CEO - Livis Freeman

Livis Freeman started his Public and Community Relations’ company, 4ourFans, Inc. in 2001 to help professional athletes give back to their communities and say thanks to their fans. Livis graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1999 with a Bachelors’ Degree in Psychology. While at UNC he was heavily involved in the community. He participated in the Campus Big Buddy Program and Habitat-4-Humanity program. He participated in a Habitat Spring Break trip to Miami, FL during his junior year and led a Habitat Spring Break trip to Orlando, FL during his senior year. He also served as a UNC Resident Assistant and Ambassador for the 1999 Special Olympics held in Raleigh.

Livis was inspired to start his own company while he was attending UNC. During his junior year, he would often travel to his hometown of Clinton, NC to visit his sick grandmother at her nursing home. During his visits he noticed numerous sick senior citizens who had little or no visitors. Since he had so many friends who were UNC athletes, he thought it would be a great idea to get some of them to accompany him to visit a local nursing home around Thanksgiving to provide some holiday cheer. He, along with a good friend named Cori Brown who was also a manager for the men’s basketball team, gathered together UNC football and basketball players and got their team offices to provide posters and other items to give out on their visit.

The visit was a complete success! The people and staff at the nursing home were completely inspired and overjoyed! Incredibly and admittedly unexpectedly, the athletes were just as inspired (if not more) as the people at the nursing home. This touched Livis so much that he decided to officially charter a UNC organization called “Athletes Making a Difference” dedicated to keeping student athletes involved in the local community. He started organizing trips for the athletes to visit nursing homes, men’s Shelters and the local Ronald McDonald House.

Livis dreamed of continuing to help athletes make a difference in their communities for a career but didn’t know if such a job existed. After graduating, he landed a key internship at one of the nation’s best marketing and athlete representation companies called Octagon. At Octagon, he worked as an event coordinator on accounts with BMW and Nokia. He worked and traveled with a team to plan and orchestrate various aspects of large-scale BMW marketing events.

He left Octagon after getting a major job offer to move to Los Angeles and work for an Internet startup called Athletes Direct. Athletes Direct created and managed websites and fan clubs for more than 300 of the most recognizable professional athletes in the world. He worked in Athlete Relations and was responsible for communicating with over forty top professional athlete clients (such as Kobe Bryant, Jerry Stackhouse, Jermaine O'Neal, Tracy McGrady, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter and Marvin Harrison) to provide content for their websites. He also played a major role in the acquisition of the company’s highest paid client, Vince Carter. Athletes Direct made some poor business decisions and eventually went bankrupt. This gave Livis the opportunity to utilize the connections he’d gained at Octagon and Athletes Direct and combine his newly developed web development skills to realize his dream of starting his own company. While at Athletes Direct, Livis mentioned to some of his clients about his dream of starting his own company to help professional athletes give back. Many of them were impressed and said they’d support him if he went through with it.

NBA superstar Jerry Stackhouse became Livis’ first client and allowed him complete freedom to create and manage a Public/Community Relations Campaign, website and fan club to help him give back to his community, thank his fans and improve his image. Within a year, Livis helped Stackhouse establish two scholarships, a Thanksgiving dinner (which fed over 100 homeless people in Jerry’s hometown of Kinston, NC), a project with the UNC Men’s Basketball team (which provided Thanksgiving items to the Chapel Hill Ronald McDonald House and IFC Men’s Shelter), a project that provided over 50 Easter Baskets to needy Children in Detroit, MI and an award winning website and fan club. Livis’ efforts helped Jerry become one of the first NBA players to receive its monthly “Community Assist Award” (given to the player who makes the biggest impact off the court in the league).

The success with Stackhouse helped Livis sign other big named clients such as Antawn Jamison (NBA), Juwan Howard (NBA), Brendan Haywood (NBA), Jarvis Hayes (NBA), Kris Jenkins (NFL), Tim Clark (PGA), Charles Howell III (PGA) and Triandos Luke (NFL). Livis has also developed websites for the following organizations: Languages Unlimited, LLC, CarolinaPros, The Children’s Fund of North Carolina and the North State Law Enforcement Organization.

Through 4ourFans, Livis has helped provide hundreds of autographed items to deserving fans and non-profits (for auctions to raise money); create over 15 websites (that have reached millions of fans); provide scholarships for over 25 students; donate money for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to over 5,000 needy NC families; and create over 200 Christmas gift baskets for sick children at the NC Children’s Hospital.

Livis is an active board member for The Children’s Fund of North Carolina, StandUp For Kids (the nation’s largest organization dedicated to helping homeless and street children), Right Moves For Youth (Charlotte-based organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged youth) and UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work. Livis’ most passionate community endeavor is his role as Vice-President (President Elect) of the Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill’s Board of Directors. He’s been involved with RMH-Chapel Hill for over 8 years.

Through 4ourFans, Livis has provided an internship program with UNC-Chapel Hill in which he gives students the chance to get valuable experience in Public and Community Relations while working on projects with some of the largest professional athletes in the country. He has worked with more than a dozen students and hopes to work with even more in 2008.

Most recently, Livis has been recognized by the Triangle Business Journal to receive one of their 2007 40 Under 40 Leadership Awards. The 40 Under 40 Leadership Awards honor the brightest, most promising young business people in the Triangle under the age of 40.