Previous Speakers

Lenny Daniels is President of Turner Sports, a division of WarnerMedia. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of Turner Sports’ day-to-day management including production, programming, scheduling, league relations, business development, ad sales, marketing, digital, talent, events and operations. Appointed to the position in 2014, Daniels also leads the development of Turner’s data infrastructure and business capabilities to grow revenue and consumer insights across all of the brands within the sports portfolio.

Additionally, Daniels leads the overall strategy for the division including acquisitions, programming and expansion of the company’s sports media rights.  Turner Sports’ expansive portfolio of premium sports content includes the NBA, Major League Baseball, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League, ELEAGUE and professional golf; a digital portfolio including Bleacher Report and B/R Live – Turner Sports’ new premium live streaming service – along with NCAA.com and PGA.com and an accompanying collection of mobile websites and connected device apps.  Daniels also guides Turner Sports’ partnership with the NBA to jointly manage NBA Digital and its vast portfolio – NBA TV, the NBA App, NBA League Pass and NBA.com.

As Chief Strategy Officer at fuboTV, Hannah oversees strategic development and execution of the sports-centric internet subscription pay-TV service.

Before joining fuboTV Hannah was SVP of corporate development at Relevent Sports, a US soccer business that brings the major European clubs to the US and Asia, where she was responsible for executing and delivering development opportunities either via mergers and acquisitions or organic development.

Prior to joining Relevent Sports she spent almost 10 years at Sky, most recently heading sports business development where she led investments and partnerships with start-ups including fuboTV. Prior to that she was head of rights acquisitions for Sky Sports. Hannah began her career at KPMG as an associate chartered accountant.

Smith first worked within Matchroom as a 14-year-old on work experience, and started full time in September 2008 after he left school.

Having worked across many of the sports that Matchroom promote, Smith joined the Boxing department full-time in 2011 and worked his way through the ranks to assume the post of CEO in April 2018.

Smith was appointed to the main board of the group’s parent company, Matchroom Sport, in December 2018.

Dan Porter is CEO and co-founder of Overtime, building the biggest sports network in the world by focusing on the Gen Z audience. Overtime generates billions of video views and has 15 million followers across collective platforms. Previously Porter was the head of digital at William Morris Endeavor, CEO of game company OMGPOP (sold for $200mm), ticketing company TicketWeb (sold for $40mm), head of digital for Richard Branson’s Virgin company, President of Teach for America and public school teacher. He is also a professor at New York University and a graduate of Princeton University.

Nick Sakiewicz joined the National Lacrosse League (NLL) as Commissioner in 2016 after spending more than two decades at Major League Soccer (MLS). Under his leadership, the NLL has experienced substantial growth, including launching NLLTV.com, partnering with Twitter to live-stream select games, aligning with major brands to enhance the fan experience, and increasing ticket sales across the League’s U.S. and Canadian footprint.

Prior to joining NLL, Sakiewicz served as founder, operating partner and CEO of Keystone Sports and Entertainment, the ownership entity of the MLS’ Philadelphia Union. He led negotiation efforts to develop one of the MLS’ most favorable soccer-specific stadium deals, paving the way to officially announce the Union’s inaugural season. His career highlights include launching MLS as a founding executive, managing two inaugural teams, building two soccer-specific stadiums, launching an expansion team and raising over half a billion dollars in investment capital, stadium funding, sponsorship and ticket sales.

Mark Shuken is a widely respected media, sports, and entertainment leader with a track record of driving business results at both major established and emerging sports networks. As President of Pac-12 Networks, Shuken is responsible for leading the country’s first national television network to be wholly owned by institutions of higher education.

Shuken brings to Pac-12 Networks two decades of experience in growing revenue, distribution, and overall value for sports networks. His prior leadership roles include running sports networks for major media companies such as Time Warner Cable, where he led the creation of three regional sports networks for the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Dodgers and LA Galaxy, as well as DirecTV, Liberty Media, and Fox Sports, including having worked directly with many Pac-12 universities.

Throughout his career, Shuken has developed a reputation as an engaging and driven leader with an entrepreneurial spirit befitting the president of a first of its kind sports network like Pac-12 Networks.  He is experienced in developing and driving successful strategies in collaboration with key media stakeholders across all areas of the sports media industry, including content, production, programming, distribution and revenue generation.

Bio coming soon

Jeffrey Gerttula is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Sports Digital. In this role, he leads the media business for CBS Interactive’s sports properties, which include CBS Sports HQ, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports Fantasy, SportsLine, 247Sports, MaxPreps, and Scout Media. Gerttula oversees all aspects of these properties including editorial content, live and on-demand video programming, product, technology and design across all digital platforms.

