About D. Keith: D. Keith Beasley, Jr. (known as “Keith”) grew up in Durham, NC before leaving the “Bull City” to attend a school, just one city over, in Chapel Hill. While at UNC-Chapel Hill, he studied business administration at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, minored in entrepreneurship through the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship, and was a member of the varsity football team. After graduation, Keith took a short trip to Charlotte, NC, where he worked as a business transformation consultant within the Wealth and Asset Management (WAM) practice at EY as well as a Director of Business Development at C-Town Sports. He chose UCLA Anderson for its proximity to prominent sports organizations, extraordinary alumni network, and on-campus resources like the Center for Media, Entertainment & Sports to support his pursuit of a career in sports business.

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UCLA Anderson provides a unique blend of hands-on experience with a collaborative curriculum, and I had the pleasure of indulging in what’s known as our “Days-on-the-Job” (referred to as DOJs). DOJs are organized by the Parker Career Management Center (CMC) in collaboration with various professional clubs at Anderson. These opportunities allow students to connect with Anderson Alumni and/or other relevant professionals on various topics related to their respective companies’ cultures, functional roles and potential employment availabilities through on-site visits.

DOJs occur throughout the year and provide students the opportunity to visit more than 50 companies across the globe. However, specifically for DOJ Week, classes are cancelled for first-year MBA students so they can focus solely on their career aspirations. This gives students the flexibility to travel to one or more cities to explore recruiting opportunities across various industries, spanning anywhere from Beijing to New York City.

As a Director of Business Development in our Sports Business Association (SBA) at Anderson, I had the pleasure of participating in the Sports Business DOJ that was organized by SBA. This year, we visited the following companies in Los Angeles, California as well as Portland, Oregon.

Los Angeles, California:
Los Angeles Lakers (10/31): We traveled to Lakers HQ in El Segundo to understand the world of Business Analytics and Strategy, Ticketing Technology & Operations, and Finance Accounting through the lens of their front office staff and ended our visit with a tour of their practice facility.

National Football League (NFL) (11/1): At the NFL’s west coast HQ in Inglewood, we had the opportunity to tour the campus and engage in an extraordinary panel session with NFL professionals that provided an overview of their role at NFL Media and its significance within the larger NFL ecosystem. The panel included stakeholders from the league’s Programming, Operations, Direct to Consumer Strategy, and Sponsorship Integration teams.

LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games (11/1): Following our NFL visit, we were hosted by a number of Anderson Alum at LA28 who gave us an office tour and talked to us about their preparation for the Olympics in 2028.

Portland, Oregon:
Nike, Inc. (11/2): We received an impressive tour of the vast Nike campus with highlights such as the Serena Williams Building, the largest office building at Nike WHQ, focused on design and creativity as well as the Lebron James Innovation Center. This tour was followed up by a world-class panel led by Anderson Alum in various functions such as Technology, Marketing, Strategic Planning, Finance and many others.

Portland Trail Blazers @ the Rose Quarter (11/2): To conclude our DOJ Week, we visited the corporate HQ of the Portland Trail Blazers and had the honor of engaging in an intimate conversation with professionals in their front office as well as those from their G-League affiliate, The Rip City Remix, that operate in President, Partnership Strategy, and Ticket Sales capacities.

DOJs are one of the many ways that UCLA Anderson stands out as a program and they complement the curriculum for current students. My gratitude towards SBA and Parker for putting this together can’t be overstated and I look forward to our next DOJ Week in 2024!

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Student Blogger: D. Keith Beasley, Jr. ’25
Undergrad: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ’19
Pre-MBA: Financial Services Consulting at Ernst & Young LLP
Leadership@Anderson: Marketing Director, Admissions Ambassador Corps; Director of Business Development, Sports Business Association; Director of External Partnerships, Black Business Students Association; Riordan MBA Fellow Mentor, Alliance for Latinx Management at Anderson (member), Technology Business Association at Anderson (member)
Instagram: @lyfewithkb