2022 Speakers

Regarded as the world’s premier point guard, Sue Bird is the WNBA’s All-Time Leader in Assists and known for being selfless, driven, encouraging and smart. Bird is a seasoned veteran and a born leader who has dominated at every level. She is one of only seven women to win an Olympic Gold Medal (she’s won four), a World Championship Gold Medal (she’s won four) an NCAA Championship (she’s won two), and a WNBA Championship (she’s won three). Sue is also a five-time Euroleague Champion, an eleven-time WNBA All-Star, was voted by the fans as one of the WNBA’s Top 15 Players of All Time and chosen by the league as a member of the WNBA’s Top 20 players.

Off the court, you can currently find Sue working as basketball operations associate for the Denver Nuggets or advocating for equality, health and wellness and expanding opportunities for girls.

Tina Shah is Executive Vice President and General Manager for Turner Sports. Shah is a primary day-to-day point of contact with league partners including the NBA, NCAA and MLB, and she is responsible for business strategy on behalf of the NBA Digital portfolio (consisting of NBA TV, the NBA App, NBA.com and NBA League Pass). She leads business affairs, business development, rights acquisitions and strategy functions for Turner Sports, along with the programming and data, analytics and insights teams. Shah also oversees business strategy and operations, products, marketing and analytics for Bleacher Report. She reports directly to Lenny Daniels, President of Turner Sports.

In June 2021, Burke Magnus was promoted to the new title of president, programming and original content.  A 26-year ESPN veteran, he previously served as executive vice president, programming acquisitions and scheduling since May 2015, adding oversight of ESPN’s relationship with BAMTech in June 2017 and of original content in November 2020.    

In making the announcement, Jimmy Pitaro, Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content said, “Burke is a talented leader and collaborative colleague who has been instrumental in guiding ESPN through what has undoubtedly been one of the most challenging and critical periods in our history.  He is an industry-leading programming strategist who continues to take on new challenges with his signature combination of relationship building and creativity.”  

Magnus is responsible for all programming and rights acquisition and scheduling, as well as ESPN and ESPN+ original content development and scheduling (including ESPN Films and 30 for 30 franchise). In his role, Magnus is responsible for rightsholder relationships, content strategy and cross-platform programming rights acquisition/scheduling on a global basis. He is a key driver of Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer priority, including ESPN+, through his team’s close collaboration with DMED (Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution).  

In late 2020 and 2021, he guided ESPN and The Walt Disney Company through one of its most active and notable sports rights acquisition periods. He helped drive new, cross-platform (linear, direct-to-consumer, digital, social, etc.) agreements and/or extensions with the NFL, MLB, NHL, SEC, LaLiga and more. Additionally, he led a programming team that collaborated with numerous league, conference and event partners to navigate the postponement, cancellation and rescheduling of thousands of events across ESPN platforms in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak.  

Previous agreements forged during Magnus’ time as executive vice president include the NBA, the Masters and PGA Championship, UFC, the German Bundesliga, and more. 

Magnus previously served as senior vice president, programming and acquisitions (January 2014 – May 2015), and senior vice president, college sports programming, since March 2008.   

For years, Magnus set the strategic direction of the company’s college sports content which included acquiring, scheduling and programming college football, college basketball and NCAA Championships across the ESPN networks. He played an integral role in securing long-term rights to the College Football Playoff, the Rose, Sugar and Orange Bowls, the NCAA and some of the nation’s top college athletics conferences, including the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.  

From November 2004 through March 2008, Magnus served as vice president and general manager of ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network. He guided all programming, production and operations and led the inter-departmental team responsible for the growth and development of the network and related multi-media initiatives. Under his direction, men’s college basketball ratings increased over multiple consecutive seasons and new initiatives such as Bracket Buster Saturday and College GameDay (basketball) were introduced.  

Magnus joined ESPN in 1995 as a program associate and in 1996 was promoted to program planner. In 1998, he advanced to program manager and later became director of brand management in 2000 (later changed to director, programming and acquisitions), primarily responsible for ESPN’s men’s college basketball programming and scheduling. From 2002-04, Magnus was a member of the ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE) team where he served as the project manager for several programs, including the biopic on the life of Dale Earnhardt entitled “3”, which was critically acclaimed and the second-highest rated movie of 2004 on ad-supported cable.   

Magnus has been named to the annual CableFax 100, which salutes the industry’s top power players and game changers, each year since 2018. He was honored with the National Football Foundation’s prestigious Legacy Award in 2013 for his support and leadership in promoting college football. In 2006, Magnus was also named to the distinguished Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40, honoring the most promising young executives in sports business under the age of 40.  

A native of Ridgewood, N.J., Magnus graduated from Holy Cross in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in history and then received his master’s degree in sport management from the University of Massachusetts in 1994. During this time, he also served as a programming intern for CBS Sports from 1993 to 1994. UMass awarded him the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the McCormack Department of Sport Management in 2011.  

Magnus is an active board member for a variety of organizations, including the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, and the McCormack Advisory Board for the Department of Sport Management at UMass. He is also on the Board of Advisors for the Allan “Bud” Selig Sports Law and Business program at the Arizona State University Law School, and he is part of the National Football Foundation Awards Committee, which annually selects the National Scholar-Athlete and Campbell Trophy recipients.

