Former Speed channel president Hunter Nickell has signed on for a business-development role with IMG College, a college-sports marketing, multimedia and brand-management firm.
As senior vice president of partnership management and business development, he will oversee business development and partnership management for all of the company's business lines: multimedia, licensing, stadium seating and ticketing, and assist in the development of new businesses, working closely with IMG College President Ben Sutton and the leaders of each of those business lines, the company said.
A critical part of the role will be to ensure each new business launch can benefit all IMG College partners, a list presently including more than 200 universities, conferences, bowls, and other collegiate institutions coast-to-coast, the Winston-Salem, N.C., firm said.
"IMG College is a dynamic, rapidly growing enterprise that will continue to create and develop solutions-based businesses to help colleges and universities become more successful," Sutton said in a release. "We will greatly benefit from the steady hand of a seasoned executive like Hunter Nickell who has built and grown businesses and will help us strategically maximize both current and future opportunities. Hunter is a person of tremendous integrity who enjoys long and meaningful relationships with many of our partner athletic directors, coaches, and commissioners. He's a natural for this important strategic position."
From 2005 until this past January, Nickell was president at Speed. He left amid other management changes at Fox Sports Media Group properties under the leadership of David Hill. Speed's distribution grew to some 84 million homes while staff doubled on his watch. Previously, Nickell spent 12 years as general manager of FSN South.
