Gordon Whitener  Gordon D. Whitener is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of The Whitener Company, a Tennessee-based consulting and investment firm. He also serves as the Chairman of several of the firms portfolio companies. Whitener's first job was working as an offensive graduate assistant for the Oklahoma State University football team under head coach Pat Jones and staff. At the age of 23, Whitener was promoted to recruiting coordinator for the Cowboys. During his time directing Oklahoma State's recruiting efforts, the team secured future Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders and current OSU Head Coach Mike Gundy, among others. In 1988, Whitener made the decision to leave college football and began a career in sales and marketing at Collins & Aikman Floor Coverings (now Tandus) in the Dallas area. During his first year with the company, Whitener had a very successful sales career, and within a short time, advanced to Vice President of marketing for the company. In 1993, Whitener was offered an executive position with Interface, Inc., a giant and competitor in the floorcoverings industry. He quickly advanced to become President and CEO of Interface Americas, Interface's largest division, that included three commercial carpet manufacturers and a group of distribution and services companies that supported the manufacturers. Under Whitener's leadership, the company experienced record sales and profit growth. Additionally, Whitener served as a Senior Vice President and on the board of directors for Interface, Inc. In 1999, Whitener launched the US Cowboy Tour, a rodeo and sports marketing company that specialized in bringing rodeo events to the Southeastern United States. US Cowboy worked with the PRCA on their television package and ran the Xtreme Bulls Tour. Today, it manages The Wrangler Network. In October 2002, Whitener was brought on as COO of Host Communications (now IMG College), one of the nation's leading providers of affinity, multimedia, promotional, and event management services to universities, athletic conferences, associations, and corporations. Shortly thereafter, he was named President and CEO of Host, where he served until 2007. In 2007, Whitener became Chairman and CEO of SportsMyx Holdings, LLC, which owned Action Sports Media until late 2009. In 2010, Whitener formed The Whitener Company, which provides consulting services in the areas of marketing technology, event production and management, sponsorship sales and business portfolio management and acceleration. In 2015, Whitener launched Mandt Media. In 2015, Whitener Entertainment Group was created in an effort to promote the film industry within the state of Tennessee.