About Kenneth Shropshire

Kenneth L. Shropshire is the Adidas Distinguished Professor of Global Sport and CEO of Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University. He recently closed out a 30-year career as an endowed full professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also director of the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, professor of Africana Studies, and academic director of Wharton’s sports-focused executive education programs. He now holds the title of Wharton Endowed Professor Emeritus. 

His career has been highlighted by leading the launch of several noteworthy ventures in a variety of sectors including leading the boxing competition during the last profitable Olympic Games, which was also the most televised event of the Games in 1984; founding and leading the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, one of the world’s most respected sports business think tanks in 2004; serving as a founder and board member of the Valley Green Bank, which was sold to Univest Corp. for $76 million in 2014; and guiding the launch of the non-profit Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) in 2016 and serving on its board. 

As a sports-industry leader he is former president of the Sports Lawyers Association, the largest such organization in the world, and also former program chair of the ABA Forum Committee, Sports Law Section. His views and insights on the sports industry can be heard weekly on SiriusXM’s Wharton Sports Business Show, which he co-hosts.

As an author, his most recent books are “The Miseducation of the Student Athlete: How to Fix College Sports,” "Sport Matters: Leadership, Power, and the Quest for Respect in Sports," "Negotiate Like the Pros: A Top Sports Negotiator’s Lessons for Making Deals, Building Relationships and Getting What You Want," and "Being Sugar Ray: The Life of America’s Greatest Boxer and First Celebrity Athlete." Additional works include the foundational books "In Black and White: Race and Sports in America," "The Business of Sports," and "The Business of Sports Agents." 

Shropshire’s consulting roles have featured a wide variety of projects including work for the NCAA, Major League Baseball, National Football League, National Football League Players Association, the United States Olympic Committee and PGA golfer Rory McIlroy. In addition to RISE, he serves on the board of directors of Moelis & Company, a global independent investment bank, on the nonprofit board of USA Volleyball, and as an adviser to the Sixers Innovation Lab. 

Shropshire earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Stanford University and a law degree from Columbia University, and is a member of the California bar. He joined the law firm of Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg and Tunney in Los Angeles prior to working with the 1984 Olympic Games and beginning his lengthy career at Wharton.