Under Gerttula’s direction, CBS Sports Digital has grown to be the second largest sports property in the U.S., reaching more than 60 million sports fans per month. Gerttula also managed CBS Sports’ record-setting live streams of Super Bowl LIII, Super Bowl 50 and Super Bowl XLVII on CBS Sports Digital platforms. Before joining CBS Interactive, Gerttula served as Vice President and General Manager for Sporting News.

Gerttula holds a BA in Quantitative Economics from Tufts University and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

As executive vice president and general manager of ESPN+, Russell Wolff is responsible for leadership, management and oversight of all aspects of ESPN+, the industry-leading multi-sport, direct-to-consumer streaming service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) segment and ESPN.

In the role, Wolff works with the leadership teams at DTCI and ESPN to drive the ESPN+ business and grow its subscriber base. Wolff drives the collaboration across programming, product development, technology, content, finance and marketing teams in both business segments. He also works closely with teams in both DTCI and ESPN on the overall management and commercialization of ESPN-branded digital products globally.

Reed Kaufman is the Vice President of Media Workflows for Fox Sports, overseeing the entire in-studio and remote-event Post Production pipeline from content acquisition to final package delivery.

Reed’s focus is on leveraging new technology to modernize and improve Post Production workflows and all aspects of how Fox Sports does business.

Notable shows in this role include: Super Bowl LI & Super Bowl LIV, FIFA World Cups in 2015, 2018, & 2019, US Open 2015-present, MLB Postseason coverage 2015-present, Daytona 500 2015-present, and dozens of weekly studio shows headlined by FOX NFL Sunday and the Big Noon Kickoff.

Gregory Moore brings a unique perspective with respect to the intersection of law, technology, and inclusion in connection with the business of intercollegiate athletics. As the fourth full time Commissioner of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC), an NCAA Athletic Conference based in Atlanta, Georgia, Commissioner Moore has served in that capacity for more than ten years. As Commissioner, he enjoys oversight of day-to-day conference office operations with emphasis on negotiation of corporate partnerships and conference media rights agreements, the administration of conference championship tournaments, crafting SIAC digital and social media strategies, as well as representing of the SIAC in connection with an array of NCAA related matters. During his tenure as Commissioner his achievements include:

• First NCAA Conference to sign league-wide “head-to-toe” Nike Agreement.
• First NCAA Conference to provide football officiating opportunities to female officiating crew.
• First NCAA Conference to Create Inclusion Partnership with NBA Players Association
• First NCAA Conference to Create Inclusion Officiating Partnership with NFL
• First NCAA league to conference-wide digital platform in United States.
• First NCAA Conference to partner with Silicon Valley Start-up (Walker Brands)
• Negotiating one of the largest media rights agreements in NCAA DII History with ESPN and Flo Sports

A licensed attorney, Commissioner Moore also serves as an advisory board member to sports tech startups such as the Fan Controlled Football League (FCFL) a new football league that lets fans call the shots on game plays and is an interactive football league that combines the control of Madden video game with the physicality of professional football. In addition, Commissioner Moore has taught Master’s level courses at Georgia State University’s Sports Management Program. Prior to his arrival at the SIAC Commissioner Moore served as General Counsel for the ABA franchise Jersey Express Basketball Club and practiced sports and entertainment law for almost a decade. Commissioner Moore holds a B.A. degree in Political Science from the College of New Jersey, and a law degree from the University of Oregon. He maintains memberships with the District of Columbia Bar, the New Jersey State Bar, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and is the author of Searching for Michael Jordan.

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 offering fights from Canelo Alvarez, Gennady Golovkin, Anthony Joshua, Bellator MMA and others at a low subscription price. In March 2018, DAZN expanded into the big four sports American leagues by launching ChangeUp, a nightly MLB whiparound show featuring live look-ins from all 30 teams.

Hania Poole is SVP of Digital at Turner Sports. Poole’s responsibilities also include oversight of the day-to-day relationship with league partners at the NCAA. With her diverse industry experience and digital expertise, Poole has overseen the delivery of best-in-class sports content across multiple screens, including Turner’s award-winning NCAA March Madness Live (MML).

Poole reports directly to Mark Johnson, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Digital, Turner Sports.

