Keith Dawkins is a strategic, creative, award winning Chief Executive Officer with 25+ years of experience in the media/entertainment, professional sports and philanthropic industries. Experienced in overall business operations, setting company strategy, leadership and management of people, deal negotiations, and driving revenue growth, Keith is a results-oriented executive. He has a strong background in marketing, content strategy and creation, digital/social media and forging strategic partnerships with high-profile brands. Keith is recognized for his energetic, pro-active and collaborative leadership style with an ability to motivate and galvanize diverse teams in ways that generate ideas, drive growth, and yield results. He is a proven leader with strong executive presence and the dexterity to lead across a variety of business environments. Keith is an executive who blends big-picture, creative thinking with strategy and discipline in order to inspire, motivate and usher in ideas that have a lasting impact.

Keith is the Chief Executive Officer of Rock Hill Media Ventures, a company which he founded in December of 2018. Keith brings three decades of media experience to Rock Hill, a business built around curating, incubating, and cultivating ideas for mass consumption. The agency focuses on three specific concentrations: media, sports, and social impact, with an expertise in business strategy and consultancy, marketing, and content creation. Rock Hill is already working on high profile projects with proven content creators, consulting for well-known public companies, and providing strategic advisory services to start-up organizations.

Previously, Keith was in the social impact and professional sports arenas as the Chief Executive Officer of The First Tee, a non-profit organization that annually reaches five million young people; impacting their lives by providing programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf. Partnering with The First Tee’s Founding partners, LPGA, the Masters Tournament, PGA of America, PGA TOUR and the USGA, as well as former President George W. Bush, who serves as honorary chair, The First Tee uses the values inherent in the game of golf to positively impact the lives of young people while also aiming to grow and diversify the sport. As the CEO, Keith was responsible for the overall day to day operations of the organization, which includes 150 domestic chapters, 6 international chapters, 1200 golf courses and a National School Program that puts content from The First Tee in 10,000 elementary schools. He strategically directed The First Tee in order to evolve the company, expand its reach and build its national and global prominence.

Keith has spent most of his career in the media and entertainment space. Prior to The First Tee, he worked for 17 years at Viacom where in 2003 he joined Nickelodeon to become the first ever General Manager of the Nicktoons network. Over the years he rose in the ranks to Executive Vice President where he oversaw the TeenNick, Nicktoons and NickMusic channels, and previously oversaw Nick Jr. as well. He was responsible for the day-to-day operations for the tween/teen-targeted, animation and music-based networks, including programming, marketing, digital/social media and on-air promotion. He also launched key programming and marketing initiatives including Nickelodeon Sports, which included a primetime programming block and on-the-ground marketing activations, in partnership with professional sports leagues like MLB, MLS, NASCAR, NFL and the PGA TOUR and TeenNick’s The Splat, a multiscreen content destination for millennials who love 90s Nickelodeon. He is viewed as an industry leader and expert in this sector of the media business.

Keith originally joined Viacom as a supervising producer for VH1 News where he oversaw numerous long- form programs and spearheaded the channel’s short-form news coverage.

Prior to Viacom, Keith was a producer at Fox News Channel where he was part of the network’s original launch team, producing a variety of daily and live event coverage such as Super Bowl XXXI and the Clinton impeachment proceedings.

Throughout his career, Keith has received numerous leadership and industry expertise awards and has been a powerful advocate of diversity and inclusion at every stop along the way. In addition, he has been involved in various boards including as a former board member of the NY chapter of “Reach Out and Read,” as the inaugural President of the Ridgewood High School Alumni Association, and currently as a member of the Board of Governors for Ramapo College.

A graduate of the CTAM Executive Management Program at Harvard Business School and the NAMIC Executive Leadership Program at UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management, Keith also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from Ramapo College. He currently lives in Ridgewood, NJ, with his wife and two sons.

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