The UCF College of Business has appointed Brandon Brown ’09 MBA as the new director of TIDES, The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. TIDES, a component of the DeVos sport business management graduate program at UCF, acts as a comprehensive hub for issues concerning gender and race in amateur, collegiate, and professional sports and the media.
“We are thrilled to welcome Brandon to the program,” states Adrien Bouchet, the endowed chair and eminent scholar of the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, as well as the director of the DeVos sport business management program. “His teaching and research expertise will be advantageous to TIDES and our MBA and MS degree programs. We are committed to making the DeVos program top-notch, and adding Brandon to our team helps us achieve that goal.”
In his new position, Brown will supervise the daily activities of the TIDES program and act as the intermediary between the DeVos program and league and media connections. He will also lead a group of graduate assistants responsible for producing the annual Racial and Gender Report Cards that evaluate the hiring practices of college and professional organizations, such as the NBA, WNBA, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.
Brown is currently the president of the Sport Marketing Association and serves as a marketing consultant for sports entities like Fox Sports and the NFL.
“I am extremely eager to begin my journey with UCF and the DeVos program,” expresses Brown. “Joining this esteemed team not only feels like a return home for me, but also presents a fresh chance to help elevate the program in various ways. [Richard] Lapchick has been a guiding force and friend to me throughout my career, and I am honored to carry on his legacy by taking TIDES to new heights. Being given the opportunity to expand the program and aid our students in their professional and personal growth is something I am thrilled to undertake.”
At UCF, Dr. Brown will also be a lecturer in the integrated business program. Prior to rejoining UCF, he was an associate professor at the Tisch Institute for Global Sport at NYU and worked with the New York Mets. He obtained his MBA and master’s in sport management from UCF in 2009, a bachelor’s in Sport Management from Florida State University, and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, where he focused on minority sport consumption patterns.