As SVP of NCAA Digital, Poole and her leadership team are responsible for content, operations and product development for the business including NCAA.com, the NCAA Sports App, live digital coverage for all NCAA Championships and the management of MML. Under her leadership, MML received the 2018 Sports Emmy for Outstanding Trans-Media Coverage of the 2017 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Tournament.  MML most recently set all-time records during the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament including most live streams for an individual game and the most concurrent streams for an overall game window.  The 20 million hours of live consumption across MML during the 2018 men’s basketball tournament was its second most all time.

Holding a successful track record of continuously being at the forefront of new online gaming technologies and strategies, Seth Young brings nearly 15 years of relevant experience to his role of Chief Innovation Officer at PointsBet. Prior to joining PointsBet, Young served as Executive Director of Online Gaming at Foxwoods Resort Casino, where he was responsible for the strategic development and oversight of Foxwoods’ existing and emerging interactive gaming initiatives. Prior to joining Foxwoods, Young served as the Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of Flower City Gaming LLC from 2013 to 2016, where he was responsible for the strategic development of Star Fantasy Leagues’ technologies, and oversight of all aspects of the company’s development. Young also ran his own consulting firm, SY Ventures LLC, from 2009 to 2012 where he offered clients in the iGaming vertical a full range of services, and served as the Director of Strategy for TexasHoldem.com from 2005 to 2009. Most recently, Young won the Innovation Group’s 2018 Emerging Leaders of Gaming Award and was named to Global Gaming Business Magazine’s 40 Under 40 list in 2018. Young holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with a double minor in Internet Studies and Legal Studies, from Brandeis University, and attended Harvard Business School for Mergers and Acquisitions, strategy, execution, and post-merger management.

Antonio Briceño is an accomplished television industry veteran with more than 20 years’ experience in programming, marketing and production. As Deputy Managing Director for beIN SPORTS North America, Briceño oversees all operations, production, marketing and distribution efforts for beIN SPORTS and beIN SPORTS en Español, as well as the authenticated streaming service, beIN SPORTS CONNECT. Briceño was instrumental in the U.S. launch of beIN SPORTS in 2012, surpassing all initial distribution goals with the new network by reaching more than 80 million pay TV homes in less than eight months. Briceño began his television career in Venezuela as a producer for Radio Caracas TV. He most recently served as VP of Programming and Distribution for Imagina US after serving as Director of Programming at Pan-American Sports Network in Miami and Director of Programming and Sales at Digital Latin America. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Catholic University Andres Bello in Caracas, Venezuela, Briceño went on to earn a Master’s Degree in Communications Industry Management from Emerson College in Boston.

Jennifer Dill is the Vice President, esports, Turner Sports.  In this role, Dill oversees partnerships, operations and strategic planning for Turner Sports’ esports division, including 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.

More recently, she has helped fuel ELEAGUE’s growth by expanding its portfolio of key publisher partnerships. She has brokered multi-faceted agreements including those 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.

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

Bio coming soon…

Blake Stuchin is Vice President of Digital Media Business Development at the National Football League, where he leads the league’s digital and social media licensing and distribution strategy.

Prior to the NFL, Blake was a member of the Media Investment Banking group at Jefferies, and an Analyst at Access Capital, a financial partner to entrepreneurially-run growing businesses. He started his career as a marketer at Digitas.

Outside of the NFL, Blake is a member of Advisory Board of NYVC Sports, a leading alliance of sports, technology, and investment professionals. He is also a partner in Pine Brook Fitness, home to The Rock Club, New York’s largest indoor rock climbing gym.

Blake holds a B.A. in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Blake lives in New York City with his wife Stephanie and their two children.

Samir Mayur joined the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena in 2018. In his role as Vice President of Business Operations and Strategy, he focuses on developing and executing the short and long term strategy across the NBA franchise. Additionally, he oversaw the launch of the Hawks Talon GC (2K League) and College Park Skyhawks (G League) franchises.

Previously, Samir was the Director of Business Operations with the Houston Astros. He also served as a co-founder of TLA Worldwide, a publicly listed sports marketing and player representation agency.

Prior to entering the sports industry, Samir worked in venture capital at VantagePoint Venture Partners and in investment banking at Morgan Stanley.

He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Cohen is a graduate of George Washington University. In 2014, he was a recipient of SportsPro Media’s 10 NEXT Leaders in Sport, recognizing exceptional individuals in the sports industry under 30. Sports Business Journal named Cohen to their Forty Under 40 Class of 2019, honoring the accomplishments of executives under 40. He resides in New Jersey with his wife.

