Don E. N. Gibson, Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer
Don E. N. Gibson
KAVI’s Founder/President, Don Gibson, has spent more than three decades working in the sports and entertainment industries. Don’s professional experience has resulted in longstanding personal relationships with senior executives and leaders in amateur and professional sports and in the entertainment industry; those who make the critical business and legal decisions. He is able to leverage those relationships and the trust and respect his peers have for him to create pathways to success for KAVI’s clients; whether it’s opening doors to various enterprises and individuals with whom KAVI’s clients can build long-term strategic relationships, or engaging another professional with a needed expertise to augment Don’s skills and fully service a client.
Don has represented entertainers, athletes, and companies in business and legal matters, and served in senior legal and business leadership positions with major sports organizations.
Don worked eight years with Major League Baseball. He served as an attorney in the Commissioner’s Office, as Vice President and General Counsel of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. (“MLBP”), and then as MLBP’s Senior VP/Acting President. In his role as MLBP’s Acting President he oversaw MLB’s licensing, corporate sponsorship, marketing, and special event business segments.
Following his tenure with Major League Baseball, Don served as the chief executive of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Don was responsible for all day-to-day administration of the institution and management of the development of the new $103M Hall of Fame/Riverfront development project, including design of new Hall of Fame and acquisition of funding. Don also spearheaded the rebranding of the Hall of Fame, from the creation of a new visual identity that is still in use 26 years later, to transforming the annual Enshrinement ceremony into a gala event broadcast internationally.
In addition to running KAVI, Don is a Professor of Practice with the Allan H. “Bud” Selig Sports Law & Business Program Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. He teaches courses in his areas of expertise and has twice been elected “Faculty of the Year” by the Program’s students.
Don holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Bucknell University and a Juris Doctor degree from UCLA School of Law where he was a member and Chief Comments Editor of the Law Review. Following law school, Don was Law Clerk to United States District Court Judge David W. Williams in the Central District of California, and a Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School where he taught Legal Research and Writing to First Year students.
