50+ sessions, 80 thought leaders, 1000's of your peers
The significant disruption to the sports industry during 2020 has caused a swift adoption of remote broadcast technology, a re-examining of live rights’ values and redesigned commercial strategies. As ever, the epicentre of all this rapid change is the American market.
Analyzing the use of data to engage the fans and keep subscribing to your content, the OTT Summit USA 2021 focused on three main themes – strategy, content, and technology.
2021 headliners included

Grant Best
SVP, Original Programming & Content Development
DAZN
Grant Best is a BAFTA and Sports EMMY winning TV producer and director. At DAZN, he is responsible for driving the global sport destination’s original content strategy which includes; ‘The Making Of’ featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Jose Mourinho, Neymar Jr, Marc Marquez and Anthony Joshua, ‘One Night: Joshua vs. Ruiz’, ‘Parallel Worlds’ and most recently ‘Club Ibiza: The Sessions’. Specialising in premium sport content, Grant produced the critically acclaimed documentary ‘Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad’ which was awarded the BAFTA for Best Single Documentary in 2018. He joined DAZN following hugely successful stints at BT Sport, ESPN and Sky Sports.

TJ Adeshola
Head of U.S. Sports
TJ leads all U.S. Sports Partnerships at Twitter, after spending the previous few years managing Twitter’s partnerships with major U.S. sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA, and MLB. He is responsible for helping Twitter’s sports partners amplify their global content strategies. TJ has been recognized for his diverse experience and expertise on sports trends across the industry and digital landscape. He is recognized as an authority on digital sports media, with appearances on ESPN, NBA TV, and in the Washington Post. Before joining Twitter in 2012, TJ worked on digital sales and marketing at ESPN where he supported the company’s digital properties, including ESPN.com and WatchESPN. TJ is the chair of Blackbirds (@Blackbirds), Twitter’s employee resource group that celebrates and encourages diverse perspectives, and also a member of Minorities in Sports (MIS). He is also passionate about serving community programs supporting underrepresented youth, including DreamWakers and Harlem R.B.I. TJ is a graduate of the University of Georgia. Follow him on Twitter at @tjay.

David Gandler
Co-founder & CEO
fuboTV
David Gandler is co-founder and CEO of fuboTV, the live TV streaming platform that is transforming how people watch sports, news and entertainment. Under David’s leadership, fuboTV has quickly evolved into a leading virtual MVPD with a focus on innovation.
fuboTV launched in 2015 as a streaming soccer service and today is a sports-first cable TV replacement for the entire family. The company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “FUBO” in October 2020.
Popular with cord-cutters, fuboTV is consistently first to market across a number of areas including product and technology (“firsts” include 4K streams, Multiview on Apple TV and live TV recommendations), advertising (launched dynamic ad insertion in January 2018 ahead of most competitors) and content (distribution agreements with 100+ channels and 770+ local network stations in 99% of the U.S.; its own fubo Sports Network with original programming). Forbes named fuboTV to its Next Billion-Dollar Startups list in 2019.
Prior to founding fuboTV, David had a prolific advertising career with more than 15 years of video sales in local broadcast and cable TV within both the general and Hispanic market, including at Scripps Networks Interactive, Time Warner Cable Media Sales and NBCUniversal’s Telemundo Media.
David has been named among Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs (2019), Variety’s Dealmakers (2020, 2019) and Broadcasting & Cable’s Power 100 (2017). He is frequently quoted in major publications and has been a featured speaker at leading industry and banking conferences.

Jessica Berman
Deputy Commissioner & EVP, Business Affairs
National Lacrosse League
Jessica C. Berman is Deputy Commissioner and Executive Vice President of Business Affairs at the National Lacrosse League where she provides strategic direction on all growth initiatives and legal matters facing the NLL. Among her areas of responsibility, Berman oversees human resources, team services, marketing and communications, lacrosse operations, community engagement and the governance of the League. When hired in 2019, she became and continues to be the first female Deputy Commissioner of a men’s professional sports league.
She previously served as VP, Community Development, Culture & Growth at the NHL, and was Executive Director of the NHL Foundation.

Nicolina O’Rorke
SVP, NBC Sports Entertainment & GM, Sports Betting and Gaming
NBC Sports Group
Nicolina O’Rorke was named Senior Vice President, NBC Sports Enterprises and General Manager, Sports Betting and Gaming, NBC Sports Group, in October 2020. She is responsible for the day-to-day sports betting operations for NBC Sports Group, including Rotoworld and the NBC Sports Predictor app, and develops and executes the division’s betting strategy. O’Rorke was named SVP, NBC Sports Enterprises, in December 2019, which is comprised of the division’s new business initiatives, including sports betting, audio and esports. During that time, she led the team working on the deal that established PointsBet as the official sports betting partner of NBC Sports Group.
Prior to her current role, O’Rorke also served as Chief Financial Officer, NBC Sports Regional Networks, since July 2015. The NBC Sports Regional Networks are comprised of nine regional sports networks in top markets across the country. During that time, she was an integral leader on the RSN management team and served as a board member at five of the RSNs, which are joint ventures with team owners from the NBA, MLB and NHL.
O’Rorke joined NBC Sports from NBC News where she served in a variety of senior finance roles since 2009, most recently as Chief Financial Officer, NBC News from 2013 – 2015. There she oversaw finance for all NBC News broadcasts and platforms and was a key member of the leadership team. Prior to joining the News Group, O’Rorke served in various finance positions within the NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group, most notably working on the acquisition and integration of Oxygen Media. In 2010, she completed General Electric’s Experienced Financial Leadership Program. O’Rorke began her career in investment banking at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (ultimately acquired by Credit Suisse First Boston).
O’Rorke co-leads the NBC Sports Group Women’s Network @ NBCUniversal, an employee resource group dedicated to fostering women’s professional and personal development within the company. In 2019, she was named a Game Changer by SportsBusiness Journal, was named one of CableFAX’s Most Influential Minorities in Cable.
O’Rorke graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and received her MBA from Columbia University. She resides in Larchmont, N.Y., with her husband and their two sons.

