Meet the Founder.
Curtis J. Hollomon, CEO
Curtis J. Hollomon is the CEO of M&H Development Lab , and in addition serves as business development lead for PKB Enterprise. Before starting M&H Development Lab, Hollomon spent 13 years as the director of leadership development at the NCAA where his primary duties included the day-to-day leadership and strategic advancement of the department, consultant management, staff oversight, membership engagement, along with program oversight for the NCAA Champion Forum for Football, and the Division I Pathway Program.
Prior to his work with the NCAA in 2005, Hollomon was the assistant athletics director for operations and development at St. Cloud (Minnesota) State University. Preceding his duties at SCSU, Hollomon served as assistant to the directors at the Georgia Tech Athletic Association. A 1999 graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Hollomon was a three-year letterman in football and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in history, technology and society. He also holds a master’s degree in sports administration, which he obtained while at St. Cloud State University.
Associates
Sonja N. Robinson, Ph.D
Sonja N. Robinson, Ph.D., is the founder, CEO, and lead consultant of Thrive Mind Solutions. Dr. Robinson has over ten years of experience creating and supporting the development and implementation of innovative inclusive excellence strategies for complex organizations and institutions of higher education. Her focus areas are diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy, executive coaching, organizational culture analysis and development, data analytics, employee engagement, change management, and organizational dynamics.
While serving as the director of inclusion at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) — a membership-led association — Dr. Robinson served as the primary liaison to over 1,100 college and university athletic programs for issues related to race, ethnicity, and disability, and led program development and facilitation for national conferences, workshops, presentations and engagements. In addition, she led the national office’s reorganization of its employee resource groups in an effort to focus more on overall corporate engagement in a partnership with human resources. She also served as the primary liaison and staff support to a national committee charged with providing review of and recommendations about programs, policies, and practices impacting minority administrators, coaches, and student-athletes across the United States.
While working for a large Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) in the Office for Equity and Inclusion, Dr. Robinson played a key role in the creation and execution of campus-wide orientations, training, programs, and presentations on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She led the creation, delivery, and analysis of a campus climate assessment, and the development of the subsequent diversity action plan. She has extensive experience working with groups to drive innovation and efficiency, to define values and design culture, and to move beyond a surface-level understanding of diversity and inclusion to action-oriented and industry-specific application of the concepts.
A former Division I student-athlete and coach, Dr. Robinson holds a doctorate in Sports Administration, with a minor in Research Methodology, and an M.B.A. with focus areas of Organizational Behavior and Entrepreneurship. Her research agenda and professional work has centered on leadership development, equity, access and inclusion, corporate social responsibility, and athlete welfare. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in sport leadership, ethics, psychology, diversity, sociology, legal aspects, and marketing, and authored an unpublished guide on implementing DEI principles in hiring practices. She has been a member of numerous boards and national organizations, including a leadership role with the Diversity in Sports Consortium, a group of diversity professionals from amateur, Olympic, and professional leagues across the United States.
Kelly Brooks
Kelly Brooks founded The Brooks Element in 2019. He has over twenty-five years of experience in higher education and athletics. Kelly is passionate about facilitating opportunities for individuals and organizations to produce positive transformation in their lives and the lives of others.
Kelly serves as part of Renaissance Search & Consulting, headquartered in Los Angeles; whose mission is to connect colleges and universities with the most qualified and diverse candidates in the sports world.
As member of Forward Progress Athletics Consulting, located in Castle Rock, CO, Kelly leads initiatives to grow and support new and existing business relationships as well as to increase revenue generation. He also has managed a portfolio of institutional clients regarding the planning of professional development activities, training courses, seminars and workshops for staff and student-athletes.
Kelly dedicated eight years of his career at the NCAA national headquarters in Indianapolis, IN. In his role as NCAA Director of Academic and Membership Affairs, he managed the waiver process of NCAA Bylaws in NCAA Divisions I, II and III. He also provided research and analysis of current NCAA Bylaws to recommend rule changes.
Kelly spent time as the Associate Commissioner for the Southwestern Athletic Conference office, an NCAA Division I conference located in Birmingham, AL. There, he provided daily management for the conference office’s internal operations. Additionally, he was the conference sport administrator for football, baseball and men’s and women’s basketball, as well as responsible for coordinating the conference championships in those sports.
As the Director of Student-Athlete Development at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH, Kelly coordinated the opening of Xavier’s first Student-Athlete Academic Support Center and supervised the center’s staff and student workers.
While serving as an Assistant Basketball Coach at the Mississippi University for Women, Kelly received his B.S. in Mathematics. He continued his coaching career as an Assistant Basketball Coach at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, where he also received his M.A. in Higher Education Administration.
Kelly and his wife are the parents of two wonderful daughters. Kelly is a native of Starkville, MS, and also currently enjoys his role as an Adjunct Professor at Alcorn State University, a Historically Black College and University in his home state.
