board of directors
Erika Swilley
Erika Swilley is a highly accomplished professional and proven leader in the sports industry.
She currently serves as the Vice President of Community and Social Responsibility for the Detroit Pistons where she is responsible for philanthropic initiatives for both the team and players. Erika also oversees player development, and assists with team sponsors and players personal foundations. She also works with NBA Cares to coordinate league wide events and initiatives.
Prior to that, Erika worked in community relations for the Chicago Sky and Sky Cares Foundation, and the Golden State Warriors. In 2007 and 2008, she was named Palace Sports & Entertainment Community Relations Employee of the Year! She’s received three World Championship rings for overseeing community relations for the WNBA Detroit Shock and Golden State Warriors. In 2009, the Michigan Chronicle selected Swilley as a “Woman of Excellence.” In 2010 she was featured in “Who’s Who” in Black Detroit, and named one of Detroit’s 40 Under 40 in 2018.
Swilley holds bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in communication, marketing and sociology.
Matt Hawes
Matt Hawes brings more than 25 years of diverse professional experience to the BlueChips board!
Currently, he leads a team of 30+ managers and sales professionals for Global Blood Therapeutics, a biotech start up based in South San Francisco. His team works with many of the nation’s most influential Sickle Cell Disease experts, and will drive over $200M in total revenue in 2021 for an emerging Sickle Cell treatment.
Early in his career, Matt worked as an assistant to a brokerage firm at the Chicago Board of Trade and as a sports writer for the Chicago Tribune. In 1999, Matt entered the pharma/biotech space with Hoechst Marion Roussel (now Sanofi).
Matt comes from a family of student athletes. He played basketball at Loyola University in Chicago. His youngest daughter currently competes on the UCLA swim team, and his father, Alvin Hawes, played football for the University of Minnesota and was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1971.
Matt resides in San Carlos, California with his wife of 20 years. They have two daughters. In his free time, Matt enjoys golf, reading and live music.
bluechips
BlueChips, a new social networking platform designed to help student-athletes get exposure by literally putting the tools they need to attract attention in the palm of their hands.
BlueChips will exist as a web application compatible for desktop and mobile devices, which will allow it to integrate seamlessly into users lives.
What LinkedIn is for professionals,
BlueChips will be for student-athletes—a platform that connects coaches, scouts, and other professionals to student-athletes while also allowing student-athletes to network with their teammates, friends from other schools, even friends and fans who don’t play sports.
On BlueChips, student-athletes can post and update their “resumes” on the BlueChips platform by posting their grades, GPAs, test scores, statistics, photos and highlights.
