Meet Rufus Williams: head of a company called Olympus, LCC, which focuses on providing business and financial management, contract negotiation, career development, etc. to its clients. Athletes and entertainers are among Olympus’s list of important clients (see: Gary Sheffield).
Before becoming involved with representation of clients and forming Olympus, LLC, Mr. Williams was working at HARPO Entertainment Group, which produces The Oprah Winfrey Show. While working at HARPO, Rufus Williams worked as CFO, Controller, and Vice President of Financial Affairs for the company. Working for HARPO may not be in your or my dreams, but it certainly helped Rufus Williams become acquainted with what is needed to successfully manage finances, and he was able to apply that information in protecting his clients financially at Olympus, LLC.
Rufus’s past also answers another one of the looming questions that hangs over the Sports industry. Mr. Williams majored in accounting at Southern University in Louisiana, became a CPA (Certified Public Accountant), and worked for a major accounting firm (Arthur Andersen & Co.) before ever representing a single athlete. This is just one more example of a case where a person did not have to get a sports management degree in order to become an agent.
Most recently, however, Rufus Williams has decided to enter the field of education. He is currently serving a two-year term as a Member of the Board of Education in Chicago and is now determined to become president of the entire board. Williams has already used his connections in the sports business to provide free Nike and Adidas shoes for many innter-city students and hopes to use those connections to add even more to the community if appointed president of the Board of Education.
You do not have to start off your career as a Sports Agent, you do not have to major in a specific field to become a Sports Agent, and there are many career paths that may be taken after entering the business of sports.
[tags]rufus williams, harpo, olympus, sports agent, chicago, gary sheffield[/tags]