Stefanie Rapp is Bleacher Report’s Chief Revenue Officer. Prior to serving as CRO, Rapp led as the Senior Vice President of Revenue & Strategy, overseeing all aspects of the strategy, coordination and forecasting for the sales and strategy departments. In 2020, she was honored as one of Sports Business Journal’s Game Changers. Her work in driving revenue and devising new strategies for the brand has supported the company’s stance as the #1 most engaged sports media brand in the world.

Rapp focuses on building incremental revenue streams while overseeing the ongoing integration of B/R across Turner Sports, and WarnerMedia. Her appointment to CRO came on the heels of rapid growth for the division sparked by the addition of several portfolio brands, a more mature experiential events and e-commerce business, and massive audience engagement for the B/R app and social channels. She reports to President of Turner Sports, Lenny Daniels.

Mahi de Silva is a serial entrepreneur and currently, the CEO of TrillerNet, a first-of-its-kind company consolidating technology and content platforms to lead the move to Internet 3.0. Since 2016, Mahi serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Amplify.ai, the world leader in Conversational AI and the first and only enterprise-class AI-driven omni-channel messaging platform with over 500M users and over 10B, which was acquired in 2021 by TrillerNet. He began his career with Apple in 1989, and prior to founding Amplify.ai, he was a co-founder and CEO of AdMarvel Inc.

Carol Stiff serves as an advisor for FAST Studios’ Women’s Sports Network and is the president of Stiff Sports Media Consulting, LLC, where she consults with brands and companies looking to get behind women’s sports. She is a 30+ year veteran of ESPN and Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee credited with advancing the growth of women’s sports at the collegiate and professional level and was responsible for the acquisition and programming of a variety of sports including NCAA women’s basketball, various NCAA Men’s & Women’s championships, WNBA, and professional softball across multiple ESPN properties. Carol also served as Vice President of content integration for espnW, integrating women’s sports across ESPN platforms.

Mike Berkley is chief product officer of fuboTV, the sports-first live TV streaming platform that’s redefining the way cord cutters view live sports, news and entertainment. As CPO, Berkeley leads product strategy and development for fuboTV across platforms, including connected and smart TVs, mobile and web.

Chambers is the one-woman social producer and mixed-media journalist behind Bleacher Report’s HighlightHER, one of the fastest-growing women’s sports platforms. She serves up a steady dose of news, highlights, user-generated content and interviews hosted with popular female athletes and focused on women’s sports.

TJ leads all Global Content 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, and was recently named to Sports Business Journal’s 40 under 40.

As the Founder and CEO at Buzzer, Bo oversees the organization’s daily operations, product development, content licensing, and strategic business development & partnership efforts.

Bo led Twitter’s efforts in Global Live Sports Content Partnerships, and was responsible for driving partnerships with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and PGA as well as with broadcasters – ESPN, FOX, NBC and Turner.

Andrea Ekblad joined DAZN as Rights Director – Women’s Sports in 2021, lending her deep expertise in women’s football and media rights partnerships to the company’s historic UEFA Women’s Champions League deal. Building on DAZN’s long-time commitment and long-term mission of growing the women’s game, the landmark agreement has made the competition available to fans around the world for the first time and gives the sport and the elite players global visibility and universal exposure like never before. Andrea’s role focuses on ongoing collaboration between DAZN and UEFA, YouTube, and the Clubs to continuously grow and maximize this groundbreaking partnership, ensuring fans are brought closer to the game than ever before through an ever-increasing breadth and depth of coverage. In addition, Andrea helps drive and build the DAZN’s overall global women’s sports rights strategy, across both live and non-live content and opportunities.

Andrea’s entire career has been in the sports industry, having held a variety of roles previously at FIBA, the International Olympic Committee, and beIN SPORTS. Her passion for sports comes from a very young age, with most of her youth spent playing semi-professional basketball followed by a couple of seasons serving as central defender for the champions of the Hungarian Premier League (football). She is passionate about gender equality, sport activism, and positively impacting the growth of the women’s game.

Brian Lockhart currently serves as senior vice president of Original Content and ESPN Films. He is responsible for overseeing strategy and development of all original programming initiatives under the ESPN Films umbrella, as well as original series and studio shows on ESPN+, ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service. He previously served as vice president and executive producer of Original Content for ESPN+.

Prior to his role at ESPN, Brian was vice president and executive producer of Original Content for NFL Media. He was responsible for overseeing the development and production of a wide array of content on multiple platforms, from long-form documentary series to digital media ventures and features. His responsibilities also extended beyond storytelling to include production, business development, and strategic leadership across several divisions. Brian developed, produced, and launched the NFL Network Originals series Undrafted and Football Town, and the digital series NFL Life. He was also the driving creative force behind the development of the original NFL Network documentary series The Timeline, highlighted by the critically acclaimed installment “America’s Game” and “The Iran Hostage Crisis.”

He began his NFL tenure in 2007 as coordinating producer for the network’s Features group. There he helped construct and develop the short form unit that would grow to service multiple news, information/studio shows, and social platforms, and he steered the division’s embrace of digital storytelling outlets. Among the highlights of his tenure were digital/broadcast hybrid projects that earned him three of his eight career Emmy Awards: the groundbreaking multiplatform experience JFK: The Untold Story of That Day in Dallas and the digital series The NFL Season: A Biography. His impact on the NFL Media Group extended beyond the successful content itself. As one of the highest-ranking executives of color, he served as a member of the National Football League Diversity Council, and his work as co-chair of the Black Engagement Network earned him the 2018 Commissioner’s Award for Teamwork.

