Previous Speakers

Pete Scott is vice president of emerging media and innovation for WarnerMedia Studios. In this role, Scott advises internal brands on the effectiveness of social media and audience intelligence across the entire WarnerMedia portfolio. Additionally, he is helping to lead the charge on the gaming and esports entertainment brand, ELEAGUE. 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.

Prior to his current role, Scott served as the vice-president of emerging media for Turner Sports, a division of WarnerMedia. While in this role, Scott was responsible for digital operations and technology for the entire Turner Sports digital portfolio which includes Bleacher Report, NCAA.com and the critically-acclaimed NCAA March Madness Live suite of products. In addition, Scott managed the company’s strategic partnership with Yahoo! Sports. His unique hybrid background of TV and digital platforms helped Turner Sports develop into a leader in the digital sports business.

Scott began his Turner career as a sound tech and editor for CNN, covering such major events as the war in Bosnia and the U.S. invasion of Haiti while working with international correspondents Christiane Amanpor and Nic Robertson. In 2001, he transitioned to Turner Sports’ new media team where he started laying the foundation for development of Turner’s unique digital portfolio. He served as executive director of partnerships managing digital and mobile rights for NASCAR.com, PGA.com, NBA.com, and PGATour.com as well as broadband channels TNT OverTime on NBA.com and TBS Hot Corner on MLB.com. Scott also guided the day-to-day programming of interactive content on each of the sites, which includes live streaming coverage, widgets and downloads, interactive TV and wireless platforms.

Additionally, he helped to create a digital media team with diverse expertise that attracted attention from other professional leagues and their peers throughout the digital media industry. In 2010, he helped launch NCAA March Madness Live, the successful live streaming video experience that is now available across more platforms than ever before for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

Before Turner, Scott served as a senior video producer for FoxSports.com where he produced and directed the first live college football game streamed online. Before Fox, he served as a senior production manager of remote operations for Turner Sports, coordinating logistics for the production of NBA, NFL and MLB telecasts

Scott earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in film and television, with a minor in business, from Boston University.

A CPA by trade, Diego Suarez worked at Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers prior to joining Burger King’s finance department in 2010. Suarez spent five years counting Whoppers before coming to the ad side in 2015. Since then, he brought “The King” out of retirement to appear with Floyd Mayweather, Conor McGregor, Triple Crown-winning horse trainer Bob Baffert and Cheetos spokescat “Chester Cheetah,” and he reunited Napoleon Dynamite with Pedro to help sell Cheesy Tots.

Diego is part of the team that has propelled Burger King’s marketing efforts and Burger King became Client of the Year at the D&AD in 2016, Creative Marketer of the Year in Cannes 2017, Client of the Year at the One Show 2018, Advertiser of the Year at the Clio Awards 2018 and Creative Brand of the Year in Cannes 2019. More recently Diego has worked on campaigns such as “Google Home of the Whopper”, “Bullying Jr”, “Whopper Neutrality”, “Turning Their Tweets Against them”, “Promposal” ,“Whopper Detour”, “Stevenage”, “Moldy Whopper” and “Cows’s Menu”.

RC Buford was named CEO of Spurs Sports and Entertainment in July of 2019, leading the business operations for each of the sports franchises owned and operated by Spurs Sports & Entertainment – the San Antonio Spurs (NBA), Austin Spurs (NBA G League) and San Antonio FC (USL Championship), as well as the operations of the AT&T Center and Toyota Field. Prior to being named CEO, Buford held the role of president of sports franchises for SS&E from 2008-19 and served as the general manager of the Spurs while overseeing the sports administration for the other three teams in the SS&E family. He has twice been named the NBA’s executive of the Year in 2014 and 2016. Buford started his professional career as an assistant coach at the University of Kansas in 1983, and during each of his five seasons at Kansas the Jayhawks participated in the NCAA Tournament. Buford was on the coaching staff for the team that won the 1988 NCAA Championship as well as the 1985–86 squad that advanced to the Final Four. He made the move to the NBA in the summer of 1988, joining the Spurs as an assistant coach on Larry Brown’s staff (other assistants on that staff included Gregg Popovich, Alvin Gentry and Ed Manning) and spent four seasons as an assistant with the Spurs. During that time San Antonio won back-to-back Midwest Division titles (1990 and 1991). Buford joined the Los Angeles Clippers in the summer of 1992 as the first assistant for Coach Brown, and then served as an assistant coach at the University of Florida during the 1993–94 season (as the team advanced to the Final Four for the first time in school history). He returned to San Antonio in the summer of 1994 when Popovich hired him as the team’s head scout, and in the summer of 1997 became the Spurs director of scouting. Buford was then promoted to vice president/assistant general manager in the summer of 1999 and was named the Spurs general manager in July of 2002. Buford played collegiate basketball at Texas A&M University and Oklahoma State before receiving his degree from Friends University. He is involved in the NBA Basketball Without Borders Africa camp and in 2015 became an Advisory board member for Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE) at Duke University. He also serves on the Board of Directors of PeacePlayers International. Buford’s wife, Beth, is a former player on the LPGA Tour. Together, they are active with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). They have a son, Chase, and a daughter, C.C. In 2004 they welcomed Alexis Wangmene from Cameroon to their family after meeting through the Basketball Without Borders program in Johannesburg. In 2007, Samer Jassar from Israel joined the Buford family after being introduced through PeacePlayers International.

