‘Ten Tenets of Leadership’

Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl CEO and President Gary Stokan, the former NC State basketball player and assistant coach who has helped turn Atlanta into the “College Football Capital of the World,” is the featured speaker Wednesday for the Poole College of Management’s Wells Fargo Executive Leadership Series.

Since 1998, Stokan has spearheaded Atlanta’s efforts to grow its postseason college football game, replace the Georgia Dome with the $1.6 billion Mercedes Benz Stadium and bring the College Football Hall of Fame from South Bend, Indiana, to downtown Atlanta.

In the last two years, the city has hosted the College Football Playoff championship game and last week’s Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.

Under his tenure, sporting events have brought more than $1.1 billion dollars in economic impact and tax revenue to Atlanta and the state of Georgia.

Interim Poole College of Management Dean Frank Buckless will host a conversation on Stokan’s “Ten Tenets of Leadership” with the Pittsburgh native who transferred to NC State in 1975 as a walk-on guard on the men’s basketball team. Stokan was eventually elevated to head coach Norm Sloan’s coaching staff after earning his degree in business administration in 1978.

“Without my experience at NC State, I don’t know where I would be,” Stokan says. “State meant everything to me.”

The event is slated for 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 13 in the auditorium of Nelson Hall. It is open to all NC State students, faculty and staff, but registration is required to attend.