Prior to his NFL tenure, Brian spent six years as a features and replay producer for HBO Sports from 2001 to 2007. There he produced and developed nonfiction, news, and live event programs including Inside the NFL, World Championship Boxing and Costas Now. Among his notable productions from the field was Larry Merchant’s news-making interview with Nelson Mandela in Mozambique. While at HBO, Brian also oversaw the creative packaging of all HBO Sports content including World Championship Boxing, Sports of the 20th Century documentaries, and Inside the NFL.

Dating back to his first career production opportunities at ESPN (1996-1997) and ABC Sports (1997-2001), Brian has developed a consistent high level of production savvy, creative innovation, and thoughtful leadership. He began honing these qualities as the team captain for the basketball team at College of the Holy Cross, where he earned his B.A. in Mathematics in 1996. He has remained active in his alma mater as a member of the President’s Council, and alumni mentor.

Driven by frustration at not being able to follow the careers of her friends, former teams, and coaches after she retired from professional soccer, Haley Rosen founded Just Women’s Sports in 2020 to change the game for women’s sports coverage.

Today, Just Women’s Sports is the leading multimedia platform exclusively dedicated to women’s sports, providing fans with in-depth coverage, exclusive interviews, highlights and analysis through editorial content, live programming, podcasts, video series, a bi-weekly newsletter, and a first-of-its-kind live scoreboard dedicated to major women’s sports leagues.

Prior to founding Just Women’s Sports, Rosen worked at a tech startup in San Francisco where she combined her curiosity in the enterprise usage of virtual reality with her experience as a professional athlete.

Rosen was recognized as part of Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2022 and has been honored as one of Sports Business Journal’s New Voices Under 30.

Peter Hutton is Meta’s Director of Sports Partnerships. In this role, he runs sports activities worldwide for the organization.

Previously he was CEO at the biggest Asian, European and Indian sports broadcasters in ESPN/Star, Eurosport and Ten Sports.  He started his career as a journalist and commentator in the UK, but has worked worldwide on some of the biggest events in sports.

Peter Murray, a senior sports executive is the Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of the Professional Fighters League (PFL). Murray oversees all business strategy and operations, fighter roster, event management, production, content, and marketing for the mixed martial arts league.

The PFL is the first organization ever to present MMA in a true sport format with individual fighters competing in a Regular Season, Playoffs, and World Championship. PFL is distributed on ESPN and additionally on 160+ countries worldwide.

Before joining PFL, Murray served as VP Global Brand and Sports Marketing at Under Armour. In this role, he was responsible for category management of football, baseball, basketball, soccer, combat, and Olympic Sports. Prior to Under Armour, he was Co-Founder and CEO of Insignia Sports Agency and EVP Marketing & New Business at William Morris Endeavor. For the previous 13 years, Peter was also a senior executive at the National Football League, including roles as SVP of Business & Content Development, SVP of Global Brand Partnerships.

Ken is the Head of Sports for Caesars Entertainment – America’s largest casino-entertainment Company and one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers.

Ken oversees Caesars’ sports betting business, including digital business operations, expansion strategy, trading, and customer engagement.

Prior to Caesars acquisition of William Hill PLC, Ken was the President, Digital for William Hill US.

Ken has also served as the CEO of STATS LLC, the leading global sports data and analytics business and Ken joined STATS from Yahoo where he led its Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Entertainment group. Previously, Ken was an executive at Time Inc./Sports Illustrated and Newscorp.

In addition to his operating leadership roles, Ken has advised numerous PE and venture funds, partnered with management consulting firms, and worked with companies at various stages of growth.

Ken lives in Pacific Palisades, California with his wife Susan and three children.

Julia Polloreno is the Vice President of Content Production and Distribution for The IRONMAN Group. A 12-year veteran of the endurance sports media industry, she has held leadership roles across print, digital, and broadcast platforms. As the former Editor-in-Chief of Triathlete magazine, she guided the sport’s premier media brand through a successful redesign and into an expanded digital presence. Julia joined The IRONMAN Group in 2019, and manages all aspects of content production, from Emmy-nominated documentary projects to livestreamed broadcasts, creating new and innovative formats designed to showcase the inspiring stories of athletes. She is a graduate of Stanford University, where she earned a double B.A. in Communications and American History. An avid IRONMAN triathlete and gravel cyclist, she lives in Encinitas, California with her husband and two children.

Regina Breslin is the Head of Content Partnerships at Roku. Breslin leads the Domestic distribution and business development team that negotiates Roku’s third-party content distribution deals, sources content and advertising inventory for Roku’s first-party video and audio initiatives, maintains relationship with Roku’s content partners and helps them grow and scale their Roku applications.
This highly visible role has placed her front and center for many of the biggest streaming launch negotiations of the past several years. From Disney+, to Peacock, to HBO Max, to Discovery+, to Paramount+, Regina has helped the biggest media companies in the world successfully navigate their entrance into the streaming market with partnerships that not only drive strong growth for the streaming services but also enable Roku to benefit from the secular shifts to streaming that have remade today’s TV landscape.

Prior to joining Roku, Breslin was Vice President of Content Distribution at Univision Communications where she was responsible for negotiating affiliate distribution sales and licensing agreements as well as new media agreements for Univision NOW, the direct-to-consumer service. Prior to joining Univision, Breslin spent 16 years with the Walt Disney Company including roles in Affiliate Sales and Content Distribution, where she was responsible for negotiating complex distribution agreements across the Disney, ABC and ESPN portfolio of broadcast, kids and sports content.

