Binghamton University Forum hosts DICK’S Sporting Goods Chairman and CEO Ed Stack


BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – DICK’S Sporting Goods Chairman and CEO Ed Stack will speak at the Binghamton University Forum luncheon on Tuesday, Oct. 22. A lunch buffet will begin at noon, followed by the formal program at 12:30 p.m. at the Triple Cities Ballroom Convention Center in the Holiday Inn Binghamton, located at 2-8 Hawley Street. This event is open to the public, but registration is required.

Stack will discuss his new book, It’s How We Play the Game: Build a Business. Take a Stand. Make a Difference., which was released on Oct. 8. The book focuses on Stack’s inspiring story of business success built with community consciousness and passion. The book recounts the company’s remarkable expansion and provides an intimate look at how Stack built a company that was about more than sales. Stack will also explain his decision to stop selling assault-style firearms in DICK’S Sporting Goods and Field & Stream stores and how his aim to serve the community impacted the company.

Stack is a Binghamton-born businessman who turned his father’s small tackle shop into the nation’s largest sporting goods retailer. Stack started working in his father’s store when he was 13 and eventually acquired the company in 1984, when there were two stores in the Binghamton area. After years of hard work and dedication, Stack expanded the company into what it is today, with over 800 stores and over $8 billion in annual sales. Stack has long valued the community, and started the company’s foundation and its Sports Matter initiative, which together have donated millions to youth sports programs around the country. Stack is also donating his proceeds from the sale of It’s How We Play the Game to The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation.

Following the 2018 Parkland tragedy, Stack announced that the company would no longer sell assault-style firearms and would no longer sell any firearms or ammunition in any of its stores to customers younger than twenty-one. DICK’S then took the extraordinary step of destroying $5 million worth of assault-style rifles to ensure the guns didn’t get back into circulation.

At the event, a limited number of signed copies of his book will be available to purchase at a discounted price. The book is also available for purchase at major bookstores nationwide.

The Binghamton University Forum is a membership organization comprised of business, professional and community leaders that bring nationally known authorities to speak at functions throughout the year. Tickets are $25 for non-forum guests. For more information, call the Forum office at 607-777-5801, or email buforum@binghamton.edu to RSVP.