Omar Brown currently serves as Senior Vice President of Community and Impact, where he drives student-athlete engagement, community programming, and impact initiatives across the conference. Notable initiatives include the Big Ten Student-Athlete Issues Commission (SAIC) and the Inclusive Excellence Committee, which engage, empower, and educate Student-Athletes, administrators, partners, and alumni. He also oversees landmark educational experiences, such as the B1G Life Series trip to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, and the B1G Life Agricultural Experience in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, which exposes Student-Athletes to agricultural and career opportunities in farming.
In addition, Brown leads initiatives like the Jackie Robinson Community & Impact Award, recognizing the positive contributions of B1G Student-Athletes, and engages with local communities through programs such as B1G Impact Reading Week, youth sports clinics, and elementary school makeovers.
Brown joined the Big Ten in 2020 as Vice President of People & Culture. Prior to this, he was an organizational transformation leader at Deloitte in Human Capital Consulting practice, helping businesses navigate complex people and process challenges during transformation.
From 2012 to 2015, Brown served as Vice President of Human Resources at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), where he played a key role in transforming HR into a customer-centric function focused on driving cultural change to support the CTA’s core values.
In June 2023, Brown was elected a trustee of Loyola University Chicago. He previously served as an adjunct professor at Loyola’s Quinlan School of Business, where he taught workplace management and motivation. He serves as the Board President, for the City of Evanston’s Park and Recreation Board, a member of the ETHS Foundation Board, and is president of the Fellowship of Afro-American Men (F.A.A.M.) basketball league, supporting middle school-aged boys and girls in Evanston, Illinois.
Brown holds a master’s degree in public policy from Northwestern University, a master’s in business administration from Loyola University Chicago’s Quinlan School of Business, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Northeastern Illinois University.