Jennifer Dill is the Vice President of Gaming at Turner Sports. In this role, Dill oversees partnerships, operations and strategic planning for Turner Sports’ gaming division, including B/R Gaming and ELEAGUE, the esports and gaming entertainment brand.

Since the launch of ELEAGUE in 2016, Dill has played an integral role in coordinating the internal and external resources needed to drive its premium content initiatives and live events, including global syndication and distribution, finance, production, legal, marketing, digital products, sales, research, and talent. She helped fuel its growth by expanding its portfolio of key publisher partnerships brokering agreements with EA Sports, Xbox Game Studios, Nintendo, Psyonix and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and is a recognized industry expert on how to make these partnerships mutually beneficial from conception to execution.

Most recently she was tapped to lead business operations for B/R Gaming, Bleacher Report’s gaming vertical, as it solidifies its place as a leading digital media brand for Gen Z gamers.

Dill also has more than a decade of experience in media planning and strategy.

Jessica Robertson joined TOGETHXR in January 2020, where she serves as Chief Content Officer. In her role, she oversees all content initiatives, development and strategy, and helps drive partnerships and revenue initiatives. Prior to joining the company, she served as Head of Content at The Players’ Tribune, where she oversaw creative development and content strategy across all brand platforms. Previously, she’s built multiple brand channels at media companies including MTV and AOL, after beginning her career as a journalist at Rolling Stone. She’s also executive-produced a number of Emmy-nominated and award winning series. She was named a Cynopsis Top Woman in Digital in 2018.

Currently the VP Original Content at Twitch, Steven Flisler sits at the intersection of storytelling, technology, and competition-fueled entertainment. During his tenure at Twitch, Steve has been responsible for launching Twitch Rivals (Twitch’s first-party streamer v streamer competitive entertainment brand) and Twitch Gaming (Twitch’s gathering place for gaming conversation and culture) along with executive producing such live events as StreamAid, GlitchCon and NBCOlympics on Twitch. He oversees the vision and product strategy for Twitch’s Original Content portfolio along with creative and editorial oversight, esports and production operations, and technology development. Steve is dedicated to creating imaginative content experiences that transform the way streamers interact with their fans and build communities.

Prior to working in live streaming at Twitch, Steve spent 12 years working at NBCUniversal. At NBCU he oversaw all aspects of live production from his time leading the National Crew Desk & Field Production for the NBC News division to live entertainment and sports specials including the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and multiple Olympics on NBC. He also led production and business operations for NBC News’s long-form unit, Peacock Productions. There he produced programming including Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White for Shark Week, Nik Willaneda’s thrilling tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon Skywire Live, and Everest Avalanche Tragedy (formerly Everest Jump Live) all on Discovery Channel. Throughout his tenure at NBCU he earned two Emmys.

Steve earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering in Digital Media Design. While working full time at NBC, he pursued his MBA at NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Rajan Mehta is Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer at WWE. He is responsible for WWE’s Digital Products, which include the WWE Network & WWE.com. In addition, he provides oversight for their enterprise technology strategy & operations, including Cybersecurity, Big Data, & Information Technology.

Mehta joined WWE in 2013 as Vice President, Digital Technology and was promoted to Senior Vice President, Media Technology in 2015. Prior to joining WWE, Mehta was with NBC Universal where he held leadership roles with NBC Sports and served as the Chief Technology Officer for Dyle Mobile TV. Mehta has also held technology positions for General Electric, and Sitetrends, an east coast based internet company.

Mehta has been recognized with numerous industry awards including a 2008 Emmy Award for “Outstanding New Approaches in Sports Broadcasting,” for his work with NBC Olympics and a 2016 Webby Award for “Online Sports Channel,” for his work with the WWE Network.

Mehta resides in Connecticut, with his wife and two daughters.

Steve Byrd is head of sports content & partnerships, U.S. at Sportradar. A thirty-year veteran of the sports industry, Steve joined Sportradar’s U.S. operation as chief commercial officer in May 2015. After building out the U.S. sales team, Byrd transitioned into his current global role in May 2017.

This follows a stint during which he served as a consultant and advisory board member for a number of global digital sports firms. Previously, Byrd was co-chief operating officer at STATS, leading their growth and relationships with leagues, federations, broadcasters, brands, and technology firms for nearly two decades.

Byrd is a founding board member of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association and serves as an executive-in-residence for his alma mater, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Amy Anderson joined NASCAR in April 2021 as Managing Director, Head of Content Strategy. She leads a team of creators and programmers, developing a comprehensive content strategy for NASCAR Digital Media, Productions and Industry Services. Her role is vital to supporting internal and external partners with new content offerings, league-wide initiatives and revenue opportunities while engaging existing fans and attracting new ones on NASCAR platforms. Amy brings 19 years of experience at FOX Sports across partnerships, marketing, brand strategy, digital media and creative development, having most recently served as Vice President of Ad Sales Strategy at FOX Sports Content Studio.

As the NHL’s Senior Vice President of International Strategy, Jaka Lednik is responsible for the development and implementation of the NHL’s strategy in Europe. Since joining the NHL in 2017, Lednik has been instrumental in the introduction of new NHL initiatives in Europe designed to expand the NHL’s footprint abroad and super-serve fans worldwide.

