Tom Davis has served as Chief Marketing Officer at The Big West since 2020, overseeing the conference’s marketing and brand strategy, licensing, corporate sponsorships, broadcast operations, digital and social media and content creation.
During his tenure, Davis has helped reshape and expand The Big West brand. He led a comprehensive branding initiative that engaged more than 2,200 stakeholders, resulting in a unified vision for the conference, including a new statement of purpose, brand pillars, logo, website and expanded social media presence. He also directed the evolution of the brand surrounding the addition of California Baptist, Sacramento State and Utah Valley University as full members on July 1, 2026.
Davis was instrumental in relocating the Big West Basketball Championships to Henderson, Nevada, and expanding the event’s television and radio exposure. He spearheaded a strategic marketing effort that has helped increase overall championship attendance by 41% since 2024. In 2025-26, attendance increased at 64% of ticketed Big West Championship events.
Working with Commissioner Dan Butterly and the conference membership, Davis helped develop a new broadcast agreement with ESPN that increased media-rights revenue six-fold while expanding coverage to more than 1,200 events annually, including more than 40 Big West Championship telecasts. Viewership of Big West Championships increased 20% in 2025-26. The launch of Big West International in 2026-27 will extend the conference’s programming to a global audience.
Davis also helped create a package of men’s and women’s basketball games for Spectrum SportsNet, expanding The Big West’s linear television presence throughout the conference footprint. Combined, more than six million viewers annually watch Big West programming across ESPN networks and Spectrum SportsNet.
In partnership with multimedia rights holder Van Wagner, Davis helped launch The Big West Radio Network, which carried all 14 games of the 2026 Credit Union 1 Big West Basketball Championships on SiriusXM.
Drawing on an extensive background in sponsorship marketing, Davis has also helped grow Big West corporate partnership revenue to record levels. Davis' work has included partnerships with the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, Gatorade, Molten, KAP7, Wilson, Rawlings and Prplei, The Big West’s official licensed merchandise partner.
Since 2024, Davis has also served as The Big West’s women’s water polo sport supervisor, overseeing sport governance, championship administration and related conference operations.
A native of Carbondale, Illinois, Davis has spent his career at the intersection of sports, marketing, media and storytelling. He has written, produced and directed projects across traditional and emerging platforms, including the ESPN documentary ’51 Dons and the BattleFrog College & League Championships series. He has also developed creative campaigns and syndicated content for brands including DIRECTV, EA Sports and Qualcomm.
As President and Creative Director of Los Angeles-based Caught Looking, Inc., Davis led a comprehensive rebranding of the Mountain West Conference that included market research, brand strategy, logo development and creative execution. His agency subsequently served as a creative partner for the conference, producing national television PSAs, radio and print campaigns, social media content and in-venue marketing assets.
Previously, Davis held leadership roles in marketing and sponsorship at DIRECTV, where he negotiated partnerships involving American Airlines Center, Cleveland Browns Stadium, Giants Stadium and Staples Center, as well as marketing agreements with Hall of Famers Peyton Manning, Albert Pujols, Kevin Garnett and Brett Hull. He also produced a daily sports program that became the second-longest-running show in the history of the DIRECTV platform.
Davis' experience in intercollegiate athletics also includes positions at Southern Illinois University and Marquette University, as well as serving as General Manager at UCLA for multimedia rights holder ISP Sports, where his team tripled UCLA’s sponsorship revenue in three years.
Davis has also served as an adjunct professor in the University of San Francisco’s Sport Management program, teaching courses in marketing, sponsorship, sales, sports media and career management in sports.
Davis earned a Bachelor of Science in Sports Administration from Southern Illinois University and a Master of Science in Sports Management from Purdue University.