Ben Shields, PhD
Senior Lecturer in Managerial Communication at MIT Sloan School of Management
Ben Shields is a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His work as a teacher, researcher, and practitioner focuses on digital transformation in the sports, media, and entertainment industries. His current research explores the implications of web 3.0 technologies on the fan experience and business models.
He teaches a number of courses at MIT Sloan, including “Sports Strategy and Analytics”, “Social Media Management”, and “Creative Industries: Media, Entertainment and Sports”. He also teaches in the MIT Sloan Executive Education program, in which he is the Faculty Director of two programs: the “Formula 1 Extreme Innovation Series” and the “Global Executive Academy”. In addition, he created and teaches the open enrollment program “Data-Driven Teams: The Art and Science of Winning” and the self-paced online program “Management Analytics: Decision-Making Lessons from the Sports Industry”.
Ben Shields is the author or co-author of three books, “Social Media Management: Persuasion in Networked Culture” (Oxford University Press, 2016), “The Sports Strategist: Developing Leaders for a High Performance Industry” (Oxford University Press, 2015), and “The Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Marketplace” (McGraw-Hill, 2006). He also co-authors MIT Sloan case studies on Formula 1 and the National Women’s Soccer League.
Prior to MIT, he served as the Director of Social Media and Marketing at ESPN. He holds a Ph.D. in Media, Technology, and Society from Northwestern University, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on fantasy sports.