2024 Speakers

Jennifer ‘Jenny’ Storms is Chief Marketing Officer, Entertainment and Sports, NBCUniversal and Chair of the NBCUniversal Marketing Council. In this role, Storms oversees marketing and consumer engagement around premium live, social and digital content across the NBC Sports and Entertainment portfolio. Her responsibilities include marketing strategy and operations, audience growth, CRM, content development and promotion across all distribution platforms for NBCUniversal Entertainment, which include NBC, USA Network, Bravo, Oxygen, SYFY, E!, UniKids, and NBC Sports.

Recognized as one of the most dynamic and innovative executives in sports and entertainment, Brett Yormark began his tenure as the fifth commissioner of the Big 12 Conference on August 1, 2022. He previously held positions at Roc Nation, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment and NASCAR.

In his brief time as Commissioner of the Big 12, Yormark has elevated the Conference to new heights. Yormark executed a media rights deal with ESPN and Fox, a deal that will run through 2030-31. Additionally, Yormark has placed an emphasis on marketing, brand building and storytelling that has resonated across the college athletics landscape. In the first year of his tenure, Yormark has overseen the early departure of Oklahoma and Texas as well as the integration of four new Big 12 members. Additionally, he led a revamping of the Big 12 Football and Basketball Championships that resulted in revenue and digital engagement highs. Yormark has taken an innovative approach to ensure the Conference resides in places it never has before, creating the first-ever Big 12 Business Advisory Board, executing a partnership with the National Football League to operate a conference-wide Pro Day, teaming up with New York City Parks Department for a summer activation at historic Rucker Park, and bringing celebrity talent such as Fat Joe, Ashanti, Shaq and DJ Khaled into the Big 12 marketing fold.

Yormark served three years as the COO of Roc Nation and Co-CEO of Roc Nation Unified before moving to the Big 12. Roc Nation is a full-service entertainment company supporting a diverse roster of talent via artist management, music publishing, touring, production, strategic brand development and more. The client list includes some of the world’s most recognizable names in the entertainment and sports worlds, such as Rihanna, Alicia Keys, DJ Khaled, Robin Thicke, Megan Thee Stallion, Christina Aguilera, LaMelo Ball, Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne. The company was founded in 2008 by JAY-Z and has offices in New York City, London and Los Angeles.

Yormark joined the company in the fall of 2019 and in his role as COO, focused on optimizing operational resources and building company infrastructure to support continued growth. Yormark also supervised sponsorship, licensing, content partnerships, and brand strategy. In addition, he spearheaded Roc Nation Unified, the organization’s commercial and consultative arm that works with artists, athletes, leagues, teams, and brands.

Prior to Roc Nation, Yormark spent 14 years as President and CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (BSE) Global, which manages and controls Barclays Center, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Nets’ NBA G League team, the Long Island Nets. During his tenure, he also expanded BSE’s venue footprint by leading the renovation, reopening and subsequent operation of NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, and Manhattan’s iconic Webster Hall. While at BSE Global, Yormark had oversight for all facets of Barclays Center and NYCB LIVE, including operations, event programming, sales, and marketing.

After joining the Nets in 2005, Yormark led the team’s 2012 move to Brooklyn, including the rebranding that established the Nets as a global lifestyle brand. In overseeing the transformation from New Jersey to Brooklyn, Yormark led the team to placements in the top tier of every major business matrix, including ticket sales, merchandise and sponsorship.

Under his leadership, Barclays Center and NYCB LIVE were consistently named among the industry’s top venues worldwide in ticket sales by leading industry publications such as Billboard, Pollstar, and VenuesNow. Yormark brought the hottest names in music to the venues under his purview, including opening Barclays Center with eight consecutive nights of sold-out shows from legendary rapper JAY-Z. Barclays Center and NYCB LIVE also welcomed legends including Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Billy Joel, Elton John, Coldplay, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Pearl Jam, and many more.

On the sports side of the business, he brought professional boxing back to Brooklyn for the first time since 1931 and saw Barclays Center host dozens of world championship fight nights. College basketball also became a mainstay in Brooklyn, with Yormark securing agreements to host the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, and the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Tournament, alongside matchups between many of the nation’s top programs such as Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, and North Carolina, among others.

Before BSE Global, Yormark worked for NASCAR for six years, where he helped build the stock-car racing company into a major sports property. Yormark was named the maximum three times to the “Forty Under 40” list by Sports Business Journal and was selected twice to the “40 Under 40” list by Crain’s New York Business. He is also on the board of the City Parks Foundation, the TJ Martell Foundation and NYC & Company.

Yormark is the proud father of Madison and Drake, and is married to Elaina Scotto.

Mollie Marcoux Samaan is the ninth Commissioner of the LPGA since its formation in 1950. Her journey to the LPGA started at Princeton University, where she was a two-sport varsity athlete in soccer and ice hockey before graduating cum laude in 1991. In her senior year, she was awarded the Otto Von Kienbusch Sportswoman of the Year Award given to the University’s top female athlete. Following graduation, Marcoux Samaan served as assistant athletic director, assistant dean of admissions and coach of girls’ ice hockey and soccer at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.

Lara Krug was hired as Kansas City’s Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer on June 29, 2021 and begins her third season in the National Football League in 2023.

As the first CMO in franchise history, Krug oversees all club marketing functions, including brand marketing; community outreach; digital, social and website operations; influencer activation; event entertainment; content production and the Hunt Family Foundation. Krug is also responsible for all consumer products as well.

With the League since 2014 as Senior Vice President, Media for Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing, Seth Bacon is responsible for developing and executing the direction of the League’s media and digital properties; overseeing the creation and distribution of content; and managing media partnerships on international, national and regional levels through advanced multimedia agreements.

Bacon and his team work closely with all MLS/SUM media partners, including ESPN, FOX Sports, and Univision in the U.S., TSN and TVA in Canada, a host of international broadcasters around the world, as well as digital and social partners.

Robert Gottlieb serves as President, Marketing, FOX Sports, a position he was elevated to in September 2022.

As the company’s head of marketing since 2014, Gottlieb’s team consists of strategic planning, marketing services, consumer marketing, in-house and out-of-house creative and is responsible for all aspects of the network’s on-air, off-air and consumer marketing efforts including television, print, online, radio and outdoor creative for FOX Sports, FS1, FS2, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports Digital assets.

Midge Purce is a professional soccer player for the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) and New York’s Gotham FC. Off the field, Midge served on the collective bargaining committee that negotiated the historic equal pay agreement for women in sport. She also serves as the youngest member on Harvard’s Board of Overseers, the university’s second highest governing board. She is a founding member and served as the Executive Director of the Black Women’s Player Collective (BWPC), a non-profit that works to establish equity in sport. Currently, she is executive producing a new soccer focused docu-series that covers athletes in a way sports media never has before.

