Ricky is a sports and entertainment advisor and consultant. Ricky works with each consulting client, providing his relentless drive and tenacity to accomplish each established goal. Ricky has been involved with event management and operation, facility management, branding and marketing, sponsorships and activation, market analysis and research, strategic planning, legal research and contract drafting. Additionally, Ricky has a special interest in the film, television and music industries given his experiences with the Greater Cleveland Film Commission and film executives in Los Angeles.
Ricky graduated summa cum laude from Lake Erie College with a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management, and received the Class of 2012 Academic Excellence Award for the School of Business. Ricky completed his Juris Doctorate (J.D.) at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Ricky has held positions at SPIRE Institute, an Olympic Training Site, and the Mid-American Conference. Additionally, Ricky serves as a consultant to sports law professor Peter Carfagna.
Ricky has held several positions with educational institutions:
Ricky graduated summa cum laude from Lake Erie College with a Bachelor of Science in Sports Management, and received the Class of 2012 Academic Excellence Award for the School of Business. Ricky completed his Juris Doctorate (J.D.) at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Ricky has held positions at SPIRE Institute, an Olympic Training Site, and the Mid-American Conference. Additionally, Ricky serves as a consultant to sports law professor Peter Carfagna.
Ricky has held several positions with educational institutions:
- Executive Director, Great Lakes Sports and Entertainment Law Academy;
- Co-Teacher (with Dr. Dale Sheptak) of Legal Aspects of Digital Media, Marketing and Analytics in Sports and Risk Management for Sport Facilities and Events: Legal Assessments, Policies and Procedures, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (beginning in Fall 2016)
- Co-Teacher (with Prof. Peter Carfagna) of Introduction to Sports Law for Non-lawyers: Current Issues Facing Professional and Pre-Professional Athletes, Harvard Extension School;
- Co-Teacher (with Prof. Peter Carfagna) of Representing the Professional Athlete MOOC, Case Western Reserve University School of Law;
- Adjunct Instructor of Legal Issues in Sports and Sport Marketing and Communications, Lake Erie College; and
- Sports Law Course Consultant, Ave Maria School of Law, University of Miami School of Law and Harvard Law School
Dale Sheptak provides a unique blend of sports industry, research, and human resource management expertise.
Dale brings a wealth of knowledge in the sports industry with 25 years of experience in the start-up and administration of sports-related businesses. In addition to starting and owning three sports-related companies, he has consulted on the formation and re-engineering of many others ranging from youth sports, to health clubs and athletic facilities, to professional sports organizations. He has presented both nationally and internationally on the role of volunteers in sports organizations, event management and policy, and issues in youth sport.
As a sociologist, Dale is focused on forms of labor in the sport industry and the precarious nature of sport employment. Dale also focuses on the role of sport in education and how/if sport adds or detracts from the education system’s role of preparing young people for life and work. He is also active in researching what he calls, the “commodification of youth athletes” and how youth sport as a business model is changing the way we coach and develop young athletes.
Additionally, Dale has over 15 years of training and human resources experience, both as a consultant and as a practitioner, holding positions with a major consultancy firm in Northeast Ohio and management positions with a major national retailer, an international software development start-up, and a multinational banking corporation, he has been instrumental in creating and implementing successful skills development programs, supervisory and management programs, distance learning initiatives, and product specific programs.
Sheptak earned a Doctorate in Social Sciences in Human Resource Management and a Master of Science degree in Training & Development and Performance Management from the University of Leicester, England. He is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.
Dale brings a wealth of knowledge in the sports industry with 25 years of experience in the start-up and administration of sports-related businesses. In addition to starting and owning three sports-related companies, he has consulted on the formation and re-engineering of many others ranging from youth sports, to health clubs and athletic facilities, to professional sports organizations. He has presented both nationally and internationally on the role of volunteers in sports organizations, event management and policy, and issues in youth sport.
As a sociologist, Dale is focused on forms of labor in the sport industry and the precarious nature of sport employment. Dale also focuses on the role of sport in education and how/if sport adds or detracts from the education system’s role of preparing young people for life and work. He is also active in researching what he calls, the “commodification of youth athletes” and how youth sport as a business model is changing the way we coach and develop young athletes.
Additionally, Dale has over 15 years of training and human resources experience, both as a consultant and as a practitioner, holding positions with a major consultancy firm in Northeast Ohio and management positions with a major national retailer, an international software development start-up, and a multinational banking corporation, he has been instrumental in creating and implementing successful skills development programs, supervisory and management programs, distance learning initiatives, and product specific programs.
Sheptak earned a Doctorate in Social Sciences in Human Resource Management and a Master of Science degree in Training & Development and Performance Management from the University of Leicester, England. He is an Associate Professor of Sport Management at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.
Keith Sparks – Partner
Keith brings extensive experience in the development, structuring, financing, and management of complex energy infrastructure businesses. Keith has advised institutional investors on direct equity investments across several energy chains. Many of the transactions initiated or led by Keith were first of their kind development projects or financings that continue to outperform despite the absence of local regulatory or legal precedent and/or the presence of historically antagonistic stakeholders. He has successfully developed projects in Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean Basin.
Keith currently leads the development efforts on the Centennial West Clean Line, a 3,500 megawatt high voltage direct current transmission line from eastern New Mexico to California, the Mesa Canyons wind project, a 1,000 megawatt wind farm in Corona, New Mexico and the Western Spirit Clean Line, an approximately 150-mile transmission line projected to transport 1,000 megawatts of wind power from central New Mexico to markets in the Western United States.
Prior to his work in energy development, Keith served as Assistant Athletic Director at Stanford University recruiting and working with scores of prominent athletes, coaches and administrators engaged at the highest levels in the collegiate and professional sports industry.
Keith is a graduate of Stanford University (A.B. Human Biology, ‘84) and the University of Texas School of Law (J.D., ‘87).
Keith currently leads the development efforts on the Centennial West Clean Line, a 3,500 megawatt high voltage direct current transmission line from eastern New Mexico to California, the Mesa Canyons wind project, a 1,000 megawatt wind farm in Corona, New Mexico and the Western Spirit Clean Line, an approximately 150-mile transmission line projected to transport 1,000 megawatts of wind power from central New Mexico to markets in the Western United States.
Prior to his work in energy development, Keith served as Assistant Athletic Director at Stanford University recruiting and working with scores of prominent athletes, coaches and administrators engaged at the highest levels in the collegiate and professional sports industry.
Keith is a graduate of Stanford University (A.B. Human Biology, ‘84) and the University of Texas School of Law (J.D., ‘87).