Dick Packer New ABA President
April 1, 2010 - American Basketball Association (ABA) News Release
Indianapolis, IN. The American Basketball Association (ABA) today named Richard M. Packer as its new President/Chief Operating Officer. "We are very pleased and proud to have Dick joining the ABA," stated Joe Newman, ABA CEO. "His experience in both business and basketball is tremendous. We have many new initiatives working with licensing, media, merchandising, ABA Global, entertainment, venue construction and expansion, all of which he will be deeply involved in and helping to manage. We are very excited to have him as part of the management team."
A native of Bethleham, Pennsylvania and a graduate of Lehigh University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business and Economics with a minor degree in International Relations, Dick was a four year varsity player and starting member of the Lehigh's Basketball team. His older brother, Billy Packer, retired as long-time analyst of CBS Sports basketball, his deceased father Anthony was Head Coach of Lehigh men's basketball for many years.
He created, developed and successfully implemented corporate and non-profit plans for Athletic International Marketing, Forever Sports Management Group, the Tribune Company and the Educational Foundation of Lake County as well as developing, negotiating and administering the first exclusive beverage contract on behalf of a public school district in Florida. Dick has recruited, trained and directed over 100 multiple staff members as Executive Director of two different non-profit agencies and is a former head basketball coach.
"While much of Dick's career has been in education and coaching," added Newman, "his background in sales and marketing is what really attracted us to him. He had a very successful sales and marketing career in financial services; he developed and coordinated successful fund raising campaigns and summer camp programs as a Head Coach; he developed, instituted and administered financial campaigns in the non-profit business area that provided increased revenues to organizational growth which included the Apopka Improvement Association, Education Foundation of Lake County Public Schools and Give Kids the World, City of Legends and others. He has a proven business sense in identifying program potential, forming strategic partnerships and utilizing market application techniques to add value, expand market share, generate revenues and increase brand value. He is the perfect fit."
Packer added, "I am extremely pleased to accept this position with the ABA. The league is the fastest growing professional sports league ever; its record of diversity is second to none. The ABA is very community minded, very focused on youth, and exists for all of the right reasons. This is a challenging position with much to be done - and I am excited about the future and the potential." For more information, contact Dick Packer at dick.packer@gmail.com or visit www.abalive.com.
Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.
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