Flavil Hampsten
Age: 35
Team: Charlotte Hornets
Title: Senior vice president, sales and database marketing
Where born: Cleveland
Education: University of Mount Union (B.A., marketing and management), Arizona State University (MBA)
Family: Wife, Ashlee; daughter, Brooklyn (5); son, CJ (3)
Favorite way to unwind: Playing with the kids or watching a game in my favorite recliner.
Cause supported: Make-A-Wish.
Most thrilling/adventurous thing I've ever done: Swim with sharks.
Person in the industry I'd most like to meet: Pat Riley. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he has done in Miami.
If I could change jobs with anyone for a day, it would be: President Obama. It would be very interesting to see what a day in the life of POTUS is like.
My fellow Forty Under 40 class members would be surprised to know that I: Don’t have a middle name.
MATT ROCHINSKI / HORNETS.COM
he recent rebrand of the Charlotte Hornets has rejuvenated the franchise and won rave reviews around the NBA. One of the chief architects of that overhaul is Flavil Hampsten, who has helped the team reach record sales goals while shepherding the return of the Hornets name to Charlotte.
Hampsten was no stranger to the Hornets when he joined the franchise in 2010. He previously had worked for the NBA’s team marketing and
{podcast}
SBJ Podcast:
Forty Under 40 editor Mark Mensheha and Executive Editor Abraham Madkour discuss this year's class, some of the more interesting stories in it and how the selection process works.
business operations division, where he was assigned to help the then-Bobcats build their business.
Hampsten began his sports business career during his undergrad days, when he interned for the Minor League Baseball team in nearby Akron, Ohio. Pulling tarps at 7 a.m. on Sunday mornings was hardly Hampsten’s dream job, but the experience led to a job with Mandalay Sports Entertainment after he graduated. From there, he went on to work for Comcast-Spectacor and the NHL Coyotes before joining the NBA. Today, he is charged with continuing to drive the Hornets’ ticket-sales efforts a year after the team’s name change.
“We hope it keeps growing, and all indications are that it will stay that way,” he said.
— John Lombardo
