Rick Sund, 1983 Elgin Sports Hall of Fame inductee and Illinois Hall of Fame member, was honored for forty consecutive years of service as an Executive in the National Basketball Association. Currently entering his fifth year with the NBA Atlanta Hawks organization, Rick is serving as its Senior Advisor of Basketball Operations. Under his leadership as Hawks Executive Vice-President and General Manager during the 2008-09 through the 2011-12 seasons, the team had a winning percentage of nearly sixty percent and reached the playoffs in each of the four years.

Prior to going to Atlanta, Rick was the General Manager for the Seattle Sonics from 2001-07. During that time the Sonics were the 2004-05 inaugural Champions of the Northwest Division and reached postseason twice.

In Detroit for six seasons (1995-2001), Rick held the title of Vice President of Player Personnel in 1995, later assuming the title of Executive VP and General Manager of Basketball Operations. The Pistons, winners of over 100 games in his first two years, participated in four playoffs.

During his tenure with the Dallas Mavericks (1979-94), Rick, one of the youngest lead executives in the league, held the position of Director of Player Personnel, finishing as Vice President of Basketball Operations. The Mavericks won the Midwest Division title in 1986-87.

Rick began his career in Milwaukee under the tutelage of Wayne Embry, spending five years with the Bucks after his graduation from Ohio University in 1974 with a master's degree in sports administration. As an undergraduate, Sund was a two-sport athlete at Northwestern University, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science. At NU, he earned 1973 CoSIDA Academic All-America (Third Team) honors for basketball (6'4" guard) and was twice named All-Big Ten in football (tight end/wide receiver).

A native of Elgin, IL and a 1969 graduate of Elgin High School, Rick is the second of Robert and Peg Sund's five children. He was a member of the 1966 Elgin Teener League National Championship team. Rick and his wife, Lea, are parents of a daughter, Hali, and a son, Patrick, who is a member of the basketball operations of the Golden State Warriors.

Sund is a charter member of the Advisory Board for the Division of Kinesiology of the University of Michigan; was a member of the Board of Directors of the State of Washington for the Special Olympics; and was a member of the Advisory Board of the Warsaw Sports Marketing and Management Division of the University of Oregon Business School.