Rich Bradley leads Shoppers’ Critique International’s day-to-day functions and strategic vision as Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of the 40+ year old customer intelligence and market research company, providing branding and operational strategies, mystery shops, focus groups, surveys and other market research tools, Florida’s largest and one of the largest firms in the nation. The company has a long history of servicing the automotive, retail, restaurant (high end, casual and quick service), short/long term housing, sports and personal services industries. Additionally, Shoppers’ Critique is the industry leader in providing consumer intelligence to theme parks and attractions, with a client base representing 173 worldwide amusement/entertainment locations in North America, Europe and Asia. With its corporate headquarters in suburban Orlando, Shoppers’ Critique is the largest provider of customer intelligence data and critical market research located within the heart of the largest customer service-based economy in the world.

After starting his professional career as a sportswriter covering the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates and Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers at 16 in 1979, Bradley was recruited by the Pirates and later the Philadelphia Phillies, working in sales and public relations. Bradley ultimately spent most of the 1980s in Philadelphia, first with the Phillies as a top sales executive, and as a baseball coach for Philadelphia University; and then later overseeing intercollegiate athletics sales, marketing and broadcasting for his alma mater, Temple University. Holding an undergraduate degree in Radio-TV-Film, Bradley continued his media career at the same time by taking on free lance reporting, on-air hosting/play-by-play and producing tasks with WCAU-AM, WIP-AM, WRTI-FM, WGSB-TV, PRISM and Tel-Ra Productions.

In 1990 he relocated to Buffalo to create, launch and administer Upstate New York’s first sports cable television network, the Empire Sports Network. As Vice President & General Manager at 26, he was the first employee of the channel and holds the distinction of being the youngest person to launch and head a television network in the United States. Empire Sports’ staff grew to over 120 people administering a 24-hour sports service on both television and radio throughout the state of New York.

Bradley added the day-to-day management of Sun Sports (Sunshine Network) in Florida in 1993 to his duties, spending half the week in Orlando and half in Buffalo until May 1994, when he released management of Empire Sports, but then took over Florida’s other state sports network, FOX Sports Florida (SportsChannel Florida). As Senior Vice President and General Manager under sports and entertainment mogul H. Wayne Huizenga, then owner of the NHL Panthers, MLB Marlins and NFL Dolphins, Rich brought the new Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Florida Marlins, the Florida Panthers and the Miami Hurricanes to FSN, and expanded statewide coverage to bring the network on par with Sun Sports, the model that still exists today almost two decades later.

In 1997 Bradley returned to Orlando with FOX Entertainment Group as General Manager of The Health Network (Discovery Health), a national health and fitness cable television network. Based at Universal Studios Orlando, Bradley oversaw all functions of the channel, including up to 16 hours a day of news and episodic television production, much of it live. The network received international recognition and praise for its bold use of technology, broadcasting the first live human birth over the Internet. When FOX relocated THN and The Family Channel to Los Angeles in 2000, Rich remained in Florida and joined the development of the PAX television network. He helped grow the fledgling channel into a respected national base of over 72 television stations and 84 million viewers as National Director of Cable Relations, followed then by a two year stint as President of Kansas City Sports Enterprises, where he lead the restoration of the Major Indoor Soccer League’s storied KC Comets, including two record-setting revenue and attendance seasons, and initiated the due diligence and negotiations which resulted ultimately in a new public arena and an Arena Football League team for Kansas City.

When the international professional soccer powerhouse of Amsterdam (AFC Ajax) launched an American base of operations in Orlando, Bradley was recruited back to Orlando to lead, as Ajax America’s Chief Operating Officer, its four new national operating divisions, including the Ajax America Academy, Ajax National Youth Camp Program, Ajax Tournaments and the Ajax Orlando Prospects of the Professional Development League.