Chris Marinak
Chief Operations & Strategy Officer
MLB
Chris leads Strategy, Technology, and Operations for Major League Baseball. In that role, he is responsible for managing MLB’s technology organization including all on-field baseball systems such as Statcast and Instant Replay and digital consumer products including MLB.tv and At Bat. Chris also leads departments focused on digital content and fan engagement including Marketing and Social Media, Web Content, Special Events, and Design Services.
He is also responsible for MLB’s Strategy and Analytics functions working across all MLB business operations and growing the game on the field with MLB’s Competition Committee.
The former pitcher and team captain at the University of Virginia attended Harvard Business School. Chris is a member of the SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 Hall of Fame as a three-time award recipient.

Keith Wachtel
SEVP & Chief Business Officer
NHL
As Chief Revenue Officer, Wachtel leads the NHL’s global corporate sponsorship as well as digital and NHL Network advertising sales efforts. Since 2007, Wachtel has consistently delivered tangible results that not only have had a direct positive effect on the League’s fiscal health, but also have elevated the NHL brand to business partners and fans alike.
With the development of new and exciting League assets such as the NHL Winter Classic, NHL Stadium Series, NHL Heritage Classic, NHL All-Star, NHL Awards and NHL Face-Off, Wachtel and his team are challenged with a significantly increased amount of inventory to sell. Wachtel not only rose to this challenge by supporting these newly created assets, but has developed a more creative approach to sales by aggregating inventory across businesses units such as licensing, sponsorship, events, wireless, new media and NHL Clubs.
Since arriving at the NHL, Wachtel has driven more than $500 million to the League and an additional $800 million to NHL Clubs and broadcast rightsholders through new NHL partnerships, including MillerCoors, Molson, Scotiabank, Honda, Bridgestone, Visa, Discover, Canadian Tire, Tim Hortons and Enterprise, while successfully completing renewals with long-term partners. The tremendous success of the U.S. partnership business helped in securing broadcast agreements with NBC/Comcast in the U.S. and Rogers in Canada. As part of these agreements, Wachtel spearheaded North American digital sales partnerships with NBC Sports and Rogers for all NHL.com, NHL Network and NHL Mobile ad sales to non-League partners.

Eric Conrad
EVP, Sports Programming & Acquisitions
TUDN
Eric Conrad serves as the Executive Vice President of Sports Programming and Acquisitions at Univision Communications Inc., the leading Hispanic media company in the U.S. In this capacity, Conrad oversees the content development, planning and acquisition strategy for sports across all Univision platforms, including TUDN, the 24/7 sports network launched in 2012 (as Univision Deportes Network). Conrad also served as GM, FIFA World Cup and FIFA Properties, and was responsible for the planning, operation and execution of Univision’s coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He reports directly to the President of Sports.
Conrad joined Univision in 2011 and played a key role developing the long term, multi-platform content strategy for Univision Deportes, and was instrumental to the successful launch of UDN. In his time at Univision, sports programming hours increased from 1,700 to over 10,000 hours yearly, and TUDN has become the most watched Spanish language sports network in the country. He has negotiated long term agreements with the premier soccer properties in the world, as well as other sports, including Major League Soccer and US Soccer, Concacaf, the Mexican National Team, LMX Clubs, UEFA Champions League, Bundesliga and the NFL. Prior to joining Univision, Conrad served as Senior Director, Programming for ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Earlier in his career, he served in multiple sales roles for both Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association.
Conrad was named to Sports Business Journal’s 2014 Class of “Forty under 40” and was similarly recognized by MultiChannel News as a “Top 40 under 40” in 2013. A native of Maryland, but of German and Peruvian descent, Conrad received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University, where he graduated with high honors. He currently resides in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife Katherine and three children.
Topics driving the discussions
Strategy
Outlining the best practices and business models that underpin the broadcast and OTT industry including rights valuation, monetization, and subscription development.
Content
Focusing on the rising consumption of original content and archival footage, as well as best practices for distribution and formats on social media platforms.
Technology
Exploring the tech currently helping to deliver content to scale, alongside the innovation that will provide the new standard for user experiences in sports consumption.