Fred Whitfield (executive)

During the COVID-19 outbreak, the Spectrum Center was utilized as a vaccination center and as an early voting location for the 2020 election. Whitfield said “we have always looked at the Spectrum Center as a community asset...to us, this was as big or bigger than any...because this is about saving lives and trying to sustain people’s lives.”

Whitfield played a crucial role in bringing the 2019 NBA All-Star Game, 2019 ACC men's basketball tournament, 2012 Democratic National Convention and 2020 Republican National Convention to Spectrum Center.

In 2016, Whitfield and the Hornets signed an arena naming rights deal to switch name from Time Warner Cable to Charter's Spectrum. In 2018, Whitfield and the Hornets extended television broadcast rights deal with Fox Sports Southeast for $20 million per year.

In April 2016, Whitfield delivered a commencement address at Shaw University.

Whitfield was honored the prestigious Thurgood Marshall Award of Excellence (2011) and YMCA George Williams Award (Volunteer of the Year 2012), the Key to the City of Greensboro (2013), the UNC Charlotte Distinguished Service Award (2019), and named the 2019 Citizen of the Carolinas by the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.

In July 2006, Hornets Sports & Entertainment announced the hire of Whitfield as president and COO.

Whitfield received his BBA in economics in 1980 and MBA from Campbell University. During this time, Whitfield was an All-South team MVP basketball player and assistant basketball coach for the Campbell Fighting Camels. In 1998, Whitfield received his JD degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law, where he acted as president of the Student Bar Association. In 2018, Whitfield was inducted into the NC Sports Hall of Fame.

Fred Whitfield (born in 1958) is the chief operating officer, president, vice chairman, alternate governor, and minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets. Whitfield is the only African-American COO in the NBA.