2022 Barnhardt Seminar on Ethics: Fred Whitfield
Fred Whitfield 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 Forbes’ estimated value of the Hornets organization from less than $300 million in 2006 to over $1.5 billion today.
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.
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 $4.7 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 youth to attend camps and educational based programs across the country. 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.
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. He is a 2018 North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame inductee and was named one of Charlotte Business Journal’s Most Admired CEOs, four years in a row, in addition to being selected to Business North Carolina’s Power 100.
A graduate of Campbell University, Fred was a varsity basketball player 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. He went on to receive his Juris Doctor 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.