HIGH POINT, N.C., Oct. 23, 2019 – High Point University will host a Sports Entertainment Industry All-Star Panel on Nov. 4 at 12 p.m. in HPU’s Congdon Hall Callicutt Auditorium.
The event is free and open to the public. A limited number of complimentary tickets are available to the general public by contacting Campus Concierge at 336-841-4636 or concierge@highpoint.edu.
The HPU All-Star Panel will feature several of HPU’s In-Residence faculty, including Cynt Marshall, CEO of Mark Cuban’s NBA team the Dallas Mavericks and HPU’s Sports Executive in Residence; Joe Michaels, associate professor in the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication, former director of the NBC’s “TODAY” show and HPU’s Broadcaster in Residence; and Bob Ryan, retired sports columnist for The Boston Globe and HPU’s Sports Reporter in Residence.
HPU students will have the opportunity to ask panelists about their professional experiences in sports management and sports journalism during the interactive discussion.
“At HPU, we believe in preparing our students not for the world as it is, but for the world as it is going to be,” says HPU President Nido Qubein. “To help us with that mission, our students have continued access to global thought leaders such as Cynt Marshall, Joe Michaels and Bob Ryan. We are very excited to host a sports executive panel for our campus.”
About the all-star panelists
Marshall has been CEO of the Dallas Mavericks since May 2018. Before joining the professional basketball team, Marshall served in leadership roles at AT&T. She started in 1981 and held a variety of line and staff positions in the operator services, network engineering, operations, external and legislative affairs departments. Marshall served as the president of AT&T North Carolina for more than six years before becoming senior vice president and chief diversity officer for AT&T nationally. In the spring, Marshall participated in a growth mindset forum with HPU students, as well as other workshops across campus. Currently, a group of HPU students are shadowing Marshall in Dallas, Texas, during an externship with the Dallas Mavericks.
Michaels has been a close mentor to HPU students within the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication since joining HPU in 2015. He brings more than 30 years of experience to HPU, including 22 of those years as director of NBC’s “TODAY” show. He began his career in television as an associate director and director for NBC Sports. His work includes The World Series, The Super Bowl, Wimbledon Tennis, Olympics, NBC Game of the Week, the Orange Bowl, Hula Bowl and NBC SportsWorld. He has also directed commercials, stage productions and special events. Michaels mentors HPU students every day in the classroom and in the state-of-the-art television studio in the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication.
Ryan wrote for The Boston Globe since 1968, covering all of Boston’s sports teams. Ryan’s work still appears in the Globe semi-regularly. He is a regular panelist on ESPN’s Sunday morning roundtable, “The Sports Reporters,” and has been described as the “quintessential American sportswriter” and a basketball guru. Ryan is well-known for his coverage of basketball and for his stories covering the Boston Celtics in the 1970s. Ryan regularly mentors students in sports reporting classes in the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication.