Previous Speakers

Andy Goldberg, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the New York Mets, is responsible for developing the brand to live both on the field and beyond the diamond. His efforts to create a best-in-class fan experience have led to ballpark experiences like Timmy Trumpets playing live in-game and a Super Bowl LVII advertisement spot that aired locally in the New York area.Goldberg joined the Mets from American Express, where he served as SVP, Global Brand Content & Platforms. He led the brand forward by developing successful global brand strategies, including transforming Shop Small from a single day into a year-round global platform that supports merchants, small businesses, and card members. Before Amex, Goldberg spent over eight years at General Electric, responsible for pushing GE to reinvent its world-famous brand.

Luis Silberwasser is Chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, overseeing a premium U.S. sports rights portfolio highlighted by long-standing relationships with the National Basketball Association, NCAA, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League. In addition to being responsible for growing the overall Sports business and sports rights portfolio in the US, Silberwasser is also charged with overseeing key growth strategies and global priorities for WBD Sports.

Colie Edison serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer for the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). A veteran strategic leader and transformative marketer, Edison became the league’s first-ever Chief Growth Officer in January 2022. She is charged with league business and strategy functions and leads efforts on all league and team revenue-generating opportunities. She is based in the WNBA’s New York office and reports directly to Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

Raven Jemison is a sports business executive with 14 years of experience managing multi-million business operations and generating revenue across both teams and leagues. She currently serves as Executive Vice President, Business Operations for the Milwaukee Bucks and is responsible for managing the organization’s foundational and entrepreneurial business units, including ticketing, marketing, technology, analytics, corporate social responsibility and the G-League’s Wisconsin Herd. Previously, Jemison served as Vice President in the NBA’s Team Marketing and Business Operations, an in-house group consulting on all aspects of business operations, including ticket and sponsorship sales, marketing, digital, customer retention, arena operations, staffing, analytics and expense control. Prior to the NBA, she served in several sales, marketing and business operations leadership roles with the San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Florida Panthers. Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Raven is a proud graduate of Auburn University, where she earned both B.S and M.Ed degrees.

Raven is a Steering Group member of the SportsPro New Era programme, championing female leaders in the sports industry.

Jeffrey Gerttula was promoted to Executive Vice President, Digital, CBS Sports and CBS News and Stations, in May 2022, overseeing all digital properties at CBS Sports as well as CBS News and Stations. He was named Executive Vice President for CBS Sports Digital in January 2018, and in May 2022 his role was expanded to oversee the integration of digital and streaming properties with CBS News and Stations. He previously served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital, CBS Sports, and Vice President, Programming, CBSSports.com, since joining CBS Sports in 2009. Gerttula leads the media business, product, design and engineering for CBS News and Stations and all of CBS Sports’ digital properties, which include CBS Sports HQ, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports mobile and TV apps, CBS Sports Fantasy, SportsLine, 247Sports, MaxPreps, ComicBook.com and PopCulture.com. He oversees all aspects of these properties including live and on-demand video programming, editorial content, product, technology and design across all digital platforms. In conjunction with CBS Sports, Gerttula also leads the acquisition and strategy for exclusive live sports rights in the Paramount+ streaming service and supports sports content streaming on Pluto TV.

As Vice President, Global Sports Video, Marie Donoghue leads all of Prime Video’s global sports content business. She oversees Prime Video’s global sports strategy, identifying and evaluating new opportunities, managing acquisitions, programming and production, enabling Amazon Prime customers to access original and live sports content on hundreds of devices, in over 240 countries and territories.Marie led the groundbreaking acquisition and production of Thursday Night Football, marking the first time a streaming service aired an exclusive national broadcast package from the NFL. In addition, Prime Video’s sports content includes Premier League in the U.K., UEFA Champions League in Germany and Italy (U.K. starting in 2024), ONE Championship (U.S. and Canada), and the WNBA.Prior to joining Amazon, Donoghue spent more than 18 years at ESPN, where she most recently served as Executive Vice President, Global Business and Content Strategy. A native of the Bronx, Marie earned her bachelor’s degree from Columbia College and a law degree from Columbia University.

Rick Cordella serves as President, Programming, NBC Sports, Peacock Sports. In this role, Cordella leads NBC Sports’ programming strategy, overseeing a team working across all properties to maximize distribution and efficiencies on broadcast, cable and Peacock. In addition, he oversees sports betting, sports fantasy and related efforts.

Kevin Mayer is Co-CEO and founder of Candle Media, a next generation media company, home to category-defining brands including Hello Sunshine, Moonbug Entertainment, Faraway Road Productions and Westbrook Media. Mr. Mayer is also co-founder and managing director ofSmash Capital, serves as Chairman of DAZN Group, a major global sports media company, and is on the Board of the Forest Road Company.Prior to founding Candle and Smash Capital, Mr. Mayer served as CEO of TikTok and COO of its parent company, ByteDance.Mr. Mayer is a former long-serving top executive at The Walt Disney Company where as Chief Strategy Officer he oversaw strategy and new business development as well mergers and acquisitions for the company, including the purchases of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm/Star Wars, Bamtech, 21st Century Fox, and others. Mr. Mayer subsequently served as Chairman for itsDirect-to-Consumer and International segment which included developing and launching global streaming platforms Disney+ and ESPN+, overseeing Hulu, managing global advertising, content, and channel sales and distribution, and running international media and studiooperations. Mr. Mayer is also an advisory board member at Salesforce. He is on the board of Tinuiti, a private performance marketing agency as well as Beachbody, a leading online/connected fitness company.Mr. Mayer holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.

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.

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 brings to WBD Sports more than 25 years of experience leading critical revenue and business functions across some of the largest media companies in the industry. In her current role as Senior Vice President of Commercial Growth Strategy, she is responsible for the development and implementation of WBD Sports’ US-based revenue-focused initiatives that drive profitability across the organization’s sports properties, brands, and linear and digital platforms.