Over a still forging four-decade career anchored at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Shropshire combines board service with leadership roles in academia, business, and nonprofit organizations. Over that career he served as the David W, Hauck Professor and a term as Chair of the Legal Studies & Business Ethics Department as well as Director of the Africana Studies Program. He is now Emeritus and occasionally teaches in areas of interest. At Wharton, he taught core MBA and undergraduate Business Law courses, as well as Real Estate Transactions, Negotiation, and introducing courses Sports Business and Law and Race and the Law.
He also founded the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, creating a first of its kind $5M endowed center for research and executive education. That Initiative moves forward as the Wharton Sports Analytics Business Initiative. From 2017-2022 he also served as founder and CEO of the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University, a multi-million-dollar initiative funded by adidas.
Shropshire is an experienced independent director, corporate advisor, and global authority on the business of sports. He currently serves as Lead Director and Audit Committee Chair at Moelis & Company (NYSE: MC), where he has provided governance and financial oversight since 2014. Additionally he serves as a Strategic Advisor with SeventySix Capital. His clients there include a wide range of sports business enterprises. Earlier, he co-founded Valley Green Bank in Philadelphia, chaired its Audit Committee, where he and fellow founders guided the bank through all regulatory phases from launch to exit.
His nonprofit board leadership includes service with the Women’s Sports Foundation (Trustee Emeritus), International Tennis Hall of Fame, USA Volleyball, the Sports Lawyers Association and RISE.
Author and commentator, Shropshire has written twelve books (see links below), including The Business of Sports (with Scott Rosner), Negotiate Like the Pros, and the award-winning In Black and White: Race and Sports in America. He is a frequent contributor to national media (ESPN, CNN, NPR, USA Today, New York Times), shaping public dialogue on business, governance, and culture.
Shropshire holds a bachelors degree in Economics from Stanford University, where he played football on scholarship, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School, including a non-matriculating year at Stanford Law, where he conducted research with Professor William B. Gould IV (later Chair of the NLRB). He is a member of the California Bar.
Education
JD, Columbia University School of Law, 1980; AB, Stanford University, 1977
Recent Consulting
Lead Director, Moelis and Company 2014-present; Strategic Advisor with SeventySix Capital; Advising sports leaders; Advising new sports ventures including ProsperityAI and Game Changer Analytics; The Jackie Robinson Museum; NFL; Altius Sports Partners; Arctos Sports Partners; USOPC; Goal Acquisitions Corp.; United States Tennis Association; Miami Dolphins; Negotiation training and consultation.
Academic Positions Held
Wharton: 1986-present.(Director, Wharton Sports Business Initiative, 2004-present; named David W. Hauck Professor, 2001; Chairperson, Legal Studies Department, 2000-2005; Pitney Bowes Term Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, 1986-91). University of Pennsylvania: (Acting Director, Afro-American Studies Program, 1997-98).Arizona State University: Adidas Distinguished Professor of Global Sport, CEO Global Sport Institute 2017-2022.
Other Positions
Strategic Advisor, SeventySix Capital 2026; Acting Director, the Jackie Robinson Museum 2022; Acting Executive Director, RISE, 2016; Attorney, General Business, Sports and Entertainment Practice, 1982-86; Assistant Vice President, Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, 1982-85; Associate, Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Tunney, Los Angeles, 1980-82
Professional Leadership 2005-2009
President, Sports Lawyers Association, 2005-2007
Wharton’s Whitney M. Young Jr. Memorial Conference is 50 Years Strong