One of these new initiatives includes the NHL Global Fan Tour, an interactive fan experience and touring tribute to the NHL. In its first two years, the Fan Tour visited 12 cities in three countries in Europe. The fan experience pays tribute to extraordinary players, championship teams and the Stanley Cup with an innovative museum that includes original video content as well as interactive content.

For the fourth straight season, Lednik leveraged the NHL’s relationships with its international broadcast partners to deliver games live in primetime every weekend throughout the 2021-22 season to fans in more than 24 countries and territories across Europe. Presented by SAP, NHL Saturday and NHL Sunday (previously NHL European Game of the Week™) provides a destination viewing experience for loyal NHL fans across Europe.

Prior to joining the NHL, Lednik served as a Principal at The Boston Consulting Group in London, United Kingdom, where he advised leading national and international financial services, insurance and sports organizations on their key strategic and operational issues.

While in London, Lednik was part of the London Organizing Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games. In the lead-up to the Games, he was responsible for identifying and monetizing new revenue opportunities. During the Games, Lednik was the lead representative for the Commercial Function at the Main Operations Centre, the ‘control room’ for the Games, and coordinated the approach and response to live games issues across ticketing, sponsorship and merchandising. One of his key roles was managing the venue-by-venue operational response to empty seats across both the Olympics and Paralympics.

Throughout his career, Lednik has been involved with nonprofit organizations that have are committed to service, education and volunteerism. He was a trustee and board member for the ABCTT, a charity that aims to introduce young people to climbing.

Lednik earned a first class master’s degree in Chemistry from Oxford University in the UK. He is fluent in German and Slovene and is conversational in French.

Lednik also has an MBA from Harvard Business School. During his time in Boston, Lednik supported the Boston Celtics in sponsorship sales, focusing on the NBA team’s digital assets as well as innovative new business ideas.

Amanda Weiner, Senior Director of Digital Media, joined the USGA in August 2011. In her position, she oversees all consumer-facing products including the suite of U.S. Open digital products, the U.S. Women’s Open app the organizations enterprise website usga.org, YouTube and connected TV apps for Roku and Apple TV.  Her team is focused on delivering the championship fan experience both on- and off-site, including video displays, wi-fi infrastructure and integration of the organizations new digital ticketing platform, AXS.  Outside of championship related duties, Amanda manages the USGA’s relationship with Topgolf to put on premier virtual golf events, ensures both internal and external partners are seamlessly integrated into USGA digital experiences and is charged with discovering new platforms to distribute and monetize USGA content.

Since launching her own company, Slane has orchestrated numerous successful sports betting business opportunities, including the Sinclair Broadcasting Bally’s media partnership, and authorized gaming operator deals between the NHL, PointsBet and Bally’s. She has conducted the most Team market access deals in the U.S. having aligned gaming partners for NASCAR, PGA Tour, Arizona DiamondBacks and The Dallas Stars. She serves as an advisor to multiple gaming, sports and sports betting companies, including GeoComply, Arctos, SimpleBet, Streamlayer, US Integrity, Boom!Sports, Rebric and KB Partners and as a fellow for The International Center for Gaming Regulation at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Dr. Mintas is a high-profile entrepreneur, investor and thought leader in the technology, sports and sports betting industry on a global level. She has been involved in various roles as a high Executive and deals as Strategic Advisor in the space.

Kristen Oh currently leads Sports Partnerships for North America Media Broadcasters, based out of NY. Kristen’s primary focus is helping sports media publishers innovate and grow their businesses across Meta technologies including, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and AR/VR.

Prior to Meta, Kristen has held roles across the emerging media and advertising space from media buying on the agency side to most recently, leading sponsorship sales and activations at FanDuel.

Stephanie Ready (born 1975) is an American broadcaster for NBA on TNT and was formerly a broadcaster for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Charlotte Hornets. Prior to her broadcasting career, she was a basketball coach and gained recognition as the first female coach of a men’s professional league team in 2001. After a stint as a head coach at the NBA Development League, she was a part of Hornets’ broadcasts for over a decade, including a stint as the first full-time female NBA game analyst.

As Vice President, Head of Sports, Kevin Bovet leads the sports unit in the Americas region at Vizrt, a global company that has pioneered visual storytelling technology for over two decades. Notably, Kevin engages with rights holders to foster business development, while advising the evolution of current value propositions to meet future industry trends.

Prior to joining Vizrt, Kevin led sales and business operations for the New York Knicks’ affiliate NBA G League team, the Westchester Knicks. He executed sales, marketing, event presentation and game-day fan experience while partnering with MSG Networks to optimize visibility.

Kevin has also spearheaded business development for North American Sports Group (NASG), launching the company’s agency division by commissioning clients including Nike, the Big East Conference, and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). FIBA is also where Kevin laid the groundwork for 3×3 Basketball to evolve from concept to turn-key operation. 3×3 has now gained Olympic status and will be debuted at the 2020 Games in Tokyo this Summer.

Kevin, a Swiss native, received his undergraduate degree in Economics and Law, and his Master’s degree in Sports Management & Marketing from the University of Lausanne.

Blending a passion for sports with the disruptive tech industry in a start-up environment is unique. Partnering with the world’s leading content producers, Major Leagues, teams and colleges to enhance data-driven storytelling is inspiring.

Over the years in sports, I’ve developed an affinity for marketing partnerships and brand consistency, and at Vizrt, we have the right solutions to drive these assets within the sports media landscape.

Simon Brydon has worked as a senior executive in the sports industry for 20 years. He joined Synamedia in 2020 from Pitch International, a leading global sports marketing agency.

From 2008 to 2014, Simon ran the media and digital business of Racing UK where he was responsible for managing and distributing the media rights for the UK’s top 34 racecourses. Simon led the way with several ground-breaking digital media innovations including the first launch of a live subscription service on iPhone.

In 2003 he created Cycling Television, the live OTT sports TV channel broadcasting the best professional cycling globally. With over 220 days of racing, Cycling TV was a pioneering business and became a world leader in this emerging sector. In 2007 Simon sold the business to a Canadian media company.

As CEO and founder of Delmondo, a social video analytics and audience insights software platform, Nick joined Conviva with its acquisition in 2018. Nick is focused on extending Conviva’s portfolio of video measurement capabilities with Social Insights, a comprehensive cross-platform social video intelligence product. In his 15 years in the industry, Nick has been at the forefront of numerous industry firsts including creating the first enterprise analytics solutions for Snapchat, Instagram Stories, and Facebook Live, and has worked with some of the world’s largest brands and publishers, including ABC News, Turner, Viacom, NASCAR, Red Bull, Universal Music Group, and TED.

Kevin Annison is an entrepreneurial leader with a proven track record of building and revitalizing media businesses. He is a senior media executive with direct operational experience overseeing strategy, technology, production, and operations within large regional, national, and global organizations. Previously, Annison was assistant GM at Fox Sports Sunshine Network RSN; VP of finance/operations and VP/GM of the Digital Media Division at the Fox Sports SPEED Channel; president at Motorsport TV Network; and chief commercial officer at Sparx Technology.

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.

Scott Butera serves as president and a board member for Fubo Gaming. With more than 30 years of executive management and operational expertise across casino operations, sports betting, real estate development and iGaming, Butera is instrumental in providing strong leadership to the company. He collaborates with the board and other executives to establish the company’s long-term goals, budgets and plans. Before joining Fubo Gaming, Butera was president of Interactive Gaming at MGM Resorts International, where he was responsible for the development and operations of sports betting and online gaming across online and traditional platforms.

Prior to that, Butera held leadership, finance, and operations positions at Arena Football League, Foxwoods Resort Casino, Tropicana Entertainment, Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino, Metroflag Management, and Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. His financial background includes 20 years in investment banking with UBS Investment Bank, Credit Suisse First Boston, Smith Barney and Bear Stearns & Co, and Coopers & Lybrand in New York. He earned his master’s of business administration degree from New York University’s Stern School of Business and bachelor’s degree in economics from Trinity College, where he subsequently served as trustee.

Mike Kelley is a sports & entertainment executive with over 25 years of experience working at the intersection of content, distribution & technology.  Currently, Mike is President, Americas for Grabyo – managing a team that works with various sports & entertainment properties, broadcasters, and publishers in North & South America.  Grabyo is the leading cloud-based video production platform in the industry – providing efficient tools for clipping, editing, & live production across social, OTT, and broadcast channels. Grabyo’s clients include UFC, PGA Tour, WWE, NFL, USTA, DAZN, NASCAR, Univision, Big Ten Network, Premier League, La Liga, Wimbledon, Formula E, Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Chelsea FC, and many others.  Ultimately, Grabyo is on the forefront of a quickly evolving media distribution & monetization business for content – that now includes social media platforms, OTT products, & mobile devices.

Prior to Grabyo, Mike led business development & strategy for the leading OTT streaming company, NeuLion, before they were absorbed by Endeavor/IMG.  From 2007-2013, Mike led BD for Ensequence, the leading interactive TV provider – working with top networks, broadcasters, and distributors in the US – as internet functionality began to merge into the TV experience.  Previously, Mike was also VP of Marketing for Yahoo!’s Media & Entertainment division, having led their partnership with FIFA for the 2002/2006 World Cups, and many other sports & entertainment properties.  Mike was also Director of Sponsorships for MasterCard for several years, and worked at US Soccer in marketing & broadcasting around the USA World Cup ‘94.

Mimi Lounio is the Vice President of Marketing & Sales at Tiledmedia, the streaming company, which innovative solutions stream the highest quality VR and the most interactive multiview experiences. She leads Tiledmedia’s commercial operations, and helps to drive new partnerships. Her primary focus is on the development and delivery of the growth strategy as Tiledmedia is expanding globally, and bringing innovative solutions to more widely available consumer devices.

As Executive Vice President, Americas, John is responsible for creating and managing both the sales and operations across North and South America for Friend MTS, a leading global provider of content protection services. With a deep background in broadcast media, John previously served as Chief Technology Officer of iNDEMAND, a U.S. cable consortium owned by Comcast, Charter and Cox, where he was responsible for the distribution of premium VOD & PPV entertainment to more than 200 North American TV operators. Prior, John held senior positions with Deluxe Creative Services, AT&T Mobility & Entertainment and DIRECTV, where he managed broadcast operations and production for the original content and sports businesses. He is based in Santa Rosa, California.

Pete Scott is vice president of emerging media and innovation for Turner Studios. In this role, Scott advises internal brands on the effectiveness of emerging media, innovation and audience intelligence across the entire Turner portfolio. Additionally, he is helping to lead the charge on ELEAGUE, the professional eSports

league established in partnership between Turner and WME | IMG. As a digital strategist that has been moving through the ranks at Turner for more than 26 years, Pete has helped the company develop and evolve into a leading force in the digital media space.