Michael Sutherland is the Chief Transformation Officer at Real Madrid, which is consistently ranked as the highest earning european football club and is one of the most valuable sports brands in the world. Prior to Real Madrid, Michael was the Director of Virtual Reality and Director of Product and Design for Emerging Technologies at HP Inc in Silicon Valley. He has been an active angel investor, founder and advisor in early stage companies and has led the growth and commercialization of technology startups in Silicon Valley. He is a global technology leader and expert in corporate innovation and commercialization of new technology products.

Lisa Baird, Commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), oversees all operations for the NWSL with a focus on growing revenues and audience while elevating the profile of the league globally. Baird joined the NWSL in March 2020 from New York Public Radio (NYPR), where she served as the Chief Marketing Officer for more than a year. Prior to NYPR, Baird spent a decade as the Chief Marketing Officer at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. During her tenure with the USOPC, Baird played the leading role securing broadcast, sponsorship and licensing deals and launched the iconic Team USA brand. She became the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Licensing for the National Football League (NFL) in 2005 and continued to grow the most commercially successful sports league in the United States, directing the NFL’s consumer products, entertainment marketing and advertising programs. She was named the 2011 WISE Woman of the Year for making a significant impact on the business of sports and was recognized in the 2011 Sports Business Journal’s inaugural class of “Game Changers: Women in Sports Business.” More recently, she was named to the 2016 Business Insider TOP 50 Most Innovative Global CMO’s and most recently in 2019 as an OpCon Top 50 Marketer.

Denise Lewis OBE is an accomplished presenter, broadcaster, former athlete and President of Commonwealth Games England. The former Gold Medal winning heptathlete, who holds the second highest number of points scored by a British Heptathlete, has gone on to secure a successful broadcast career. Since her retirement from Athletics, Denise has undertaken an array of television work including commentating on high profile athletics events and fronting shows such as BBC’s Secret Britain and Right on the Money.

Denise is one of the “golden girls” of British athletics, winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and subsequently being inducted into the UK Athletics Hall of Fame in 2011. Denise has twice been runner-up in the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards (in 1998 and 2000) and was also honoured with an OBE in the 2000 New Year Honours.

Johanna Faries serves as Commissioner of Call of Duty League for Activision Blizzard, Inc., overseeing league and business operations across Call of Duty’s global esports presence. In addition, Faries is a senior leader advisor to Activision’s African-American, Black & Friends Employee Network.

A veteran of the sports world, Faries was previously at the National Football League for 12 years in New York City, prior to joining Activision Blizzard Inc. in 2018. Faries is a trailblazer in the sports community and has been recognized on Adweek’s Most Powerful Women in Sports list and Fortune’s most influential young business leaders on the annual 40 Under 40.

A graduate of Harvard University, she was a recipient of a Senior Leadership Award for being a “face of excellence at Harvard”. Faries grew up a multi-sport athlete in Potomac, Maryland, has lived abroad in both Israel and the Dominican Republic, and is also a professional singer-songwriter. She resides with her husband and two sons in Palos Verdes Estates, CA.

Stephanie McMahon is Chief Brand Officer of WWE, a publicly-traded (NYSE: WWE) global media company. In this role, she is responsible for WWE’s Brand, Community Relations, and Pop Culture strategy, which includes celebrity integrations and partnerships within the entertainment industry. Stephanie represents the company as its global brand ambassador, and also plays a character who appears regularly on WWE programming.

Among her many contributions, Stephanie has been the driving force behind WWE’s women’s evolution, which has given female performers an equal share of the spotlight both in and out of the ring. Prior to being named Chief Brand Officer, Stephanie was Executive Vice President, Creative and was responsible for overseeing the Digital and Creative Departments. She was also the first woman to lead WWE’s Talent Relations, Talent Brand Management and Live Events businesses.

In her role as one of the Philadelphia 76ers most senior leaders, Katie O’Reilly is responsible for the branding and business development for one of the sports industries most iconic properties. As Chief Marketing Officer, O’Reilly oversees the direction of the team’s brand, creative and marketing solutions, game presentation, social media, digital and video content, VIP events and hospitality, customer relationship management, business development and merchandise departments. Now entering her fifth season with the 76ers, O’Reilly and her team are the brains behind the widely acclaimed “Welcome to the Moment” advertising and “Spirit of the Champion” tribute campaigns as well as new branding initiatives including the recently unveiled 2017-18 season Nike uniforms.

Dina Asher-Smith is the World Champion, four times European Champion and the fastest British woman in history. She currently holds British Records in the 100m (10.83 secs), 200m (21.88 secs) and 4x100m (41.77 secs). Her first major victory was in the 100m at the World Junior Championships in Oregon, USA in 2014. She went on to win the British Senior 100m title in 2015 and the European 200m title in 2016. In 2018 in Berlin she won three gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m at the European Championships. Last year she went even better taking gold in the 200m, silver in the 100m and silver in the 4x100m at the World Championships in Doha. At her first Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 she was part of the British team that won bronze in the 4x100m. Dina is currently training for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. She is an ambassador for Nike, Hublot, Samsung, Muller and Puregym and recently starred in fashion campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Lancome perfume. Her face regularly graces the covers of magazines like Grazia, ELLE, Stylist as well as many sports publications.

Warren Jones is the Chief Technology Officer at SailGP, which features the fastest and most technologically advanced sail race boats in the world. Jones works with global partner Oracle on innovative solutions for the remote broadcast production, data management and distribution, the award-winning SailGP APP, and Umpire App for race management. He also supports the event and office infrastructures both in London and New York, and at each of the global grand prix events. Prior to SailGP, Jones was head of information technology at the America’s Cup Event Authority and Oracle Racing.

Kimberly Davis is a trailblazer and change agent, positively disrupting the financial industry and wide world of sports over her illustrious 30+ year career. Well-regarded as a resilient and visionary leader, Davis brings change to life through sound strategic planning and strong organizational development. She is an inspirational storyteller, an architect of coalitions and a culture builder, with a style that empowers others and a belief that successful business contributes to healthy, vibrant communities. Driven by both data and a passion for progress, she has consistently provided structure and glide paths for organizations to realize their potential for sustainable business growth.

Currently, as Senior Executive Vice President of Social Impact, Growth Initiatives & Legislative Affairs at the National Hockey League – the premier professional ice hockey league in the world – Davis has set the League on a new course to attract, retain and develop fans, with a specific focus on multi-cultural audiences. Reporting to Commissioner Gary Bettman, she is positively influencing and impacting the decisions of 32 NHL Club owners and executives relating to culture, youth participation and social impact, in an effort to improve access and availability of the sport and grow the League’s business for the long-term.

Previously, as Senior Managing Director, Teneo Consulting Worldwide, Davis led the firm’s leadership development and corporate responsibility practice, where she advised Fortune 500 companies, CEOs and cultural icons, including Billie Jean King. She advised the tennis legend on the creation of the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative – a partnership with CEOs to advance gender diversity and pay equity.

Prior to Teneo, Davis enjoyed more than two decades at JPMorgan Chase where she most recently served as Managing Director of Global Corporate Social Responsibility, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. Ms. Davis has been recognized by Hockey News’ “2020 Top 100 Most Influential Leaders in the sport,” Essence Magazine’s “Woke” – 2019 Change Agents, Adweek’s “30 Most Powerful Women in Sports,” Sports Business Journal’s “GameChangers,” and Savoy Magazine’s “Most Influential Women in Corporate America.” She has received other notable recognitions including Savoy Magazine’s “Top 100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America” and showcased in Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business.” In 2012, she was profiled with First Lady Michelle Obama in Essence magazine’s “28 Most Influential Black Women in America.”

