Charles S. Farrell
Charles S. Farrell, a former career journalist, is a founding member of SPI and served as it first president. He currently is principle and senior consultant for the advocacy, diversity, marketing and consulting firm. He is former director of Rainbow Sports, a division of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, where he established its Motorsports Initiative that led to the first corporate sponsorship in NASCAR history of a black owned race team with a black driver. He also served as special projects coordinator at the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University. He was also a reporter and editor with several publications including the Chronicle of Higher Education and The Washington Post. Farrell co-produced nine consecutive annual Black Athletes in America Forums, beginning in 1989. He is contributing author of "The Rules of the Game: Ethics in College Sports," and "Student-Athletes: Shattering the Myths and Sharing the Realities." He has testified several times before Congress on racial equity in sports. He is also a founding member and vice president for external affairs for Latino Sports Initiative, which works to expand and promote opportunities in sports, as well as educate the Latino community about the sports industry. He helped to establish One Umbrella Motorsports Association, whose goal is diversity in motorsports.
Joseph C. Brown
As president and one of the incorporators of SPI, Brown has taken part in each of the Annual Black Athletes in America Forums, one of the organization’s premiere activities. He has spearheaded the broadening of its mission into sports marketing and merchandising consulting. Assisting minorities, in particular, in getting their products, services and ideas to the marketplace has become a primary focus of SPI. Brown, as an owner and member of the Board of Directors, assisted in founding the National Rookie League, a professional developmental basketball league with teams in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Delaware. Brown is a member of the advisory board of the Latino Sports Initiative (LSI), an organization whose mission is to expand and promote opportunities for Latinos in the sports industry. He also assisted in the establishment of the One Umbrella Motorsports Association, an organization that advocated diversity in motorsports. He has served as a member of the Rainbow/PUSH Sports Task Force; SPI is a trading partner with Rainbow/PUSH. Brown also has extensive experience as a Senior International Affairs Analyst for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) including several years at its Latin America Office in Panama.