Lewis Smithingham is the Director of Creative Solutions at Media.Monks. A problem-solver who identifies innovative digital opportunities, Smithingham helps usher brands and partners into the future with creative and technical expertise and the forefront of digital transformation and virtualization. Lewis designs new products, tools and technologies to drive projects toward success, keeping his finger on the pulse of technological advancement to simplify complex challenges. With a background in film and fine arts and passion for gaming, Lewis levels up Media.Monks’ work at the intersection of creativity and technology. Smithingham is Lumière award winner, a Guiness World Record holder, and has been profiled in The New York Times and Campaign and has been featured in CNBC, Business Insider, Sports Video Group, Ad Age, Fast Company and many more. Most recently, Lewis was named to Business Insider’s list of the top ‘24 agency executives leading advertisers’ charge into the metaverse and Web3.’ He is a sought-after speaker, taking the stage at the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference, Sports Video Group Summit, Siggraph, CES, NAB, IBC and IAB –– to name a few.

Jennifer is the COO/Chief Legal & Administrative Officer of NYCFC where she is responsible for the overall business operations and legal functions for the Club.  In her role, Jennifer oversees legal, human resources, information technology, operations, infrastructure and facilities, safeguarding and community.

Jennifer joined NYCFC from the law firm Arent Fox where she was a partner in the Sports Industry Practice group, specializing in the representation of professional sports leagues, teams, media and technology companies, investors, promoters, hospitality companies and sports, entertainment, and lifestyle agencies. Jennifer has counseled sports and entertainment clients on issues ranging from mergers and acquisitions and other transactions to sponsorships, advertising, media matters, league formations and restructurings, and all forms of commercial agreements, including licensing, merchandising and promotional agreements, venue, vendor, and other special events agreements.

Prior to joining Arent Fox, Jennifer was a partner at a boutique firm (Hand Baldachin & Associates) where she was head of the firm’s Sports and Entertainment Practice Group. She also served as General Counsel of RSE Ventures, LLC, a sports and entertainment venture company and was previously the Commissioner & CEO of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), the highest-level women’s professional soccer league in North America.

In addition to stints with two other prominent law firms, Jennifer has also held positions at the Arena Football League, NFL, and the Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG), where she worked with various IPG agencies including Octagon, its global sports, entertainment and lifestyle marketing agency.

Jennifer, a native of Clifton, NJ, has lived in Pelham Manor, NY for the past 17 years with her husband Dan and their three soccer playing kids, Daniel (10), Devin (7) and Ainsley (4).  Jennifer and her family are massive sports fans, with a special place in their hearts for the beautiful game.

I am the Director of Esports at Monumental Sports & Entertainment in Washington, DC, where I oversee operations for the 2020 NBA 2K League Champions Wizards District Gaming and other competitive gaming initiatives for MSE, including Caps Gaming NHL esports. Previously, I was the head of SXSW Gaming—the gaming, tabletop and esports division of the world-class SXSW Conferences & Festivals in Austin, Texas.

Will McDonough currently serves as the VP of BD Sports and Entertainment Partnerships for Team Whistle’s “Magnet” Agency. Team Whistle is an entertainment and sports media company that creates, curates and distributes positive, brand-safe and relatable content experiences across the passion points defining today’s generation. He is a brand and sports partnership specialist with over 15+ years within the sports, entertainment, and gaming/esports spaces developing and leading brand and partner strategy. He’s worked at NBC, MTV Networks, Live Nation, Major League Soccer, COPA90 and VENN. He currently resides in New York with his wife and children.

Chris Ellis serves as Senior Counsel, Content Protection at Paramount Global where he is responsible for the antipiracy enforcement of the various Paramount television divisions, including CBS, Showtime, Nickelodeon, MTV, and VH1. Prior to his current position at Paramount, Chris clerked in New Jersey and worked at a boutique law firm handling commercial transactional and litigation matters. Chris started his career in television as a Broadcast Associate at CBS News before attending law school. Chris is a member of Practicing Attorneys for Law Students Program, Inc.; on the advisory board for the Northeast Black Law Students Association; serves as Co-Chair of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association Sports and Entertainment Law Section; and is an Attorney-Mentor for the NJ LEEP program.

Kjetil Horneland is the founder and CEO of SaaS platform Ease Live, which was recently acquired by Evertz in 2020. Ease Live enables sports leagues, broadcasters and OTT services to engage their fans and create new revenue streams by adding interactive overlays with live stats, polls, quizzes and more on top of their video streaming services. The next generation viewing experience is all about the fan and how they engage with content tailored to their needs. Ease Live is deployed worldwide with some of the largest leagues and broadcasters in the world and handles millions of real time connections in the cloud. In addition to providing state of the art tools for creating and distributing interactive overlays that are synced to the broadcast, the platform also offers deep insights into user behavior, enabling customers to gather first party data and to deliver better experiences into the market, faster. Now part of Evertz, Ease Live delivers synchronized OTT experiences with the broadcast, all powered by remote cloud operations and state of the art sports production technology.

Horneland started his first design company at the age of 16 and has worked with user experience most of his life, formerly as the CEO of Sixty where a range of TV innovation products were launched in Europe and in the US. The last 15 years Horneland has spent bridging the gap of traditional and modern TV by delivering innovative TV experiences. Horneland is an award winning expert who is determined to change how TV is experienced across the screens.