Kim currently serves on the boards of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Communities in Schools (National) and Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) She is a former Trustee of Spelman College and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Institute.

Davis earned a B.A. in Economics from Spelman College and has completed the Aspen Institute’s Executive

Dev Sethi is the global Head of Sports at Instagram. He oversees strategic partnerships across the sports ecosystem, which includes athletes, leagues, teams, and media. In this role, he is responsible for advocating on behalf of the sports vertical inside and outside his organization, working closely with product, engineering, communications, and marketing to continue building Instagram as a great home for sports and the 320 million sports fans who consume sports partner content regularly. In recent months, Instagram Sports supports its partners and their business objectives through a variety of initiatives, examples including Student Section in partnership with Turner and March Madness, activating shopping on Instagram at the NFL Draft, and a deep app integration with Bleacher Report and Instagram Stories.

As Senior Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion for the National Basketball Association (NBA), Liliahn Marguerite Majeed oversees team diversity and inclusion efforts across the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League and NBA 2K League. Majeed also helps lead the NBA’s Women’s Leadership Initiative and NBA Coaches Equality Initiative, responsible for events such as the Women’s Leadership Forum, NBA All-Star Women in Basketball Operations Forum and NBA Coaches Summit.

Prior to joining the NBA’s Diversity & Inclusion department, Majeed was a Vice President in the Team Marketing & Business Operations (TMBO) group. In that role, she led strategy for arena experience, season ticket membership and premium consulting while also serving as the league liaison for the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards.

Majeed joined the NBA in 2005 from Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts. She graduated from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and hospitality management. Majeed lives in Brooklyn with her daughter Farah.

Deirdre joined Barstool Sports as CRO in 2018 to overhaul the Sales and Marketing Organization and drive revenue growth for the business. With a focus on scaling revenue through advertising, partnerships and licensing, she has expanded the team from New York to Chicago and Los Angeles. Since then, Barstool Sports has established partnerships with several blue chip companies such as Square Inc., E&J Gallo, AB InBev, Phillips Norelco, MGM, FanDuel, Kraft Heinz, NASCAR and also has over 250 direct advertising partners across it’s properties. Under her leadership, the partnerships model has developed beyond advertising to include branded content, sponsorships, experiential and direct to consumer product collaborations.

Dustin Godsey is in his eighth season with the Milwaukee Bucks and fourth as Chief Marketing Officer, where he is responsible for the development and expansion of the Bucks brand. In his role, Godsey oversees the team’s marketing and advertising, digital,  content production, live events, promotions, and creative services, as well as marketing of Fiserv Forum, the team’s new world-class arena in downtown Milwaukee and the surrounding Deer District neighborhood. During his tenure, he has built an award-winning marketing team that has overseen a number of high-profile projects, including the team’s highly acclaimed rebrand in 2015.

Rachel Brill serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the B/R Studio, which focuses on the creation of premium video, narrative audio and high impact journalism. She is a core part of the senior executive team working closely with Bleacher Report’s Chief Content Officer Sam Toles to scale the company’s mid and long-form programming slate.

Dan Ginger was recently appointed as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at the ATP. In this role, he oversees the direction of the Tour’s social and digital platforms, branding, business development and servicing to members (Tournaments & Players) with creative marketing solutions to support and accelerate the growth of the sport. In his short tenure to date, Ginger and his team successfully launched Tennis United, a joint marketing venture between ATP & WTA.

Jamie joined BT Sport in 2012 as Chief Operating Officer to build the infrastructure, broadcast chain and operating model ahead of launch. A year later BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and BT Sport ESPN all started broadcasting from the brand-new purpose-built studio facility on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Since then BT Sport has expanded to 13 channel outlets to deliver the exclusive Champions League and Europa League coverage, as well as the launch of Europe’s first 4K UHD sports channel.

Jamie started his TV career as a transport coordinator at the BBC. He had several roles at the BBC including Head of Sourcing Production Resources and Head of Production L2012 – responsible for the BBC’s multiplatform coverage of the Olympics, Paralympics and other key national events in 2012.

Luis Vicente is Group CEO of ELEVEN SPORTS and Board Member of the sports, media and entertainment investment platform Aser Ventures.

He is a vastly experienced sports executive, with a 25-year track record of driving innovation, commercial growth and brand engagement.