Rich also lead the negotiations to acquire either the Kansas City Wizards or San Jose Earthquakes for Ajax, but the pursuit was ultimately discontinued by the Dutch investors.
Ajax dropped its international US outreach in the fall of 2005, and Rich joined the Buena Vista Corporation as Vice President, Sports & Entertainment to develop and manage BVC’s investments in sports, media, music, attractions and other forms of entertainment, and to serve as President of BVC’s Major Indoor Soccer League expansion team, the Orlando Sharks. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of both BVC Sports & Entertainment and the Sharks, Rich was the lead government relations liaison for the Buena Vista Corporation and participated in the negotiations and due diligence of most aspects of BVC on the senior executive team.

Over the years, Rich has served in most every capacity in the sports, entertainment and marketing industries, including marketing and promotions, ticketing and corporate sales, advertising, media and community relations, finance, contract negotiations, food and beverage, retail and arena/stadium operations. He has worked with some of the greatest players and coaches of the day, including Dan Marino, Thurman Thomas, Jim Kelly, Pat LaFontaine, Marv Levy, Don Shula, Jimmy Johnson, Dick MacPherson and John Chaney, as well as with Paul Maguire, Don Criqui, Jay Randolph, Van Miller, Gene Deckerhoff, Harry Kalas and many others behind the microphone. He has directly managed 5 cable television networks (2 national) and 2 radio stations, and executive produced over 3,000 sporting events, studio shows and episodic television programs for FOX and other networks, including 2003’s national MISL All-Star Game telecast, and “The Greatest Game Ever Played” (the story of the Buffalo Bills dramatic record-setting 1993 playoff comeback versus the Houston Oilers), two of the many productions that he has personally produced and directed.

Bradley has maintained his current residence in Oviedo, FL since 1995 and has four children, Dan (20), Victoria (18), (both studying at the University of Central Florida), Sarah (17) and Michael (15). He is also a graduate of the Beasley Law School of Temple University, and is admitted to the bar associations of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. A strong believer in investing in youth, he has taught a variety of classes, including law, broadcast management, English composition and others at Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Central Florida, and several community colleges, and coached numerous youth baseball teams in multiple cities. Bradley is also still active with Faithful Servants, a support ministry for single fathers he founded in 2005.

Engaged in the local community, Rich has been involved with a number of Central Florida organizations, He presently serves as President/Chairman of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Florida, and on the Executive Committee (and various sub-committees) of the Boys Scouts of Central Florida. Rich has completed a multi-year term on the Board of Governors of the Greater Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce. He was a charter member of the Orlando Economic Development Commission’s Executive Round Table, serves on the board of Visit Orlando’s (the Orlando Convention & Visitor Bureau’s) Sports Advisory Board (also as a charter member) and has served on the Hob Knob committee of the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association. He also currently serves as a delegate on the Innovation and Economic Development Council of the Florida Chamber Foundation, and is a former employee, and long-time associate, of Florida Governor Rick Scott, is a founding board member of the international soccer Sybarite Cup Tournament and part of the ownership group of WRSO 810-AM, Orlando’s top sports radio station.

Rich is a graduate of Lifework Leadership and of the second class of the Central Florida Political Leadership Institute, and has previously served as Chairman of the MISL Broadcast and New Media Committee, and as a member of both the MISL’s Board of Governors and Marketing Committee. He is presently serving a three-year national term on the Board of Directors of the Mystery Shopper Provider’s Association – North America (MSPA), where he chairs the MSPA’s Political Action Committee, coordinating the industry’s lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C.., and where he assumed the position of Board Treasurer in January 2013. He is the immediate past Vice-Chairman of the Midtown Orlando Community Development District’s Board of Supervisors, part of the legislative oversight group for the 257-acre, billion dollar upscale mixed use tourist development project near the Walt Disney World Resort. Rich is a long-time member of Florida Citrus Sports, serves on the FCS Team Selection Committee, and scouts for the Capital One Bowl and Champs Sports Bowl games. Locally in Oviedo, Rich serves as Chairman of the School Advisory Council of Hagerty High School, after prior years served on the school advisory councils of Jackson Heights Middle School and Carillon Elementary.