As Senior Vice President & Managing Director, NBA Latin America, Arnon de Mello oversees the development and expansion of the NBA’s business and basketball initiatives throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.  He directs all of the league’s efforts in the region across marketing partnerships, events, television, digital media and licensed merchandise through a dedicated Latin America team with headquarters in New York City and two local offices in Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City.

Since joining the NBA in 2012 as Vice President and Managing Director, NBA Brazil, de Mello launched the NBA’s regional office in Rio de Janeiro and oversaw the continued growth of the business in Brazil.  As part of his efforts to grow the game, he directed key strategic partnerships, including with Globo, Televisa, and Liga Nacional de Basquete (LNB), grew the league’s local sponsorship business, successfully launched the NBA’s e-commerce presence in Brazil, and brought the game closer to fans through programs such as NBA Global Games, Basketball without Borders, and Jr. NBA.

Bruno Rocha is the Executive Vice President of DAZN in Brazil. In this leadership role, he is responsible for overseeing the strategic growth of the revolutionary sport streaming service in the market, building the brand with fans, partners and rights holders. During his career Rocha served as Chief Commercial Officer for Perform Content, based out of London, where he has led partnerships with some of the largest rights holders in global sport, including the WTA, FIBA and the NFL. He also led the company’s joint-venture with IMG to commercialize media and marketing rights to CONMEBOL’s club competitions. Prior to Perform, Rocha worked at the NBA in New York where he contributed to a number of business development initiatives across Latin American markets. Rocha holds an MBA from Yale University.

Brian Verne is Co-founder and CEO of WAVE, the third largest sports media publishing company. Brian has spent the past 8 years building products at the intersection of young athletes, fans, and emerging media. Prior to WAVE, he was the CEO and co-founder of Phenom, a venture backed community for young athletes to tell their story and talk about their favorite products and brands.

WAVE owns and operates a number of the most popular sports brands targeting Gen Z and Millennial fans. Our brands live across core and emerging digital platforms, enabling consumers to consume the content they crave, on the platforms they love.

In just 2 years, WAVE has become one of the largest digital publishers in the world, generating over 2.5B video views and 90M+ engagements per month. WAVE has over 40M followers/subscribers, and reaches over 300M sports fans each month.

Brian is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, and is a graduate of Oberlin College where he earned four letters as a member of the baseball team, while serving as team Captain for two years.

Brad Boim has been with NFL Media since the network’s launch in 2003.

In his current role, he directs the media management and archive processes across NFL Media’s linear and digital channels, including management of the NFL’s on-premise media asset management system, cloud-based archive and physical media library. Additionally, he leads the NFL Media post production teams, inclusive of all editing, sound mixing, color correction and mastering workflows. Administration of file-based deliveries, media preparation, transcoding and baseband video ingest of feeds to our servers, as well as playout-to-air within the EVS server environment.

Ray Warren is President of Telemundo Deportes. In this role, Warren oversees NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises’ growing sports business and leads its strategy across all its platforms and networks. He is responsible for developing opportunities for both existing franchises and future acquisitions with a keen focus on the FIFA World Cup properties.

Warren joined NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises from NBC Sports, where he was Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of NBC Sports Regional Networks.

His thirty-plus year career spans several senior-level positions at leading advertising and media companies, including serving as President of Carat Media Group Americas, Managing Director of OMD USA, and President and CEO of Raycom Sports.  He also held several senior sales positions at ABC Television Network.

Warren serves on the board of Citizens through Sports Alliance, the York College Foundation and the York College School of Journalism.  He received his bachelor’s degree in communications from York College of The City University of New York.

Riché McKnight serves as General Counsel for UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization, and Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, and Co-Head of Litigation for Endeavor. Previously, McKnight served as Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP; where he provided legal representation in the areas of securities litigation, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance litigation, white collar and internal investigations, and sports litigation. McKnight holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy Analysis from Duke University.

Laura leads U.S. Content Partnerships at Twitter, bringing exceptional content from Sports, News and Entertainment publishers to the most valuable audiences when they’re most receptive, while driving business results for these strategic partners and Twitter. Prior to joining Twitter in February 2014, she spent five years at CBS Interactive devising product marketing and monetization strategies for premium sports content including NCAA March Madness, NFL and college football, The Masters, PGA Tour golf, as well as the suite of fantasy games from CBSSports.com. Her efforts led to multiple years of record-setting revenues for the properties. Prior to CBS, Laura focused her career in sales and marketing at such notable publishers as CNET, Ziff-Davis, and Condé Nast. Laura is a graduate of Brown University where she received a BA in International Relations. Follow her on Twitter at @laurafrofro.