Fanatics Appoints Tommy Gray as Senior Vice President of its College Division

Former Altius Sports Partners CEO and Stanford Deputy Athletics Director to advance Fanatics’ Expanding Portfolio of Collegiate Partnerships

Fanatics, a global digital sports platform and leading provider of licensed sports merchandise, today announced the appointment of Tommy Gray as Senior Vice President of its College division. In his new role, Gray will oversee the team responsible for Fanatics’ comprehensive collegiate partnerships across e-commerce, venue retail, and wholesale, while also supporting strategic relationships with key partners such as Nike, Barnes & Noble,CLC, and OneTeam Partners. He will be based in the company’s Atlanta office and report to Derek Eiler, Executive Vice President, College.

“I’m thrilled to be joining such a strong team within one of the most dynamic companies in sports,” said Gray. “Fanatics has demonstrated an inspiring commitment and sense of urgency, especially over the past few years, with respect to enhancing the fan experience and supporting athletes. I’m excited to help our college partners, and especially the fans, alumni, and student-athletes they serve, reap the benefits of that commitment and urgency.”

Gray brings a unique combination of collegiate athletics leadership and commercial strategy expertise to Fanatics. Most recently, he spent the past two years at Altius Sports Partners, the leading NIL and strategy consulting agency in collegeathletics, where he held various positions of increasing responsibility, ascending to serve as the company’s CEO. During his time there, Tommy and the Altius team worked with more than 50 elite universities including Notre Dame, Georgia, Michigan, Clemson, Florida, USC, LSU and more.

“Tommy has a rare blend of institutional knowledge and market expertise, and we’re thrilled to have him join our College team at Fanatics,” said Eiler. “His experience as a practitioner within a premier athletic department and advising dozens of universities on NIL at a leading college-centric agency, give him a unique perspective that will prove invaluable as we help our partners navigate this rapidly evolving landscape and unlock new revenue opportunities through the Fanatics’ platform.”

Gray joins Fanatics at a pivotal time given the significant growth opportunities within the college athletics space. Fanatics currently partners with 70% of Power 4 Conference schools for e-commerce, operates two of the largest collegiate wholesale merchandise businesses via Nike and Fanatics Brands, and manages the largest NIL programs in the jersey and trading card categories.

“Tommy is a great hire by Fanatics – he knows the dynamics of working on campus, plus has real-time experience in navigating the modern era of revenue generation in college athletics. He is a great addition to our long-standing partnership with Fanatics,” said Graham Neff, Director of Athletics at Clemson University.

Prior to Altius Sports Partners, Tommy spent nearly nine years at Stanford University in external-facing leadership roles, including Deputy Athletics Director, where he gained deep operational knowledge of collegiate athletics. He also spent several years at Kraft Sports Group where he led Market Research & Strategy, supporting revenue-generating initiatives across the group’s portfolio, including the New England Patriots, New England Revolution, special events at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots ProShop, and Patriot Place.

A native of Houston, Texas, he holds a BA from Harvard University, where he was also a captain of the varsity swimming and diving team.