It’s not the sexiest news to come out of Florida State’s search for its next head football coach, but it is solid information, and that’s not always abundant. FSU athletic director David Coburn has issued a statement detailing the Seminoles’ contracting of DHR International, which is described as “a global executive search firm” and based in Chicago. The search will be headed up by Glenn Sugiyama. Forbes describes Sugiyama as one of college sports’ “top search consultants.”
Here’s a bio on Sugiyama from the Positive Coaching Alliance, followed by the Florida State press release.
Glenn Sugiyama serves as Executive Vice President and Global Leader of Sports in the firm’s Chicago office. Mr. Sugiyama is also a member of DHR’s Consumer, Media & Entertainment, Diversity, Healthcare, and Financial Services practices.
Mr. Sugiyama is a former Vice President & Account Director for Leo Burnett USA, and the former Director of Business Development for North America of iLeo, Leo Burnett’s Marketing Services group.
Prior to that assignment, Mr. Sugiyama was the Director of Strategic Business Planning for the LeoGroup, Leo Burnett’s former global holding company.
Mr. Sugiyama began his career as Director of Marketing, Advertising and Sales for a regional restaurant company. He made the successful transition from marketing to finance & operations when he ran a 9unit / 700-employee chain as President and CEO. Since then, Mr. Sugiyama has served as EVP of a 5,000-employee service company and President of a real estate development company.
At age 27, Mr. Sugiyama became one of the youngest directors of a major U.S. pro sports team when he was named to the Board of Directors of the former world champion Chicago Bulls. In addition, he has served on the Advisory Council of the University of Illinois – College of Commerce and Business Administration and the Board of Directors of the Japanese American Service Committee. Recently, Mr. Sugiyama was named one of the “Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business” in the nation.
He is a graduate of Michigan State University. Immediately following graduation, Mr. Sugiyama was an Assistant Basketball Coach at Eastern Michigan University where he earned his Master’s degree.