Mike Leon has worked across the media landscape, in television programming, production & product management over the last twenty years (from HBO, Discovery, ESPN, Fox, to name a few). He is the Director of U.S. Media, Products & Strategy over at Stats Perform, the global leader in sports intelligence & live sports data, as well as the host of the popular news & information podcast ‘Can We Please Talk?’ & the ‘Check The Stats’ sports podcast on Stats Perform’s site, TheAnalyst.com.

Jeff Volk is Deltatre’s Senior Vice President, Head of Business & Revenue, Americas. In his current role, he oversees all of Deltatre’s commercial endeavors in the region. He joined Deltatre from BAMTech Media, the streaming services spinoff of MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2017, where he was Senior Vice President, Business Development. Jeff spent more than seven years at BAMTech and MLBAM, where he drove significant new revenues through social gaming partnerships, original content ventures, licensing initiatives, and streaming and technology partnerships, including WWE Network, PGA TOUR LIVE, Discovery and Eurosport, among others.

Amir Gelman is WSC Sports’ General Manager and Head of Business Development in the Americas, leading the company’s collaboration and strategic initiatives with the biggest sports entities such as ESPN, NBA, Fanduel, Globo, and many more.
Before joining WSC Sports, Amir was the Director of Business Development at Lemonade inc., leading the company strategic partnership, and a former venture capitalist focusing on early-stage startups.
He has an extensive background in business, sales, and strategic partnership development for innovative products and market disruption.

Formerly a founding partner of OMNIGON and Chief Commercial Officer at InfrontX, David now oversees the entire Next League business. In previous roles at OMNIGON/InfrontX, he oversaw all aspects of the commercial business globally, including sales, marketing, communications, and account management. Next League is the fifth tech start-up David has founded or co-founded; he has a twenty five year track record in successfully launching, growing, and running new businesses. He is also the author of the book “Zero Sales, Generating Services Revenue Without Selling”, which is based on his career experience working in and managing commercial organizations.

J.R. McCabe is proving the tremendous growth potential of the convergence of media, sports, and gaming. Prior to Sinclair, he and his partners built a competitive gameplay and esports portfolio that included Poker Central and Estars Studios. Throughout his career, J.R. has excelled at being ahead of consumer trends and bringing highly skilled innovators together to create engaging digital and live experiences for passion-based communities.

Using data to drive strategic decisions, J.R. has monetized and accelerated new business models by combining assets, forging partnerships, and making acquisitions. When J.R. assumed his role at Poker Central, he quickly realized its potential to be the brand umbrella for experiential events, a TV and video studio, asset holdings, and the first-of-its-kind subscription VOD channel, PokerGO. He was able to negotiate deals with the likes of Caesars based on his vision and streaming expertise.

As an intrapreneur at Time Inc. and Meredith Corporation, J.R. created new businesses that pioneered how to leverage digital video to capitalize on the IP of a diverse portfolio of legacy brands. He was the first-ever Chief Video Officer of a major corporation and launched the first national video network aimed at parents, Parents TV. As Time Inc. was becoming an independent, publicly-traded company, its CEO lauded J.R.’s team’s achievements, including outperforming revenue targets, hitting more than a billion streams, and tripling reach through deals with Amazon, Microsoft, Hulu, Yahoo, and more.

Erik is a seasoned product management and business development executive with over 15 years of experience in the media and technology industry. He is VP, Head of Global Business Development at MediaKind. In this role, he oversees the product and business strategy of MediaKind’s MediaFirst TV Platform, working with Tier-1 global operators as they deploy their next-generation cloud-based TV services. He has spoken at shows including TV of Tomorrow and Digital Entertainment World. Erik joined Ericsson as part of the Mediaroom acquisition from Microsoft. During his 10 year tenure at Microsoft, Erik led various initiatives involving new business opportunities, product management, and product planning of the TV and Media (TVM) organization, including Xbox and Windows Media Center. At Microsoft, Erik managed key operator and consumer electronic partnerships, including Sony, Best Buy, Samsung, Toshiba and Panasonic. Erik received a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from Harvey Mudd College.

John Van Wagner is the Chief Commercial Officer of Wildmoka, a company based in France specializing in live video editing and publishing.  In this leadership role, Van Wagner is responsible for the global growth of Wildmoka and its cloud-based SaaS platform service for clients in sports, news and entertainment content.  His career spans digital, mobile and social media markets with leadership roles in both established businesses and emerging start-ups. Prior to Wildmoka, he was head of revenue at SnappyTV, forging partnerships with the NFL, NBA, Turner Sports, NBC, ABC, Viacom, Fox and CBS, all of which led to SnappyTV’s acquisition by Twitter.  Van Wagner serves as a mentor and alumni member of Sprockit, an Innovation & Start-Up Marketplace and partner to NAB.  He received his bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University and is based in San Francisco.

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.

Meredith Cash is a sports reporter for Business Insider covering all games played on a field, court, rink, diamond, or gridiron with a specific focus on women’s sports.

A Knicks fan who grew up north of New York City, Meredith has moved on to greener pastures as one of the Cameron Crazies — and yes, she did live in a tent to get tickets. She graduated from Duke University in 2018 and continues to hope for the best but expect the worst from her New York sports teams.