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Anucha Browne-Sanders, a former sport industry executive with the NBA’s New York Knicks who recently won an $11.6 million sexual harassment lawsuit against the organization, will deliver the keynote address at the Seventh Annual Cortland Sport Management Awards Ceremony Thursday, May 1 on the SUNY Cortland campus. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Brown Auditorium in the Old Main Building and will begin at 6 p.m. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. In what was called a landmark sexual harassment case, a jury in October 2007 found that Knicks general manager and coach Isiah Thomas sexually harassed Browne-Sanders and that Madison Square Garden fired her out of spite for complaining about it. One of the few African American women of her generation to hold a high profile executive position in the sport industry, Browne Sanders spent six years (2000-2006) as the senior vice president for marketing and business operations for the Knicks. While with the Knicks, Browne-Sanders oversaw all marketing efforts, including ticket sales, advertising and design, fan development, event presentation, community relations, field marketing, alumni relations, new media and special events. In 2002, she was named one of the Sports Business Journal's Top 40 Under 40 sports executives, an annual honor for "the most influential and powerful young executives in the sports business." Prior to joining the Knicks, Browne-Sanders spent 11 years with IBM, where she served as a program manager and oversaw IBM's sport marketing related activities. A 1985 graduate of Northwestern University, Browne Sanders had an outstanding career for the Wildcats' women's basketball team. She was selected to the All-Big Ten team three times and chosen as the All-Big Ten Player-of-the-Year twice. She also holds the all-conference records in scoring average and rebounds. She earned a master's degree in communications from Florida State University. Browne-Sanders is currently the senior associate athletic director for marketing and the senior woman administrator for the University at Buffalo Athletics Department. She leads the areas of ticket sales, corporate marketing, event management and game promotions. She also is the administrator for the women's basketball, volleyball and softball programs. The awards ceremony is organized each year by Cortland’s sport management department to spotlight student excellence in both academics and service learning activities. The following awards will be presented: Outstanding Sophomore, Outstanding Junior, Outstanding Senior, the Bogard Scholarship, the Excelsior Award, the Sport Law Award, the Information Technology in Sport Award, the Wingate Scholarship and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence. SUNY Cortland’s innovative sport management department currently has over 400 undergraduate and 50 graduate students enrolled in its business-based degree programs. Students are provided with both the formal academic foundation and the additional key experiential learning opportunities necessary to gain access to a career in the extremely competitive sport industry. SUNY Cortland is located in Cortland, a Central New York town located at the eastern gateway to New York State’s Finger Lakes Region. This event is supported by the SUNY Cortland Sport Management Club and the Hampton Inn. |
