Greg Nared

Huddle Up with Gus

This week, joining me in the Huddle is Greg Nared. He holds the position of SVP Player Relations for the Dallas Mavericks and offers more than 25 years of experience in sales, athlete management, client relations and sports marketing. His primary focus is to provide strategic direction for youth basketball, community, player relations, and Mavs Entertainment. Greg has played an integral role in having one of the most innovative youth basketball programs in the NBA. Greg operated and owned the Greg Nared Agency, where he worked directly with professional athletes in both golf and basketball, including marketing the clients or products in promoting their career within his or her given field as well as any interests off the field of play. Greg is also responsible for meeting with team owners, managers, coaches, and other individuals to develop rapport and partnerships promoting the organization and the clients GNA represents. Much of his day is spent in contract negotiating, working with athlete sponsors, networking, speaking with other professionals and keeping abreast of current trends and information that may affect decisions the organization and agent recommend to the clients. Lastly, Greg's expertise and experience in investments, business management, finance, risk analysis, and trends in sports helped facilitate success in recruiting, developing, and sustaining clients and sponsorships. Before working at the Greg Nared Agency, Nared worked as the Vice President for Golf for the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, California. Greg was responsible for working directly with LPGA / PGA executives in helping to promote the athlete's career. Greg also worked on negotiating contracts in the best interest of the athlete. His role included improving salary, making provisions for injuries, and taking other options in place of salary increases. He made a recommendation to athletes regarding long-term as opposed to short-term benefits. Greg also worked on Brand and PR plans for athletes. In doing so, he worked on a short-term and long-term strategy that best fit the overall goals and objectives for athletes. Nared recruited athletes to increase the client base. Lastly, Nared worked very closely with Professional Golfer Extraordinaire Michelle Wie. He was responsible for day-to-day operations with the Wie family. He negotiated corporate sponsorship and appearance fees contracts, coordinated public relations, handled Michelle's schedule, and worked as an adviser to Wie. Nared also delivered 15 years of athlete management and strategic planning to Nike.
First joining Nike as the East Coast Field Representative for professional basketball in 1992, Greg led in the strategic development of NBA brand athletes, including Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Penny Hardaway. Nared was involved in orchestrating Sports Marketing efforts to support all product engines. He cemented the bond between Nike and key players, teams, and coaches through attention to service detail, personal relationship building, basketball knowledge, and intuition. Nared negotiated contracts managed marketing and advertising campaigns. He was promoted in 1995 to work as the Product Line Manager for Nike Basketball, consisting of men's, women's, and Jordan apparel. Two years later, he was promoted to work as the Business Affairs Manager for Tiger Woods. He managed all aspects of business around Tiger, including product development, budget, marketing, promotions, and public relations. He was also a key advisor to Tiger in the non-Nike industry. Nared played a crucial role in new business development for Nike Golf and Tiger, managed relationships with Tiger's sponsors, and helped generate over $10 million in incremental sales with critical partners such as General Motors, Tag Heuer, EA Sports, and American Express, and Upper Deck. Greg played a massive role in developing the Tiger Woods brand today. Before joining Nike, Greg was a Sales Manager for the Washington Bullets (Washington Wizards). He managed a sales representative team that sold season tickets to both individuals and corporations in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. A native of Wilmington, Ohio, Nared holds a bachelor's degree in Communications from the University of Maryland in College Park, where he lettered in basketball for 4 years. Nared founded the Boost Foundation, a non-profit organization serving Portland's at-risk youth. He also served as a board member for Self Enhancement, Inc., a Portland, Oregon-based non-profit organization, for 4 years. Greg speaks around the country at schools and on behalf of corporations about the value and importance of education.