40 Under 40 What does your typical day look like? I think my typical day depends on what time of year and what’s happening with the team—whether we’re in training camp, whether we’re in the playoffs, whether it’s during the regular season, it changes. This is definitely a job that keeps you on your toes. I’m engaged, so I have a fiancé and two dogs, I’m a basketball junkie so if I’m not here, I’m probably watching it on TV. Or playing with my dogs.
Nick Arison Duke ’00 CEO, Miami Heat/American Airlines Arena Age: 32
What makes you stand out from others in your field? I think part of it is I’ve grown up around basketball, so it’s in my blood—I’m the third generation of my family involved with the team, so I’ve grown up around it, and I’ve been around basketball, the HEAT and other programs my whole life. I basically eat, sleep, drink and breathe basketball, so I’m lucky to be in a position where I absolutely love what I do. What role did Delta Sigma Phi play in your development? I didn’t [hold any leadership positions] with my Fraternity; I was a manager for the
What’s the story behind Phone Scoop? How old were you when you started it? I was 23 and still living in the Fraternity house when I came up with the idea and started working on it. I had recently completed a Drexel co-op at a web startup. [This was during those heady days of the first dot-com bubble and bust.] My brothers—especially Joe “Doc” Dougherty—were invaluable in helping me focus the idea and encouraging me to push forward with it. What does your typical day look like? I wear three main hats and wear at least two on any given day. One hat is running the business. The second is the technical aspects of improving and running the website. And the third is creating some of the content. I work from home, where I’ve created a nice home office for myself, but I’d go bonkers spending all of my time there, so nearly half of my day is spent at the local Starbucks. What role did Delta Sig play in your development? Delta Sig played a huge role in my success. In my case, I was treasurer at a time when we had a budget that equaled that of a small business. It almost felt like running a small startup. I tried to look at it like a business and implemented some major reforms right away. I’m proud of my time as treasurer, and have no doubt that helped prepare me for running my own business.
Drexel ’97 18
The Carnation | Deltasig.org
President & Owner
basketball team at Duke so because of that it’s a pretty demanding schedule during the season, it’s like having a full-time job, and we traveled with the team on the road, so I wasn’t able to hold other leadership positions because that consumed so much of my time. Delta Sig was responsible for helping forge lifelong friendships; there’s a lot of guys from my fraternity in college that I still keep in touch with, and I’m still friends with to this day, one of which is actually with another NBA team [Brooklyn Nets], Brian Basloe. What does commitment mean to you? I think that, every opportunity I’ve had, whether it’s with the HEAT, at Duke, or with USA Basketball, there hasn’t been anything that I haven’t been willing to do. I was willing to do anything and everything at any time if it helped the team, the organization, succeed. I’ve been a HEAT ball boy, I’ve been a manager at Duke, I’ve never been afraid to do grunt work—I’ve always been “All in.”
How did commitment lead you to your successes? I believe in cultivating a good reputation based on doing right by people, and generally, I’ve found that my readers and employees reward that with loyalty, which goes a long way toward success. Do you volunteer or give back to the community? I have about a dozen charities I donate to regularly, half of which are local. I give about 20 percent of my income to charity. Our chapter was always very active that way, heavily involved with March of Dimes, and others like Habitat for Humanity and Ronald McDonald House. The Fraternity definitely impressed upon me the importance of giving back in that way.
Rich
Brome
Phone Scoop
Age: 36