Steven J. Mudder is a globally renowned legal strategist, executive and investor whose transformational leadership has shaped the global telecommunications infrastructure industry over a distinguished 25-year career.

He formed or acquired and managed more than 25 companies in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia and India. He also built a 20-year career representing professional football players as an NFL-certified agent.

Mudder began his career in Atlanta at King & Spalding, where he represented Fortune 100 clients such as Coca-Cola, The Home Depot, Sprint Corporation and American Express.  He practiced law for two years in Silicon Valley before becoming a partner at Atlanta-based Cohen, Cooper, Estep & Mudder, where Georgia Super Lawyers magazine recognized him as a Super Lawyer and Rising Star. As vice president-international legal for American Tower Corporation, he led legal operations across Latin America and Asia, driving global expansion.

Mudder's most significant business achievements came overseas in the telecommunications tower industry. He, along with nine colleagues, left American Tower International and acquired Protelindo, a small Indonesian tower company with 232 towers and $6 million in annual EBITDA. Mudder and his colleagues transformed Protelindo into Asia's largest independent tower company with nearly 30,000 tower sites and $644 million in annual EBITDA. Mudder and his colleagues also founded Myanmar's first independent tower company in 2012 and acquired a tower company in Europe, successfully exiting all three ventures.

In recent years, Mudder has focused on high-profile investments, including as part of the ownership group that acquired dating app Grindr for approximately $608 million. His investment group, for which Mudder also acted as a legal advisor, took the company public in 2022, and its market capitalization recently stood at more than $4.6 billion.

Mudder has served FSU for more than two decades, including on the FSU Foundation Board of Trustees and the College of Business Board of Governors since 2003. His generosity includes gifts totaling more than $1.36 million for Legacy Hall, Seminole Boosters, the FSU Foundation and an endowed scholarship in the Master of Science in Finance program. He is a member of the President's Club, Westcott Legacy Society, the Vires, Artes, Mores society, Forever FSU, Seminole Boosters and the FSU Alumni Association. 

He regularly speaks to classes and has been the featured guest in the Charles A. Bruning Distinguished Speaker Series. In addition to mentoring business students each year, he serves as the chapter advisor for Theta Chi Fraternity, and he’s a director and vice president for the Foundation Chapter of Theta Chi Fraternity International.

Mudder earned a Bachelor of Science in finance from FSU in 1995, graduating summa cum laude and ranking first in his class. He earned his Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1998.