WISE/R Symposium 2022 Speakers

Stacey Vanek Smith
Author
Host/Correspondent, The Indicator from Planet Money, NPR

Stacey Vanek Smith is a longtime public radio reporter, highly regarded for her insight and journalism on work, business and economics. Vanek Smith has served as a correspondent and host for NPR programs Planet Money and Marketplace, and she currently hosts NPR's daily podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money. Her work has appeared in Time magazine, The New York Times and People magazine. In September 2021, Vanek Smith released her book, Machiavelli for Women: Defend Your Worth, Grow Your Ambition, and Win the Workplace, which explains how women can apply the principles of 16th-century philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli to their 21st-century work lives and shatter the glass ceiling once and for all.

Monica McNutt
Game and Studio Analyst, ACC Network

Monica McNutt joined ACC Network in 2019 and is a studio analyst on ACCN's nightly news and information show All ACC, and Nothing But Net, the network's signature basketball show. She is also a game analyst for ACCN's season-long women's basketball coverage. A former standout guard on the Georgetown women's basketball team, McNutt has held on-air positions with FOX Sports 1, Overtime, MSG Networks and ESPN, along with stops at WJLA ABC7/ News Channel 8 in Washington DC, The American Sports Network, BeIN Sports and NBC Sports Washington. She hosts "Buckets, Boards and Blocks," a podcast presented by Pure Hoops Media, and co-hosts "26 Minutes with Clinton Portis" a podcast produced by the Washington Commanders.

Stacy Heen Lennon
Founder and CEO, XSquared Consulting

Stacy Heen Lennon has more than 25 years of experience as a negotiation adviser, coach and trainer for clients around the globe. As a consultant for some of the largest corporations on the planet — from Boeing to Microsoft to Pixar — Heen Lennon has helped clients more clearly and explicitly link thought, action and results, whether their goal is to manage a multilateral negotiation, align internal stakeholders, create a successful joint venture, increase sales, better manage a struggling team or improve a relationship with a crucial supplier, customer, partner or stakeholder. As the founder of XSquared Consulting, Heen Lennon has spent the last several years focused on supporting women working in (male-dominated) STEM fields.  

Wendy Lewis
Executive Consultant, Wendy Lewis, LLC 

Known for her keen ability to build action through intelligence, diplomacy, trust and consensus-building interpersonal skills, Wendy Lewis is the founder and creator of AllySHIFT®, a progressive and seismic platform for advocacy and sustainable equity. The 2011 WISE Women of the Year honoree spent nearly 30 years at Major League Baseball, implementing diversity and inclusion platforms across the league and its properties, before spending four years as the chief global diversity officer and vice president of community engagement for McDonald’s Corporation, where she was responsible for guiding the company’s global “Diversity IS Inclusion” efforts. Now an executive consultant for her own company, Lewis continues the push for diversity, equity and inclusion.

Susan Cohig
Executive Vice President, Club Business Affairs, National Hockey League

Susan Cohig works across all business areas of the NHL to support club and league business and policy priorities. Engaging with team leadership and managing associated business support, Cohig — who was named a 2019 Notable Women in the Business of Sports honoree by Crain's New York Business — runs the annual NHL Club Business Meetings. She is also instrumental in the onboarding of NHL expansion franchises and spearheads efforts associated with the NHL's women's hockey initiative, using the league's assets to elevate and support the women's game. Prior to joining the NHL in 1996, