Chris Clouser

Christopher E. Clouser is the Immediate Past Chair and member of the Board of Directors of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum located in Newport, Rhode Island (2004-2015) and was named Life Trustee in 2017. He serves as Co-Chairman of D and D Holdings of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, a residential real estate development company. He is an Advisory Director of MOA Enterprises, VML (a WPP company), and Paragon Group of Companies. Chris remains active in several charities and the Clouser Family Foundation.

Prior to current activities, Chris was President of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the world governing body of men’s professional tennis, where he also served as Chairman of ATP Properties and Chair of the ATP Foundation. Prior to the ATP, over a 25-year corporate career from 1981-2004, he held senior officer positions with Burger King Brands (President), Preview Travel/Travelocity (President and CEO), the Minnesota Twins Major League Baseball Club (Board Member 1994-2000), Northwest Airlines (Senior Vice President 1990-2000), Hallmark Cards, Inc. (Corporate Vice President 1981-1985), Sprint (Senior Vice President 1986-1988), and Bell Atlantic (Vice President and President of the Bell Atlantic Charitable Foundation 1988-2000).

Chris attended the University of Missouri on a tennis scholarship majoring in Political Science and Communications and in 1973 joined the staff of United States Senator Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri and became the Senator’s Special Assistant. Chris was Manager of the Senator’s successful re-election in 1980.

He is the Founder and former President of the Northwest Airlines’ charitable assistance program, AirCares; Founder of the Minnesota Walk for Hunger, and the Children’s Music and Arts Foundation. Chris has served on the Boards of the following charitable organizations:  Campfire Inc., the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Hennepin Theatre Trust, the Epilepsy Foundation of America, Taste of the NFL/Hunger Related Events, Kansas City Spirit, Children’s Heartlink, Research Medical Center, the Vote America Foundation, the Harlem Globetrotters Foundation, the Association of National Advertisers, and the Advertising Council. He has served on the following corporate Boards of Directors:  Piper Jaffray Inc., Gibson Guitar/Baldwin Corp., Pepsi Americas, Marquette Bancshares, VML Inc., Delta Beverage, Transamerica Retirement, Mesaba Aviation, MOA Enterprises, Acorn Energy, and Omnimetrix, LLC.

Chris has received numerous awards including the Kansas City Downtown Inc. Man of the Year, the Chairman’s Award of Northwest Airlines, the Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil, and numerous Telly, Effie and Clio awards for corporate marketing, advertising and promotional programs and for musical presentations with Tony Bennett, BB King, James Taylor, and others.

Chris served on the Northwest-KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Global Alliance Committee from 1993 to 1999. He was a key executive in the merger of Preview Travel with Travelocity which formed the world’s largest online travel company in 2000. While at Burger King, Chris led all global marketing and sales while serving on the Executive Committee managing the successful sale of the company to a consortium of private equity firms. Chris served as Chair of the 75th anniversary of Hallmark Cards, Inc. while leading the company’s Public Affairs and Communications.

While serving as a senior officer at Sprint, Chris led the initial launch of the company which featured the award winning “Pin Drop” campaign. While at Bell Atlantic (predecessor to Verizon), Chris launched the first marketing campaign for voice and data service offerings including the then new Caller-ID product, and award-winning campaigns with James Earl Jones. He initiated Bell Atlantic’s focus on literacy, and received the American Library Association highest recognition.

In 2014 and 2015, Chris co-chaired the successful $15 million capital campaign for the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum, resulting in the historic facility and museum being awarded the highest recognitions in historic preservation and museum quality.

Chris and his wife, Patricia Broeg Clouser, reside in Hobe Sound, Florida.