Dr. Hanna was one of the sport industry’s most accomplished sport marketing professionals prior to earning his Ph.D. in Sport Administration from the University of Louisville then joining Georgia Southern University. His 15 years in intercollegiate athletics make him one of the most industry experienced Sport Management professors in the field. Among Dr. Hanna’s top accomplishments in Sport Marketing are leading the University of Illinois to the most National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) Awards in the Big Ten Conference over a five-year stretch in which Illinois led the Big Ten Conference in NACMA Awards in four of five years. He helped Illinois double season ticket sales and football revenue in just two years—the only time this combination of doubling football ticket sales and doubling football revenue in just two years is believed to have been accomplished at any school in Big Ten Conference history. He helped Illinois sell out four games in consecutive seasons for the first time in 20 years and helped Western Michigan University sell out three games in one season for the only time in WMU history. In addition, Hanna created season ticket wait lists for men's basketball at both Oklahoma State University and the University of Illinois having jammed Gallagher-Iba Arena and Assembly Hall to sales capacity in his various stops.  He created some of the most memorable events in Illinois history including the pink shirt Illini Madness event that established a school record of 14,000 for Illini Madness while earning nearly $50,000 for Coaches vs. Cancer, hosted 62,870 fans for the World’s Biggest Basketball Practice, and worked with Bruce Weber to create A Night of Legends featuring two Illinois Final Four teams separated by more than a decade.  Hanna was also the originator of the phrase "It's a great day to be a Bronco" which he penned for a 1998 radio ad featuring the voice of Western Michigan University Hall of Fame men's basketball player Saddi Washington and later utilized prominently in speeches by former WMU athletic director Kathy Beauregard and becoming a beloved phrase of comradery for WMU fans.  His innovative storytelling penchant also led Hanna to work with DJ Steve Porter to have a special video mix created for an Illini Madness event.  Between the major national award winning special national award-winning sporting events, storytelling prowess, legacy of substantially growing football season ticket sales, football revenue, and football attendance while setting records and long-time achievements, and unique accomplishment of creating season ticket basketball wait lists at two schools, Hanna showed a mastery of brand building, marketing, and sales that cemented one of the elite college marketing professional legacies.

Dr. Hanna earned tenure and promotion to Associate Professor at Georgia Southern. He has taught 18 different SMGT courses, teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr. Hanna enters Fall 2025 with 15 published and in-press peer-reviewed publications and others working their way through the system. His peer-reviewed work is published in the International Journal of Sport Communications, Communication and Sport, Legal Aspects of Sport, Journal of Contemporary Athletics, Journal of Sport Behavior, Journal of African American Studies, and Quinnipiac Law Review among others. Dr. Hanna has 36 peer-reviewed oral academic conference presentations to his credit entering Fall 2025. He is a regular presenter at the North American Society of Sport Management (NASSM) Conference where he has presented on nine occasions while also serving as a NASSM abstract reviewer three times. Hanna’s college practical sports background and academic research interests have led him to present at College Sport Research Institute (CSRI), the top college sport conference, 13 times. His Sport Law research interests have led him to present at the Sport and Recreation Law Association (SRLA) conference 6 times.

Dr. Hanna's research interests include sport communication, sport law, college sport, college sport ethics, sport whistle-blowing, and image repair theory.