David Gandler is Co-founder and CEO of Fubo (NYSE: FUBO), whose global mission is to aggregate the best in TV, including premium sports, news and entertainment content, through a single app.

Under David’s leadership, Fubo aims to transcend the industry’s current TV model. The company’s sports-first live TV streaming platform, Fubo, is live in the U.S., Canada and Spain. In France, Fubo operates Molotov, the market’s leading live TV streaming platform.

Julie Haddon joins the NWSL after spending five years at the NFL, where she most recently served as the Senior Vice President of Global Brand and Consumer Marketing overseeing some of the most successful, award-winning marketing programs of all time. At the NFL, she spearheaded innovative brand campaigns surrounding the organization’s tentpole events from the Super Bowl to the NFL Draft, to the league’s social justice brand initiatives and legalized sports betting fan engagement. In addition, Haddon led strategies to grow audience viewership and consumption for Thursday Night Football, NFL Network programming, and NFL Digital products, including NFL Fantasy, GamePass and Mobile. She also founded and served as the executive sponsor of NFL Pride, the league’s first-ever LGBTQ+ group, committed to advancing efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion.

Kirsten Corio is the Chief Commercial Officer of the USTA. In this role, she is responsible for revenue generation for the US Open, including ticket sales, hospitality, global media rights, and sponsorship as well as digital strategy, business intelligence, analytics, and CRM. Prior to the USTA, Kirsten spent 15 years at the NBA in its TMBO division, working alongside its 30 teams to optimize team business results. Corio hails from Woodstock, NY, and currently resides in Tenafly NJ with her husband, Chen, 14 year old daughter, Chloe, and 9 year old son, Dean.

John Lasker is senior vice president, ESPN+. He is responsible for developing the growth strategy and general management of ESPN+, the industry-leading sports streaming service at the center of ESPN’s preparation for a direct-to-consumer future.

Lasker works closely with functional groups across ESPN, Disney+ and Hulu, including programming, content acquisition, marketing, ad sales, technology, product, finance, communications, research and analytics, and more.

Stephanie Hsiao joined the National Football League (NFL) as their China marketing lead in July 2008. She now serves as VP – International Marketing and Fan Development, based out of the NFL’s West Coast headquarters in Inglewood, California.
Stephanie is responsible for the NFL’s international fan development initiatives across the league’s focus markets, driving NFL popularity and deepening fan engagement globally to increase value of the league and our 32 clubs.
A native of Irvine, California, Stephanie began her professional career in the sports marketing division at Speedo in Los Angeles. In 2006, she moved to Beijing, China and began working at Octagon. In 2008, she joined the NFL’s China office in Shanghai overseeing local marketing initiatives – from content and consumer product marketing to youth football development.
Stephanie graduated from Princeton University with a degree in East Asian Studies. During her time at Princeton, she was a captain of the Princeton University Swimming and Diving Team where she received the Princeton Varsity Club’s Otto Von Kienbusch “Sportswoman of the Year” Award.

Rachel Jacobson is the President of the Drone Racing League (DRL), the world’s premier, professional drone racing property. She spearheads global partnerships and media rights deals, and leads the marketing and business development teams. Bringing to DRL her legacy of creating transformative partnerships with leading sports and technology brands, Rachel has forged groundbreaking partnerships with leading companies including Algorand to disrupt sports and gaming through blockchain, T-Mobile to launch first the 5G-enabled drone, and Draganfly to unveil DRL Labs, a technology innovation hub. Laser focused on making a global, philanthropic impact, she recently expanded the league’s DRL Academy STEM program with Steve Wozniak’s Woz Ed to create a new, interactive drone racing curriculum for students around the world.

Cosmina Schulman is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at New England Sports Network (NESN) and SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP). She is responsible for driving revenue and building out strategic partnerships. She is part of the executive management team and plays an active role in determining vision and business approach for NESN and SNP.
Previously she held the title of National Sales Manager and Local Sales Manager at NESN. She started her career working for Home Team Sports: A Division of Fox Sports and sold for every NBA, NHL and NBA RSN in the county. She is the VP of Women in Sports and Events (WISE) Boston chapter and the Executive Chair of NESN’s ERG group, Women of NESN. She has a passion for mentoring women in sports and media and is committed to helping women navigate the sports world.

Becky Kimbro serves as the Vice President of Brand Engagement for Spurs Sports & Entertainment. Overseeing all fan-facing departments, including Marketing & Creative, Game Presentation, Content Production & Broadcast, and Digital Communications, Becky’s primary focus is cultivating and building relationships with the fans of each franchise in the SS&E portfolio.

Before joining SS&E, Becky served as Vice President of Marketing for the Texas Rangers, overseeing the team’s branding, advertising, and business analytics and marketing for non-gameday events. Prior to joining the Texas Rangers, Ms. Kimbro served as the Senior Manager of Marketing for the Dallas Cowboys and AT&T Stadium, where she handled advertising and consumer marketing for the team and third-party stadium events.

Becky began her marketing career with an eight-year stint at an agency primarily focused on political media consulting. She worked on several federal, state, and local campaigns.

Becky holds a Journalism degree from the University of North Texas and lives in San Antonio with her husband, Ryan. She is an alumna of Leadership Dallas and serves on the Board of Advisors for the UNT Mayborn School of Journalism. She is also involved with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training.

Jon is the Director, Global Head of Sports Partnerships at YouTube based out of California. His team’s role is to inspire, educate and enable sport partners to maximise the YouTube platform to meet their commercial and audience targets. Jon is passionate about driving the sport industry and its key institutions to meet the demand of the digital age and changing fan behaviour.

Monica Robbins is Microsoft’s Director of Sports Partnerships – leading partnerships that create innovative ways for sports organizations to connect with fans and gain a competitive edge. From enabling fans to join arenas virtually with the NBA, to using AI to analyze billions of data points and create a race strategy for Alpine F1 Team, to providing players in the Billie Jean King Cup in-game insights into their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses, she is partnering with organizations to improve the way sports are played, coached, watched, and ultimately experienced.

David Kelly, GSE’s Chief Business Officer, has spent a lifetime in the worlds of entertainment and sports. A graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Illinois College of Law, Kelly is the Chief Legal Officer of the Golden State Warriors and Chase Center, where he oversees all legal matters and helps manage the team’s salary cap. Prior to joining the Warriors, Kelly was a partner at the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman, an Assistant Editor at Third World Press and half of Chicago’s legendary hip-hop duo, All Natural.

Craig Barry is Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer for Turner Sports. In this role, Barry oversees Turner Sports’ remote and studio productions, operations, technology and talent services for sports content airing on TNT, TBS and truTV including all productions in conjunction with the NBA, NCAA, MLB and PGA, along with all digital extensions. A 27-year Turner Sports veteran, Barry leads the creative direction of Turner Sports’ portfolio of sports properties, ensuring collaboration and integration of content and promotion across all platforms.

Barry is also the executive responsible for the oversight of Turner Sports’ business interests surrounding ELEAGUE, the professional esports organization formed in partnership between Turner and WME | IMG. In this capacity, he leads every aspect of the linear and digital productions for ELEAGUE including working closely with Turner Studios in Atlanta to set the overall vision for the live competitive gaming experience. He also oversees brand image, multiplatform marketing initiatives, long-term business opportunities and the integration of ad sales and sponsorship efforts on behalf of the endeavor.

Claire is a senior strategic sports professional specializing in compelling campaigns, reputation management, global events and strategy.

Claire has a passion for equity and diversity in sport and has driven significant change in this area including the introduction of a global leadership programme for women in cricket and criiio4good, a sport for development curriculum to empower women and girls through cricket which has been distributed to 1.5 million schools in India.

Tian is the Head of Sports at Roblox, where she is tasked to deliver on a compelling vision for Roblox in the exciting world of sports. She envisions a future where Roblox will be central to building fandom, mobilizing communities, and harmoniously bridging the physical and virtual worlds to make sports ever more engaging, and is thrilled to collaborate with the world’s best leagues, teams, athletes, and brands to make that a reality. Prior to Roblox, Tian worked at Unity Technologies, most recently as the Director and General Manager of the company’s sports vertical where she focused on leveraging real-time 3D technologies to transform sports consumption and commercialization.

Matt Duarte is responsible for identifying and recommending new business opportunities and partnering with YES’ senior leadership to drive overall company strategy.

Duarte works closely with a variety of different departments within YES. He collaborates with Finance regarding budgets and short- and long-term growth plans, with Affiliate Sales on traditional and alternative distribution strategy and with Marketing, Programming and Production on a variety of initiatives.

Among Duarte’s achievements at YES was the development and launch of the multiple Emmy Award-winning YES App in March 2021, and the buildout and March 2023 launch of the YES Network’s direct-to-consumer offering.

Joseph Markowski serves as Executive Vice President at DAZN, overseeing partnerships, rightsholder activation, marketing, communications and strategy for the North American business. In 2018, Markowski orchestrated the commercial and operational launch of DAZN in the United States. Under his guidance, DAZN became an immediate player in the media landscape by challenging the combat sports pay-per-view model and exclusively offering fights from Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, Anthony Joshua, Bellator MMA and others at a low subscription price. In March 2019, DAZN expanded into the big four American sports leagues by launching ChangeUp, a nightly MLB whip-around show featuring live look-ins from all 30 teams. Markowski also manages the DAZN Canada business, where the platform has collected an impressive set of premium sports rights including the NFL, Premier League, Champions League, Serie A and more. Prior to his time in North America, Markowski ran the DAZN Japan business from 2016 to 2018.

Phil Cook stands at the forefront of sports marketing, championing the growth and visibility of women’s sports. As the inaugural Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), he brings over a quarter-century of experience and a deep passion for basketball and women’s sports to the role. His appointment as CMO marks a significant milestone in the WNBA’s 26-year history, reflecting the league’s commitment to expansion and innovation.

Phil’s journey to the WNBA began at Nike, where he dedicated 25 years of his career. His tenure at Nike was marked by groundbreaking initiatives and a focus on inclusivity in sports. As a leader in Nike’s Global Basketball Brand, Phil played a pivotal role in identifying and engaging new consumer segments. His strategic vision was instrumental in driving new revenue streams and expanding the brand’s reach. Notably, Phil’s advocacy for female athletes reshaped Nike’s marketing campaigns, bringing women athletes to the forefront and challenging industry norms.

In his first year as the WNBA’s CMO, Phil has brought a fresh perspective and dynamic approach to the league’s marketing strategies. The WNBA, valued at over a billion dollars, benefits from a unique ownership structure, with 42% owned by the WNBA, 42% by the NBA, and the remaining stake held by various investors. Phil’s expertise is crucial in navigating this landscape, fostering partnerships, and elevating the league’s brand.

Elizabeth Stranges currently leads strategic partnerships with athletes across Olympic sports in North America, on behalf of all of Meta’s platforms. This includes helping top athletes from soccer, tennis, golf, hockey and action sports, innovatively
connect with their fans and grow their brands across Instagram, Facebook and Threads. She is passionate about women’s sports and leveling the playing field for athletes on social.

Originally from Toronto, Canada, Elizabeth started her career in the Olympic space, before spending nearly 10 years at the convergence of sport and social media with Twitter, 5 of which she was based in the UK for. Her vast international sports experience, across North America and Europe, have contributed to her expertise around global sporting events. Elizabeth has represented women in sports as both a panelist and keynote speaker at a number of industry events around the world, and most recently moderated a panel of past honorees at 2023’s SBJ Game Changers conference.

Andy Mitchell, a seasoned professional in the tech and media industry, was appointed as the Managing Director for the U.S. of Italian soccer’s top-tier Serie A in May 2023. His role is instrumental in Serie A’s international growth strategy, which includes expanding its broadcasting revenue and global presence. Mitchell brings over 30 years of experience, having recently served as Senior Vice President for Partner Success and Sports Marketing at Clear. He also held significant positions at Facebook and its parent company, Meta, where he was Head of Global Media Accounts. His appointment reflects Serie A’s commitment to enhancing its brand and reach in the strategic American market.

Angela Ruggiero is Co-Founder & Chair of Sports Innovation Lab, a data company that enables brands and sports properties to build more effective sponsorships, improve targeted advertising, and enhance fan experiences. Built on observational, transactional, and deterministic fan data, the Sports Data Cloud is evolving how organizations use data to understand their customers and acquire more of them – starting with sports & entertainment.

Currently, Ruggiero is a hockey operations advisor to the President and GM at the NY Rangers. She is a four-time Olympian and Gold Medalist in Ice Hockey, and a member of the 2019 USA Olympic Hall of Fame, the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, and the 2015 Hockey Hall of Fame (as only the 4th woman in the world).

She has been a distinguished International Olympic Committee Executive Board Member for over a decade, having served on the Executive Board of the IOC and as the Chairperson of the Athletes’ Commission, and has also served as the Chief Strategy Officer for the successful Los Angeles 2028 bid to host the 2028 Olympics. She has also served on NASDAQ listed public boards. Ruggiero currently serves on World Rugby’s Executive Board and advises Private Equity and Venture Capital firms.

Katie O’Mealia, VP of Content Programming at Bleacher Report, leads the content and programming priorities for the number one name in sports on digital. She is tasked with developing innovative programming tactics across the myriad platforms where B/R distributes its content and packaging that content in creative ways while building the framework for a robust live video strategy.

Prior to her current role, Katie was the head of Analytics at Bleacher Report. In her role, she led a team focused on industry leading insight generation, innovative data tactics, and in-depth consumer research. O’Mealia also oversees B/R’s Heartbeats initiative, a data platform that harnesses the power of Bleacher Report’s first-party data to help inform internal and external partners on the latest research and trends impacting the industry..

Alex Hill is the Senior Director of Product for The Roku Channel, Live TV & Sports at Roku. As the product team lead, Alex strives to maximize value for 70M+ households worldwide, as well as content partners and advertisers on the Roku platform, including The Roku Channel. During his time at Roku, Alex has overseen the launch of the Roku Sports destination and the expansion of Roku’s Live TV offering, which enable easier discovery and better access to free Live TV content.

Charles Campisi is a Director on the Innovation team at the National Hockey League (NHL). The NHL is the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, with 32 member Clubs vying for the most cherished and historic trophy in sports – the Stanley Cup®. The NHL’s Innovation team supports the development of strategies and implementation of technology-driven solutions to grow the game of hockey by enhancing the fan experience, improving the game on the ice, generating incremental revenue, and increasing the overall value of the NHL ecosystem.

Charles’s role includes evaluating immersive platforms to drive increased fan engagement and attract new fans to the game of hockey. He directly oversees all aspects of the day-to-day operations and long-term strategy behind NHL Blast, the NHL’s highly lauded Roblox experience and first foray into the Metaverse.

Prior to joining the NHL, Charles received his MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame.

Sergio Lopes is the Co-founder of LiveMode, a business and technology company that connects sports entities to the digital world. LiveMode is responsible for managing the fast-growing Brazilian influencer’s Casimiro channel CazéTV.

Sarah Nelson serves as the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development for TV and Mobile at Samsung. In this pivotal role, she leads the charge in forging innovative partnerships and developing new business strategies that drive growth and market leadership for Samsung’s TV and mobile divisions. With a keen eye for emerging trends in technology and consumer behavior, Sarah has been instrumental in positioning Samsung at the forefront of the digital revolution.

I’m a senior writer and editor at Forbes, covering business and editorial lead at ForbesBLK. Previously, I covered business at CNBC, ranging from professional league media deals, sponsorships, labor agreements, and athlete portfolios. Also, before joining Forbes, I worked at The Athletic and the San Antonio Express-News, where I covered the NBA and Spurs. A North Philadelphia native, I graduated from Temple University in 2008.

Sabrina Carrozza is the founder of Public Relations agency, Sabrina Comms, specializing in helping brands in sports, media and technology leverage the power of earned and owned media to create value and build brands. Sabrina’s client experience spans 20 years with long-term partnerships with some of the biggest and most exciting brands in the world, including Serie A, FC Barcelona, FC Bayern Munich, Drive by DraftKings, DAZN, Opta, Goal.com, LaLiga, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Intuit and Yahoo, among many others. Sabrina is also an adjunct professor at New York University, serves as development director at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for Global Sport, and is an advisorto multiple tech startups. She holds a BBA from Baruch College and an MBA from C.W. Post.

Systems-thinking CX leader turned venture capitalist, Cristina values driving growth in people and organizations. She previously co-founded an e-learning SaaS platform in Barcelona. After seven years of building her career and community abroad, she moved to San Francisco to open Typeform’s first U.S. office. She’s held a number of leadership roles at hyper-growth SaaS startups where she built and operationalized teams from scratch. As an investor, Cristina is drawn to startups where technology meets human connection, emphasizing the approach to maximizing returns while keeping a keen eye on the triple-bottom line: profits, people, and process.

Jodain Massad is Director, Development & Innovation, NFL Films for the National Football League. A seasoned executive producer, he brings 15+ years of experience as a brand champion, innovation agent, and story maker to the 2023 NYF Advisory Board.

Prior to his current role with the NFL, Jodain served as Executive Producer, Innovation | Design for the University of Notre Dame. During his tenure he reset the vision and rebuilt culture for Norte Dame production, debuted the one hour awards show format on NBC Sports, rebranded the series “Onward Notre Dame” on NBC Sports, produced recruiting content to national acclaim, founded the subscription virtual experience Rally House, led the recruiting presentation strategy on Brand and NIL, and initiated the FightingIrishTV.com int’l subscription.

He began his production career in 2007 with the Kansas City Chiefs. Throughout his years with the organization, Jodain was promoted into a variety of leadership production roles including Director of Production. While in his role as Director of Production he produced an ESPN 30for30 short with Grant Curtis. During his8-year tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs, Jodain led the team in documentary, telecast design, and ad campaign production and served as a content contributor for online, broadcast and event entertainment.

An award-winning content creator, industry innovator, and sought after speaker, Jodain has earned numerous high-profile industry accolades including 27 Emmy® Awards, 6 New York Festivals International Film & TV Awards, and 5 Sports Video Group College Sports Media Awards.

Michael Markovich joined Sony’s sports executive team in April 2022 as Chief Commercial Officer overseeing commercial growth and partnerships for both Pulselive and Hawk-Eye. Michael brings +20 years of strategy and sports experience to Sony and is particularly focused on evolving Pulselive and Hawk-Eye’s broad and long-standing relationships into strategic partnerships that transform the way fans engage and consume sport. Michael spent his prior 10 years at the NFL driving strategy for ticketing and gameday experience across the 32 Member Clubs and leading the NFL’s International Media business, including all direct-to-consumer & digital offerings.

Ashley is the Vice President of Strategy and Operations at Seven League, the digital sports arm of IMG, a global leader in sports, events, and media.

With 15+ years of experience, her career brings together ground-breaking digital work with clients, as well as a commitment to knowledge-sharing, mentorship, championing women in sport and educating the world on web3.

Ashley is responsible for driving business growth and future outlook for Seven League, including its mission creation – to be the global leader in the third age of sport – alongside long-term strategy and marketplace perception. In addition, Ashley oversees people-led practices, including hiring standards, intern programme and talent partnerships as well as client relationships with some of Seven League’s most trusted, high-profile partnerships.

With a love of culture and travel, combined with the desire to refine her expertise and round-out her international experience, inspired Ashley to relocate to the UK in 2018 to pursue an Executive MBA.

Earlier in her career, she held strategic digital roles at Major League Baseball (MLB) and Bloomberg Media. At MLB, she led the digital commercial sponsorship strategy for the Southeast territory and created innovative sponsorship deals with some of MLB’s biggest sports partners including Pepsi, Citi, United, and Under Armour, as well as working with clubs like the Nationals, Orioles, and Braves.

Jason Thibeault is the Executive Director of the Streaming Video Technology Alliance (SVTA), a global technical association of companies collaborating to solve critical challenges in delivering a high-quality streaming video experience at scale. He is a recognized expert voice in the streaming industry and is a contributing editor to Streaming Media Magazine.

Jason is also the co-founder of Datazoom, a startup focused on homogenizing streaming video data collecting and increasing the speed of data acquisition. Prior to his current role, Jason spent eight years at Limelight Networks, a leading CDN, where he held several roles including product manager and marketing strategist. He is also an inventor of multiple technical patents in streaming and cloud technologies and the co-author of one marketing book, Recommend This!

Minal has been in research and commercial strategy since graduating from university in 2010. Her previous role have primarily been in sport and entertainment agencies and she has worked with leading rights holders such as The Premier League, UEFA, The FA, Sky and AEG to strengthen their relationships with current partner brands and support their sales strategy through primary consumer data. Prior to Ampere, Minal worked at Eleven Sports, heading up their global research function. This included helping to develop content strategy, creating an in-house brand tracker to aid marketing decisions and establishing key drivers and barriers for subscription through research. At Ampere, Minal leads the development of the consumer solution, works on consulting projects and has written a number of analytical reports including a detailed piece on the appetite of US consumers for Disney+ prior to launch.

Victorien Tixier is the CEO and co-founder of ScorePlay, a company at the forefront of sports media technology and storytelling. Before establishing ScorePlay, Tixier was a co-founder at Hydra, a company that developed the first digital suite for 5-side-football centers, which was acquired in July 2022. At ScorePlay, Tixier has been instrumental in creating innovative solutions for sports clubs, focusing on automating digital content management. The company specializes in centralizing, distributing, and monetizing media content for sports brands, offering a next-gen workspace for the next generation of fans. Under Tixier’s leadership, ScorePlay has grown to serve a global clientele, including working with more than 130 teams, leagues and competitions across different sports such as soccer, basketball, rugby, and even pickleball. The platform has been praised for its ease of use and the significant time savings it offers to communication and marketing teams of sports clubs.

Lisa Raggiri is a seasoned C-level executive that has been a part of some of the most successful exits in Tech for the past 15 years. She’s also held roles at Fortune 500 companies like Coty Inc. Lisa is currently CMO of FitXR the global market leader in virtual reality app development. Lisa oversees top line revenue growth, brand and product initiatives. The most recent partnership initiative was a joint partnership between FitXR and Zumba bringing the international dance sensation into the immersive world on Meta Quest 2 and 3. Lisa is the architect of FitXR’s “Movement for Movement” – the brand’s mission to champion the physical and mental well-being for the masses underserved by the traditional fitness industry. Lisa was named one of Inc Magazine’s Most Influential CMOs in 2023. Lisa serves on the Board of Directors of FairPlayProject.org a not for profit organization championing equity in women’s sports.

David Guinan is a digital executive with 25+ years of experience in digital and emerging media. He specializes in product development and leveraging emerging technologies to effectively engage new audiences. Throughout his career, David has successfully produced commercial work, branded content, and XR experiences for renowned brands such as Adidas, The Armory Show, English Premiere League, NBC, MTV, Sundance, IFC, and Paul McCartney.

David currently spearheads the product development of Rural Media Group’s Cowboy Channel + app and streaming service. Under his guidance, the platform achieved remarkable growth, generating over $14 million in revenue and attracting a subscriber base of over 100,000 in less than four years. He also led teams in creating XR products and experiences for notable clients, including Orion Health, UNMC, NET, and Standard Nutrition.

After studying Communications and Marketing, Antony worked in Advertising Agencies for many years as a Strategic Planner and later running his own agency. He noticed opportunities in the marketplace around a lack in tech-focussed content distribution platforms for immersive experiences and sought out to create one. Many years later, and with the help of some very talented people, Antony has led the creation of Aura and has begun commercialising it during COVID with success.

Julien Signes leads Synamedia’s Video Network business. One of the industry’s foremost experts on video processing, Julien advised emerging video technology businesses on financing and helped them scale globally before joining Synamedia in early 2019. He also provided advice to Atlantic Bridge, a global venture capital firm. Julien founded Envivio in 2000 and as CEO he led the company through private equity financing and a NASDAQ IPO to create the global leader in software-based video encoding. Ericsson acquired the business in 2015. While at France Telecom (now Orange) in the 1990s, Julien led the development of the MPEG-4 standard, resulting in multiple patents for MPEG-4 virtual reality and 3D graphics support.

Chris is in his second season with the Penguins and serves as their Chief Revenue Officer. He oversees corporate sales, ticket sales, non-game day events and the organizations relationship with their RSN, SportsNet Pittsburgh.
He has over 20 years of experience generating revenue in professional sports, and most recently was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships and Ticket Sales with the New York Mets. His career has also included previous stops at the Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB), Atlanta Hawks (NBA)/Atlanta Thrashers (NHL), Charlotte Hornets (NBA) and the Carolina Panthers (NFL).

Rodrigo is the Director of Product Management at Irdeto. Rodrigo joined Irdeto in 2012 as Multi-DRM and Billing Gateway product manager. Prior to that, he worked for over 14 years in the telecom industry in different roles, including OSS Sales Manager responsible for the Vodafone Global account at Nokia Networks and Operations Manager at T-Mobile.

In 2021 JB joined VersusGame as President of Business and Corporate Development, JB became the first BD hire for the sixth time in his 25 year career where he has focused on creating partnerships to grow on and off platform audiences and transaction volume at media tech and fintech companies. ·

At VersusGame, JB leads global commercial team whose mission is to deliver easy to use AI-produced and self-service technology to its customers and partners for the purpose of creating new digital revenue streams, audience development and fan engagement solutions with a sector focus of online publishers, streaming platforms and sports & entertainment brands.

Steve has over 15 years’ experience in the CDN industry and is a customer obsessed Product Management and Product Strategy professional. Prior to joining Netskrt, Steve was responsible for Product Management and Product Strategy at Limelight Networks, a global CDN. Steve has extensive experience in the CDN and media distribution industries spanning video workflows from field encoding to global CDN operations and solution engineering for Broadcast, Media & Entertainment and Enterprise markets. Steve has overseen the successful growth of streaming media and digital content distribution product and services portfolios and has also designed new service offerings, most recently in Edge Compute and Ultra-Low Latency streaming.

Lou Goetzman is the Director of Network Engineering and Operations at Greenlight Networks, a broadband Fiber to the Home service provider delivering high speed internet to residential and small business customers in New York State. With over 20 years’ experience as a network engineer, Lou has a depth of knowledge in designing, deploying and managing network infrastructure as well as troubleshooting critical network and system issues. Prior to Greenlight, Lou led technical support teams at Time Warner Cable.

Maria Gigante is the Vice President of UK Operations for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Previously worked 28 years for the National Football League in various roles and left the League from her position as Vice President of Events based in London, in 2022.

Maria started her career in American football in December 1993 as a receptionist for NFL Properties based at NFL headquarters in New York City. Her journey with the League office developed over 28 years working across different departments gaining experience delivering events and working with the Consumer Products division, finally joining the Events team permanently where she worked on 20+ Super Bowls, 10+ Pro Bowls and other big-League events.

