Most people associate the color of purple with royalty; thanks to Founder and President of Orlando City Soccer, Phil Rawlins, the central Florida community sees purple as one of their hometown sports favorites the Orlando City Lions.

Rawlins is stopping by UCF on March 30, to share how his determination, passion and leadership has made almost everyone in the city of Orlando excited about soccer. Rawlins is responsible for all aspects of the Club’s operation, performance and service. Rawlins who comes from the high tech industry, has also fifteen years in sports management as a previous owner and director of his hometown English Premier League team, Stoke City FC.

Rawlins was voted Orlando’s Downtowner of the Year in 2013 for his work in helping develop downtown and he was honored by MBA Orlando as Community Champion. In 2014 he was also voted CEO of the Year by Orlando Business Journal and Entrepreneur of the Year by I-4 Business magazine. Rawlins was recently inducted into the United Soccer League’s Hall of Fame.

Rawlins is the closing presenter for the College of Graduate Studies Interdisciplinary Studies Speaker Series 15-year anniversary of graduate interdisciplinary programs at UCF. Rawlins represents the Globalization and International Relations concentration in the Interdisciplinary Studies Master’s Program and will be speaking to the UCF Community on March 31, 2016, from 3:30pm – 4:30pm in Morgridge International Reading Center. The Speaker Series events are free and open to the public. For more information visit the Speaker Series website or engage with other attendees on social media through the Facebook event.