ATLANTA, Ga. (March 25, 2025) – Foundry’s CIO has named CLC, the nation’s leading collegiate licensing company, as a 2025 CIO 100 Award Winner. For almost 30 years, the CIO 100 Awards have recognized innovative organizations that exemplify the highest level of strategic and operational excellence in IT.
CLC was recognized for its development of the Compass NIL platform, which has revolutionized student-athlete NIL deal management, powering the largest NIL licensing program in history—EA SPORTS College Football 25. With over 16,000 athlete opt-ins and 11,000+ deals secured, the Compass app automated contracting, payments, and compliance at an unprecedented scale. By integrating real-time roster updates via 40,000+ daily API calls, the platform ensured accuracy despite transfer portal shifts. Its seamless ACH payouts and tax processing eliminated friction, allowing athletes to get paid effortlessly. Compass set a new standard for NIL, transforming athlete monetization and brand partnerships in college sports.
“The CIO 100 Awards recognize IT leaders who drive innovation, transformation, and business success through technology. With an exceptionally high caliber of submissions each year, winning a CIO100 Award is a true honor, highlighting the bold vision, strategic excellence, and groundbreaking impact of the most influential CIOs shaping the future of digital enterprise,” stated Elizabeth Cutler, Content Director, CIO 100 Symposium & Awards.
Compass is built to scale, adapting to evolving NIL regulations and expanding beyond traditional merchandise licensing. The platform’s data-driven insights also enable better deal-making, helping athletes maximize NIL opportunities while allowing brands to optimize sponsorship investments.
“CLC has always been committed to delivering solutions that meet the evolving needs of our partner institutions and licensees, and Compass is a great example of how we addressed a new challenge—managing NIL athlete deals at scale—through innovation and technology,” said Wesley Richard, CLC’s SVP of Innovation and Operations. “We’re honored to be recognized by Foundry with a CIO 100 Award, and proud of the impact Compass is having in helping licensees, brands, and athlete representation groups connect with student-athletes for NIL opportunities.”
Executives from the winning companies will be recognized at the CIO100 Symposium & Awards in August in Scottsdale, AZ.
About the US CIO 100 Awards:
The annual US CIO 100 Awards celebrate 100 organizations and the teams within them that use IT in innovative ways to deliver business value, whether by creating competitive advantage, optimizing business processes, enabling growth, or improving relationships with customers. The award is an acknowledged mark of enterprise excellence. Coverage of the 2025 US CIO 100 award-winning projects will be available online at www.cio.com in the weeks and months leading up to the event.
About CIO:
CIO focuses on attracting the highest concentration of enterprise CIOs and business technology executives with unparalleled peer insight and expertise on business strategy, innovation, and leadership. As organizations grow with digital transformation, CIO provides its readers with key insights on career development, including certifications, hiring practices and skills development. The award-winning CIO portfolio provides business technology leaders with analysis and insight on information technology trends and a keen understanding of IT’s role in achieving business goals. CIO is published by Foundry, company information is available at www.foundryco.com.
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