they come see his team at Time Warner Cable Arena. Even the stadium’s name itself comes courtesy of Whitfield, who negotiated the television and naming-rights contract with cable giant Time Warner.
But Whitfield’s job with the Bobcats is just the latest position in a career that has taken him from assistant basketball coach to attorney to director of player development for Nike.
Whitfield discussed his winding career path Wednesday night when he visited campus for a presentation sponsored by the Fuqua Business School Media, Entertainment and Sports Club.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Whitfield’s career is the manner in which he came to befriend Jordan, and how that friendship has shaped his life and career.
The two met at a basketball camp at Campbell University, where Whitfield had been an all-Big South basketball player, and they became close friends. Following Jordan’s entry into the NBA, high-level management firms took serious interest in Whitfield, believing that he was the key to adding Jordan to their portfolio of clients. After Jordan chose Falk Associates Management Enterprises to be his agents, Whitfield followed suit and accepted a job at that same firm.
Eight years later Whitfield was once again referred by Jordan to a new job, this time as the director of player personnel for the Washington Wizards, who had just signed Jordan to their roster. In Washington, Whitfield got his first taste of the administrative aspects of an NBA franchise. He contributed to trade talks, player evaluations, staff hirings and scouting. But when Jordan retired from the NBA in 2003, Whitfield likewise left the Wizards, returning to Nike to work under the Jordan Brand. There he negotiated contracts with athletes and helped to establish business operations. In 2006, when Jordan became a minority owner of the Bobcats, he again tapped Whitfield, bringing him aboard as president of the Bobcats franchise.
Wednesday he not only spoke about his role as the Bobcats president, but also about his relationship with Jordan.
“I’ve been fortunate to be able to work alongside [Jordan] and support a lot of the growth that he has been able to build with his brand personally,” Whitfield said. “Now it’s just a lot of fun to be able to work with him on a day-to-day basis.”
Whitfield also talked about how the Bobcats’ management is attempting to turn an expansion team in just its eighth season into a perennial playoff contender. He spoke specifically about problems that he saw within the organization upon his arrival.
“When I got there, we had several things we really needed to change and clean up,” Whitfield said. “We needed a new TV deal and we needed a naming-rights deal that would give us credibility in the corporate community.”
With Jordan as an owner and Whitfield as president, the Bobcats have turned a haggard expansion program into a competitive NBA franchise. One step in this direction took place in June 2009, when the Bobcats selected former Duke star Gerald Henderson with the 12th pick in the NBA Draft. He was a bench player for the 2009-10 team, which made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. But both Whitfield and Jordan know that their franchise is capable of much more.
“We are building and putting the pieces in place to help sustain success rather than barely squeaking our way into [the playoffs] like we did two years ago,” Whitfield said. “Michael’s goal is to have our franchise where we can compete at least for a conference championship and play for a world championship.”
Although he has bounced around the realms of business and professional basketball for most of his career, Whitfield seems set on staying in Charlotte, at least for now. Whitfield claimed that in ten years he would probably still be right where he is now, directing the day-to-day operations of the Bobcats. But given his varied experience since meeting Jordan all those years ago, it is hard to know where he’ll be a decade from now.
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