BiographyMasai Ujiri was born in 1970 in England. His
family moved to Nigeria when he was two.
He first started to play basketball when he was 13 and fell in love with it after watching Hakeem Olajuwon
He went on to play college basketball at Bismark State College and Montana State University-Billings
After college he played professionally for six years in Europe
CareerAfter playing professionally he decided
he wanted to work in an NBA front office
He moved to Washington and would attend college games and camps to connect with college coaches
John Gabriel, the GM of the Magic, gave Ujiri unpaid scouting assignments
A year later the Nuggets hired him to be an international scout
In 2006, the Raptors hired him and a year later he became the assistant general manager
He was then hired back by the Nuggets as General Manager in 2010
He became the first African born GM in the history of North American sports
His first big move was trading Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks in a 12 player deal
Despite the trade, the Nuggets finished third in the Western Conference two seasons later and Ujiri was named the 2013 NBA executive of the year
Toronto RaptorsDuring Ujiri’s tenure in Denver the team
compiled a record of 145-85 and set a team record for wins in a season
He was hired to be the General Manager of the Toronto Raptors in May 2013
In his first season, Ujiri tansformed the Raptors into a playoff team
The team improved by 14 wins from the previous season and made the playoffs for the first time in six years
Ujiri wanted to be a general manager after he realized that his playing career was not working out
Ujiri said he is constantly on his phone checking emails looking at scouting reports and making sure to stay in touch with colleagues
Ujiri says that it is important to dream about your goals because it will make you work harder to achieve them
Ujiri says honesty and trust are the two most important characteristics that he values
He tries to be completely honest with his players. He feels that this creates a trust between him and the player and helps build stronger bonds within the organization and results in more wins
He also stresses the importance of family. He says that if it weren’t for the support from his family he would not have been able to survive as an unpaid scout
He says he is constantly working and never has off. When he is not working on the Raptors he is working on Basketball without Borders and he feels a greater responsibility for that
Basketball without BordersHe is the founder of the Giants of Africa
Foundation which has camps all over Africa
He has served as the director of the NBA’s Basketball without Borders program since 2002
Ujiri has said that he doesn’t feel any pressure as a GM but he does feel pressure to give back to Africa and create opportunities for young African kids
He believes the talent in the NBA will increase with the rise of kids playing the game internationally
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTwOBjZp1uM
Eric FreelandVice President of business
development at Qcue
He was previously the manager of business development at Stubhub
At Stubhub he was responsible for the first sponsorships between Stubhub and professional sports teams
He graduated Vanderbilt in 2000 and now resides in San Francisco
QcueQcue is a computer software company that
offers different time-based pricing for tickets depending on the demand of the game
It was originally started for concerts but the main function of the company is sports events
The San Francisco Giants were the first team to work with Qcue to offer time-based pricing
Qcue has 15 MLB clients, 3 NBA clients, and several NHL clients
Freeland says he would like teams to realize the importance of their fan base more
He says that he is always trying to learn about new software and new technology
The company he most admires is Google and he wants Qcue to replicate Google’s creativity
Freeland founded LuckyBolt six months ago
LuckyBolt is a company that delivers healthy food at a discounted price