During her time on the events team, Maria was asked to manage a trade show activation in Monaco, which proved pivotal, as following this Maria spent a large portion of her career with the NFL producing international events such as pre-season games in Tokyo, World Bowl championship games in Germany, and the League’s first ever regular season game outside of the United States that was played in Mexico City at the Azteca Stadium in 2005.

Maria’s core responsibilities delivering games in international markets was to ensure football teams could seamlessly prepare and operate overseas, while ensuring the events that happened around the games were successful, profitable, and built brand awareness and a strong, avid fan base for the League. Maria led the ground-breaking work with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in building the first ‘fit for purpose’ NFL stadium outside the US and securing a multi-year partnership to play regular season games in London through 2029.
Maria moved on to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022 as Vice President of UK Operations. The Jaguars are the only sports franchise operating ‘home’ games outside of their home city. Maria oversees this operation and the team’s partnership with Wembley Stadium. Maria is also responsible for the Jaguars overall business in the UK and Ireland, which includes an extensive grass roots flag football delivery program, a charitable Foundation, and building the team’s profile 365 days a year, by developing marketing and promotional strategies with the aim of continual growth across all Jaguars UK specific owned channels, and the Union Jax fan database.

Maria moved to the UK in 2014 when the League started playing multiple games at Wembley Stadium and continues to call the UK her home, spending regular time in Jacksonville with club’s senior leadership team.

Entrepreneur, Co-Founder and CEO of Videocites, a high-end technological startup that developed a novel, video-based search engine to help track, claim, analyze and monetize all video distribution throughout the web for content owners, publishers, and advertisers.

Jessica Hensley is the Associate Director, Strategic Insights at the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and oversees the strategy and utilization of data across the organization. She joined back in 2019 as a data analyst and has since helped drive the USOPC to work towards becoming a data-informed organization. Prior to joining the USOPC, she received her Masters in Statistics from Florida State University and interned with ESPN and the Charlotte Hornets. A native of Vero Beach, FL, Jessica attended Emory & Henry College where she received a degree in mathematics while captaining the varsity swim team.

As the Executive Director of Events & Business Development at Explore Edmonton, Janelle passionately shapes the city’s narrative through attracting major sport, cultural, and business events. Janelle’s love for the city is the driving force behind attracting events that showcase Edmonton’s story to the world, strengthen its social prosperity, and build its economic resilience. It is her mission to help transform Edmonton for the better – one event at a time.

Janelle holds her Bachelor of Commerce as an Academic All-Canadian while playing varsity soccer and earned her MBA in 2021 along with securing a coveted spot in Edify’s prestigious Top 40 Under 40 list that same year. While Janelle is a dedicated city builder, her greatest passion in life is being a mother of two young boys.

Tom Höglund is the founding team member and Chief Business Development Officer at Epidemic Sound. Among others, Tom developed Epidemic Sound’s innovative digital rights model that paved the way for the company’s success and he also led strategic partnerships at Epidemic Sound, resulting in partnerships with companies like Canva and Adobe.

Brittany Gropp has over a decade of partnerships and business development experience across both the private and social sectors in the US and Spain. Originally from the Washington, DC Metro Area, she made Seville, Spain her home in 2016. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities for girls and women on the football pitch in Seville, she founded her award-winning nonprofit in 2019, FutboLISTAS, whose mission is to teach girls English and life skills through football and mentorship. In August 2023, Brittany began a new full-time role as Partner Development Manager at Adrenali.ne, which aims to transform sponsorship in European football via geo-targeted advertising technology and its new revolutionary platform. Brittany is passionate about leveraging partnerships to create impact.

At ClashTV, Jonathan leads vision, mission, and operations for the interactive live streaming platform focused on high-passion sports and the creator ecosystem that powers the intersection of content, culture, and commerce. Under Jonathan’s leadership in 2023, the ClashTV platform saw 420% user growth year-over-year, and social media impressions and digital video views grew 17X and 23X respectively. Anastas also moved the company into its post-revenue stage, bringing aboard Amazon Music, AND1 and Kargo as advertising and sponsorship partners.

Robert Occhialini is the Chief Technology Officer at the World Surf League, where he spearheads the integration of cutting-edge technology to enhance the sport’s global presence. With a profound expertise in digital innovation, Occhialini plays a pivotal role in developing advanced surfing platforms, elevating viewer experience, and promoting sustainable practices within the surfing community. His leadership and vision continue to drive the evolution of surfing in the digital era.

William Mao is Senior Vice President of Octagon’s Global Media Rights Consulting division. Leveraging IPG and Octagon proprietary data, research, and technology, he advises rightsholders, distribution platforms, technology companies, and the investment community within the sports broadcast space.

Kenneth Fuchs runs the sports betting business as well as overall digital operations for Caesars. Prior to Caesars acquisition of William Hill PLC, Kenneth acted as President of Digital at William Hill US, overseeing all digital operations, strategy, marketing and other functions. Earlier roles include CEO of STATS LLC, overseeing a global 700+ employee business with clients including Google, Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft, Amazon, ESPN, Fox, and several hundred professional sports teams and leagues. Kenneth also held senior roles at Yahoo, Time Inc. and Newscorp with significant P/L, cross-functional executive leadership, BD, and product management responsibility.

I have twenty years of international experience running media properties extending from television networks to digital offerings to social platforms. I have spent the past eight years working on the transition of YouTube from its early phase to bringing some of the biggest media properties and brand advertisers onto the platform.

At Ampere Analysis Ben has formed a core part of the company’s sports team, leading on programmatic data collection and insights, and researching sports rights deals and broadcast partnerships for competitions globally. Having completed a BSc in mathematics from the University of Southampton, Ben joined Ampere as an Analyst in 2020; in his four years at the research firm, Ben has been a key component in the launch of Ampere’s sports products, authored a number of analytical reports and supported on several major consultancy projects, working closely with key clients in the sports industry.

Chris Lamontagne is the SVP, Platform at Fanatics Live, part of the Fanatics digital sports platform which is focused on transforming the digital shopping experience through personality and community-driven live commerce.

Previous to joining Fanatics Live in May 2023, Chris held the position of CEO at Spring, the world’s largest creator commerce platform, where he led the way for the company having successfully formed innovative and exclusive social commerce partnerships with YouTube, Twitch, TikTok and Instagram.

An entrepreneur at heart, Chris’ +15 years of experience in technology, commerce and the creator space, positions him as an industry expert on all things e-commerce, social commerce and the creator economy.

Gonzalo Zarza is Chief Data Officer (CDO) at Sportian, the new Joint Venture between Globant and LALIGA to lead the reinvention of the sports and entertainment industry at a global scale. Previously, he served as Data & AI Studio Partner (Global Head) in Globant, leading a global team of 1100+ highly skilled professionals with a strong emphasis on data engineering and strategy, located in North America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Gonzalo has a proven track record as a researcher and contributor to the fields of fault tolerance and high performance computing, he holds a PhD in High-Performance Computing awarded by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and is a tenured Full Professor at UADE Business School and the Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA).

John Turner is a seasoned media executive and strategist with a record of growing revenue and engagement. He currently serves as Vice President of Content at FloSports, where he leads a team of writers, editors, video producers and social media specialists. He previously held roles as Director of Business Development at USA Today Sports Media Group and Executive Editor at Sporting News. John lives in Charlotte, NC, with his wife and two sons.

Harry Hardy is the Chief Commercial Officer of Major League Rugby. In his current role he has oversight of all commercial functions of the only professional rugby league in North America including sponsorships, marketing, media and their OTT platform The Rugby Network. Prior to this role Harry was Executive Vice President of Business Operations at Major League Soccer club D.C. United and prior to that had a ten year stint as Senior Vice President at sports agency Octagon.

Nick is the CEO of SportsPro Media, the leading publisher and conference business covering the business of sports. Nick joined SportsPro in 2010, and helped develop it into a diversified media company producing more than 11 million views across it’s media channels, and delivering events in 5 countries annually.

Nick is also the host of the StreamTime Podcast, the weekly show interviewing the worlds leading figures in streaming and digital in sports. Nick also serves as the Senior Independent Director for British Volleyball, the governing body responsible for the development of elite pathways for all disciplines of the sport.

Scott Young is the co-founder of Transmit. He has been active in video technology for over a decade with a proven track record of product innovation and early stage startup growth. Prior to founding Transmit.Live, Young built revenue and product operations for SET media, which was acquired by Conversant/ Epsilon in 2014. Prior to that, he ledvideo solutions at Alloy, and video ad platform YuMe prior to a 2013 IPO, and was a key growth driver for CBS Interactive as they launched streaming on demand.

Urs Aebischer is the CEO at Diseo, a decentralized ecosystem of interconnected social platforms of brands and organizations where users exclusively control their data and earn from it. Urs is also the co-founder and CEO at Swiss Impulse Group, which focuses on disruptive digital media. He has a background in Physics.

Urs has always been one to search out new ideas. Back in 1995, when he was getting his PhD in Atmospheric Physics at the ETH, he was one of the first people to have an email address. In today’s world of ubiquitous social media networks, Urs (as well as many others) has identified a problem: people’s data is being harvested, used and monetized by third parties, without people ever receiving any sort of compensation for the value they provide. Urs does not believe we can legislate our way out of this; the social dilemma requires a solution built from the ground up.

Jean Macher is Senior Director, Global SaaS Solutions at Harmonic where he drives the marketing efforts for the company’s SaaS portfolio. Macher brings to Harmonic a wealth of expertise in cloud video and U.S. TV ecosystems, stemming from more than 20 years of experience in solutions and product management, working closely with media companies on the latest streaming innovations. Macher holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Institut Supérieur d’Électronique in Paris.

Patrick Crakes has served in various senior executive media roles during the course of his career including several at FOX Sports. During the last six years of his 23-year tenure there he was SVP, Programming, Research and Content Strategy responsible for strategic programming decisions across multiple sports networks and platforms including FOX, FS1, FS2, and FOX Deportes.

Noah Coslov is a media executive who most recently launched Golf Nation, a shoppable video channel centered on golf lifestyle entertainment. He is also a leading broadcast coach, guiding current and former athletes, plus reporters, on their day-to-day media endeavors. For nearly 20 years Noah served as a play-by-play announcer, anchor and reporter for various professional leagues, teams and national networks. He also created the original programming arm of CineSport, a syndicated video network for major newspaper websites. For the past 4 years, he and his now 9-year-old daughter have co-hosted The Follow Up podcast where they record a weekly conversation on a topic of her choice. Noah was born in Philadelphia, graduated from Boston University in 2004 and lives in New York City.

A pioneer building world class fan facing platforms in Sports and Live Entertainment, for teams, leagues and venues for over 25 years.

Brings 24 years of media, content, business intelligence, sponsorship, technology and marketing experience from working with some of the biggest and most progressive sports organizations in the world including the NFL, NBA, MLS, MLB, NHL and now the Canadian Hockey League.

Susan A. Grossweiler is the Vice President of Products and Operations for HAVRION, focused on data-driven action & activations to deliver outcomes to provide protection and performance solutions in schools, stadiums and public spaces. Susan has a history in design concept, crew, and services scheduling, product forecasting, on-site management, budgeting, event planning, and project management, complementing her background of over 20 years in sales & marketing.

Alfonso U Santos, with over 7 years of expertise in the technology sector, specializes in leveraging technology to enhance Fan Engagement within stadiums. With a keen focus on understanding fan needs on MatchDay and beyond, he delves into pre and post-event fan experiences through meticulous data analytics. Currently serving as Head Of Identity at Veridas, Alfonso specializes in leveraging identity tech to enhance fan engagement, enrich the Fan Experience, and develop revenue, ops, and marketing strategies through data analytics and Know Your Fan initiatives. His contributions mark him as a pivotal figure in reshaping the landscape of sports and technology.

Kevin Parks is a senior media technology executive with over 20 years of experience developing and deploying solutions for major media companies including Comcast, Disney, Viacom, and others. Parks leads the Zixi Field Engineering team as part of Zixi’s Customer Success organization that maintains best-in-class service for Zixi customers. Prior to joining Zixi, Parks lead sales engineering teams at Comcast Technology Solutions, at Disney Streaming Services, and at Vubiquity

Miguel Angel Garcia, with over fifteen years of experience in broadcasting and television production, boasts extensive expertise in television and video projects. Renowned for effectively managing, coordinating, directing, producing, and executing sports and news broadcasts, he excels in engaging viewers and enhancing ratings

Julie Stewart-Binks is a prominent Canadian sports journalist, known for her extensive work covering major sporting events and leagues for networks such as ESPN and Fox Sports. Born on April 30, 1987, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, she has built a notable career in sports journalism, highlighted by her in-depth coverage and engaging broadcasting style.

Oscar Fernandez is the Interim CTO at the NY Mets, Oscar is responsible for all fan engagement technology solutions in the venue as well as technology infrastructure and corporate solutions for all business departments at the Mets. He played a leadership role in the broader team that led the Digital Display Transformation and Control Room projects at Citi Field that launched for the 2023 season and continues on for next season. Oscar is also responsible for the technology based Data and Analytics team at the Mets running a center of excellence responsible for business analysis, data science, market research and data visualization.

J.R. McCabe joined Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2020 as Chief Business Officer, Consumer Products. In this newly created role, McCabe is proving the tremendous growth potential of the convergence of media, sports, and gaming.

Rick Allen is a co-founder and CEO of ViewLift. With over 30 years of experience in the sports, entertainment and digital industries, Allen has overseen a number of the largest media companies, including Sporting News and National Geographic, including the launch of the National Geographic channels. In addition to his work in the streaming space, he has authored two bestselling books and produced three award-winning films.

Scott Levine is the Chief Product Officer for Brightcove, the world’s most trusted video streaming technology company. Reporting directly to the CEO, Levine oversees all product management and the engineering organization. In his role, he is responsible for setting the product vision and redefining the product roadmap for the organization. His work at Brightcove has been critical to the success of the company’s product quality and velocity. Promoted from senior vice president and head of product, Levine works closely with the company’s various departments, including data, research, marketing, and design teams to continually innovate the platform’s product and solution offerings and contribute to go-to-market strategies and partnerships that support the company’s prospects, customers and partners.

Stuart Goldfarb is a Partner in our Corporate M&A practice group. With more than 20 years of experience representing and advising clients, Stuart has focused his practice on the sports, media, and entertainment industries.

Stuart is currently serving as General Counsel to T20 World Cup USA Inc., the local organizing body for the United States matches of the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup, 2024 to be held in New York, Florida and Texas this coming June.

Chad Evans oversees the group responsible for creating advanced technological features that elevate the fan experience for the NBA’s owned and operated properties, including the NBA App, NBA.com and NBA League Pass. Since joining the NBA in 2020, Evans has launched the NBA’s Next Gen technology platform powering the new NBA App and streaming services on mobile, desktop, connected TV and XR devices. He also now plays an integral role in the league’s AI research and development efforts.

Don Szczepaniak serves as Vice President of Service Delivery for Samsung Electronics Display Division, where he overseas the execution of large-scale turnkey LED display installations in major Sports and Entertainment facilities.

Previously, he was President and CEO for Prismview, a Samsung Electronics Company located in Logan Utah. Prismview manufactured and offered a full range of indoor and outdoor LED display products. Don was charged with rapidly growing the company’s LED business, and fully integrating it under Samsung’s Display organization. He successfully completed that integration in July 2021.

As Vice President of Los Angeles Football Club’s Business & Data Strategy team, Mike Manella oversees data management, reporting and analyses, consumer insights, and strategic recommendations across the Club and BMO Stadium. Mike began his sports career with the Major League Soccer Players Association before joining LAFC in 2015 soon after the founding of the Club. At LAFC he has supported the development of the academy, partnership measurement process, and consulting services. Mike attended Brown University (‘12) as a member of the men’s soccer program and earned his Master’s in Sports Management from Columbia University (‘17).

Brendan Bryant joined the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) in 2019 and currently serves as the Director of Digital Product, focusing on the digital fan experience and digital strategy. Brendan brings over 10 years of consumer-first product experience in sports, journalism, and entertainment

Neal Hubman is a co-founder and the president of Los Angeles Golf Club. Before joining LAGC, Hubman held multiple executive leadership roles at Reddit, most recently as VP of Global Client Solutions.

As a founding member of Reddit’s revenue discipline, Hubman helped design the playbook that’s widely used today by brands to authentically engage with online communities.

A California native and former athlete himself, Neals’ ambition is to find meaningful connections between sports and local communities, bringing about positive change for the future of athletics.

A proven innovator with two decades of experience in sports production with a track record of leading teams and delivering both large productions to an audience of millions. In his role as SVP of Worldwide Production at LIV Golf James has helped reshape how the sport is covered, heading up the production of one of the sport’s biggest innovators and disruptors.

Hannah Taylor is a Communications Strategist with The Lippin Group – a leading communications consultancy specializing in entertainment, media and technology – having recently made the jump to PR and communications after eight years in sports journalism and media. Previously, she was the Senior Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports and a Managing Editor at The Athletic, where she helped launch their WNBA and Women’s College Basketball verticals in 2019. Hannah started her career as a Sports Reporter and Producer at the New York Post.

Robert Auritt is a trusted strategic advisor and outside general counsel with over 25 years of experience providing practical legal solutions to a wide array of clients across the technology, entertainment, creative, and sports industries. In 2023 Rob was named as one of 25 New York Entertainment “Power Lawyers” by The Hollywood Reporter.

Rob’s time working inside of major music, media, and sports organizations and supporting artists, entrepreneurs, and start-ups fuels the insightful advice he provides to his clients. Rob is passionate about helping his clients navigate both “routine” and cutting-edge business and legal issues, including those emerging out of the AI, XR, Web3, NFT, and metaverse spaces.

Rob previously served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel to Comcast Spectacor, where he worked across the company’s deep portfolio of professional sports, esports, event, and venue industry holdings, including the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Philadelphia Fusion of the Overwatch League, and the Spectra-branded venue management, food services, sports partnerships, and ticketing companies.

Rob was also the lead digital media lawyer for NBC Sports, where he helmed legal negotiations on important agreements with organizations like the NFL, Yahoo Sports, and Twitter. In addition, Rob oversaw the legal needs of the NBC/Comcast Regional Sports Network web and mobile platforms and worked on all manner of issues related to the traditional TV sports business. Prior to that Rob was a member of the intellectual property group at Pepper Hamilton (now Trautman Pepper) and spent nearly 5 years at the Harry Fox Agency, Inc., the primary agent on behalf of the mechanical reproduction rights of music publishers in the United States.

In addition to his professional endeavors, Rob is deeply involved in community work and has held leadership roles at a variety of organizations, both locally and internationally.

Zachary Leonsis is President of Media & New Enterprises for Monumental Sports & Entertainment (Monumental), a fully-integrated sports, entertainment, media and technology platform located in the heart of the “DMV” in downtown Washington, DC.

Monumental is best known for its fan-facing brands including the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the NBA 2K League’s Wizards District Gaming, the G League’s Capital City Go-Go, esports juggernaut Team Liquid, Capital One Arena, and Monumental Sports Network. Monumental also operates four additional venues including Eaglebank Arena, Medstar Capitals Iceplex, Medstar Health Performance Center, and District E.

Amanda is the USGA’s Managing Director of Broadcast, Digital Media and Ticketing and oversees the organization’s global media business including domestic and international broadcast/streaming rights, the USGA app and website(s), data and content licensing, new business, and innovation. Amanda also leads the Admissions team where her focus is on revenue generation, go-to-market strategy, ticket/credential operations and the overall fan experience for the U.S. Open and the USGA’s other ticketed championships. Before her time at the USGA, Amanda worked in marketing at Modell’s Sporting Goods HQ, global merchandising at the National Basketball Association and on the advertising side at The Golf Digest Companies.

An accomplished digital media executive with highly developed skills in the areas required to drive revenue growth including product, business development, ad sales, marketing, and general strategy.