Hollis Selected For NACMA Hall of Fame
6/9/2015 12:00:00 AM | General
CLEVELAND - Michigan State Athletics Director Mark Hollis will be inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) Hall of Fame at the association's annual convention, scheduled from June 14-17 at the World Center Marriott Resort in Orlando, Florida. The NACMA Hall of Fame Class of 2015 also includes IMG College Chairman and President Ben Sutton.
"On behalf of the Officers and Board of Directors, I am proud to recognize Mark Hollis and Ben Sutton as our 2015 inductees to the NACMA Hall of Fame," South Carolina Associate Athletics Director/Chief Marketing Officer and NACMA President Eric Nichols said. "Both of these men helped to raise the bar and set a new standard in our industry, leading the way for today's marketing professionals in athletics departments across the country."
Hollis became athletics director at Michigan State on Jan. 1, 2008. He originally got his start at MSU as a men's basketball team manager. Hollis has more than 25 years of athletics administration experience, either at the school or conference level. His well-rounded background has led to his knowledge of all areas within an athletics department, including marketing, financial administration, television negotiations, fund-raising, game operations, facility management, personnel policy, corporate interaction, sports management and public relations.
Hollis is credited with developing some of college athletics' most innovative events. It was his vision that led to Michigan State playing North Carolina in November 2011 in the first basketball game to be played on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. In 2003, Hollis was the architect of the "BasketBowl," which established a then-world record crowd of 78,129 who witnessed the Michigan State-Kentucky game at Detroit's Ford Field. The concept, which involves placing the court in the center of a football stadium, has been used at the last seven NCAA Final Fours. In 2001, Hollis helped mastermind the Michigan State-Michigan outdoor hockey game that attracted a then-world record crowd of 74,554 in Spartan Stadium.
"It's a great honor to be recognized for work in an area that can have a powerful impact on a student-athlete's experience," Hollis said. "It's also exciting to work in a profession that allows a staff to showcase everything that a university campus has to offer to its fanbase.
"Football and basketball get the greatest exposure and make the majority of the headlines, but it's rewarding to work with such a diverse group of young men and women. I'd also like to thank MSU President (Lou Anna) Simon, who has created an environment that allows us to be innovative, creative and take risks.
"Anytime one receives a national honor like this, it isn't about the individual but rather the team and I've been fortunate to work with a great staff at Michigan State. In particular, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank (Associate Athletics Director/External Operations) Paul Schager, who I've worked closely with for the last 17 years and now oversees our marketing department."
Sutton is chairman and president of IMG College, the largest collegiate sports marketing company in the nation and a division of IMG. Prior to IMG, Sutton founded ISP Sports in April 1992 and grew the business from its first partner in Wake Forest to more than 60 NCAA colleges and conferences. With this dramatic growth, ISP became the nation's leader in collegiate sports marketing and Sutton's innovations in cultivating and growing the value of collegiate sports multi-media assets became commonplace in the industry.
In the summer of 2010, Sutton helped lead the acquisition of ISP Sports by IMG Worldwide. The merger combined the nation's largest collegiate sports marketing company in ISP, with a strong stable of collegiate brands in IMG's existing college division to form not only the largest collegiate sports marketing company in America, but one of the biggest companies in all of sports business. IMG College now represents more than 200 of our nation's most esteemed universities coast to coast.
About NACMA: NACMA is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities; enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics; and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of athletics marketing administrators. For more information about NACMA, please visit www.nacma.com. NACMA is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 50th year. For more information on NACDA and the 12 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.