In her 18th season with SS&E… named vice president of broadcast and marketing partnerships in September 2017 … joined the SS&E Family as a part-time partnership assistant in February 2002 before being promoted to a full-time broadcast assistant in May of the same year … elevated to the manager of sponsorship services in 2004 … in 2007 named director of corporate partnerships … promoted to a senior director in 2014 …. leads local, regional and global marketing partnership for SS&E … responsible for developing innovative experiences for fans through SS&E brand partners … guides digital sponsorship transformation

Harish Sarma currently leads Global Strategic Partnerships & Corporate Development at TikTok, a leading short-form video platform that allows users to create entertaining moments. At TikTok, Harish focuses on developing, structuring, and executing strategic partnerships for the business across content, marketing, user acquisition and monetization. His role also touches on evaluating business development opportunities that may warrant investments and other M&A functions.

Previous to Bytedance, Harish spent five years at the National Basketball Association (NBA) focused on global business development related to content licensing and was instrumental in launching partnerships with digital platforms and telcos while supporting renewals with major broadcasters globally.

Prior to the NBA, Harish spent four years at Morgan Stanley in the Investment Banking Division focused on the Media and Telecom sector where he executed equity, debt and M&A transactions in addition to his broader industry coverage responsibilities.

Harish started his career as a software developer and consultant for Provenir, Inc where he built decisioning systems for the credit, small business and auto loans divisions of major financial institutions such as AIA, Citizens Bank and Elavon Financial

At ONE, Jonathan Anastas is Group CMO, overseeing all marketing for both ONE Championship, the largest global sports media property in Asian history and ONE esports. Prior, Jonathan was CMO at LiveXLive Media, a publicly-traded digital streaming music service focused on live experiences, where paid subscribers doubled under his leadership, and also at the Motor Trend Group, a Discovery Communications Company, where he successfully launched the company’s first subscription video on demand (SVOD) service.

As Head of WWE’s Global Sales and Partnerships division, reporting directly to WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon, Brody is a key member of the company’s Executive Committee and is responsible for providing strategic vision for WWE’s global Sales operations while also growing and expanding the company’s global media partnerships. Under Brody’s leadership, WWE’s global sales revenue increased 110% from 2015 to 2019 driven by multiplatform partnerships with blue-chip brands including Procter & Gamble, Cricket Wireless, Coca-Cola, Mars, Hyundai and Unilever.

During his time with WWE, Brody also successfully led the company’s International organization and oversaw the growth and development of its eight regional offices (London, Munich, Dubai, Mexico City, Mumbai, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Singapore). He also established and fortified partnerships with top international partners, expanded the company’s global footprint, and grew international revenue to more than $300 million for the first time in history.

Prior to joining WWE, Brody held senior leadership roles with the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the Boston Celtics. He is a three-time winner of Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 Award and a member of the publication’s Hall of Fame. Brody graduated with honors from Tufts University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.

Scott oversees the Product Development, Content and Revenue operations teams for the PGA TOUR Digital Platforms. These teams focus on delivering the best experience for the fans of the PGA TOUR on a daily basis. He lead the transition team which brought the TOUR’s digital assets and capabilities in-house in 2013. Scott came to the TOUR in September 2005 having previously worked for Turner Broadcasting, Viant Corp. and New Era of Networks.

Crowley Sullivan joined UFC as the VP and GM of UFC FIGHT PASS in March of 2019. Crowley holds over 20 years of experience in the sports and entertainment industries with expertise in developing media strategies across linear, digital, and OTT platforms. Crowley is a veteran of ESPN, where he served as VP of Programming and Acquisitions for ESPN Classic and ESPNEWS. During his time with ESPN, Crowley was a member of the initial ESPN Original Entertainment team that developed successful programs, including Pardon The Interruption and Around The Horn. Additionally, Crowley won a Peabody and two Emmy Awards for his role in the landmark SportsCentury series.

Scott is entering his sixth season with the Minnesota Vikings and 15^th in the NFL. As the Executive Director, Digital Media & Innovation, Scott oversees all aspects of digital media, social media, mobile strategy and online editorial content. Under Scott’s leadership, the team has created several innovative digital content campaigns, winning two Shorty Awards and one Webby Award.

Prior to joining the Vikings, Scott spent nine seasons with the San Francisco 49ers as the head of their social and digital teams. Scott was named to Leaders Under 40 Class of 2017. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife Lauren and their two French bulldogs, Cosette and Hugo. He’s originally from Sacramento, California and graduated from the University of Southern California.