Name: Mark Clifford
Current Profession(s): Executive Director, Dream Foundation
Please describe your role(s) in your profession(s): Executive Director of the DREAM Foundation, which is a mentoring program designed for underserved and underrepresented students looking to start their career in sport. We focus on college students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and provide mentorship, education and access to sport professionals. At the end of our program, we send students, all expenses paid, to work alongside partner organizations. Partners include the Phoenix Raceway, Arizona Coyotes, Fiesta Bowl and Citrus Bowl to name a few.
In addition, I am the Chief Impact Officer for our DMG media group that is the parent company for Position Sports, a sport marketing/event operations company here in Phoenix. I coordinate and assist our company with community impact events and activities. In addition, help curate new business opportunities for our organizations.
Please describe your pathway to your current profession(s): My pathway to sport and my current role is not traditional by any means. I went to the US Air Force Academy for my undergrad and then served for 20 years in the Air Force upon graduation. I've been lucky enough to work at the Academy's athletic department for over 5 years while serving. In addition, I've spent years teaching sport management classes at various universities. Upon retiring from the Air Force, I began teaching at Grand Canyon University, and eventually became the director of the sport management program, as well as assistant dean. I was introduced to Position Sports when teaching and developed relationships with the company which eventually asked me to turn DREAM into a nonprofit -- which led me to a full time role.
What is your education/training background? Undergrad at US Air Force Academy; Masters in Human Resource Management; PhD in Sports Administration. I went from active duty, to teaching, to working with Position Sports -- then turning DREAM into a nonprofit. I run the day to day operations of DREAM as it's own 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. This includes all business operations as well as programming for the students.
Advice you'd give to your younger self: Be patient and find the knowledge in every piece of advice that is shared with you. Those more experienced, who are willing to share advice and knowledge, are sharing lessons learned that can benefit you (me). Take the time to listen, take away the foundational lessons learned, and apply to your life.
Who has influenced you? Too many to identify. My father, had a large impact on my life. He was the 4th Black General Officer in the Air Force and taught me so many lessons about respect for others and being a man of character and integrity. He lived by the golden rule of treating others they way you wanted to be treated... with dignity and respect. I try my best to always honor that. My boxing coach Ed Weichers, taught me how to find the time to laugh and not take myself (or things) too seriously. A time and place for everything. Allows you to become more relatable and enjoyable to be around. Know when to turn on "the hot water" and be focused and zeroed in, but always remember to stay grounded.
Tell us about anything you are passionate about outside of your profession(s): Passionate about my family. My wife of 26 years and I have done a lot of traveling and supporting one another over our Air Force career and now our 2 boys. We do our best to support their endeavors and enjoy our time together as a family. She's the rock of our family and has always loved unconditionally and supports all endeavors. I'm a competitor at heart. Grew up playing every sport, from soccer, to ice hockey, football and basketball. Love being competitive and the competitive nature of sports. So I love being around and watching sports. You name it, I love watching it. Enjoy taking in every and all sport experiences from NASCAR at Phoenix Raceway to Fiesta Bowl events (and games) to all our professional teams in town.
Please feel free to tell us anything else that you'd like to share: Thank you for the recognition and support of the local community. Appreciate you sharing our stories!
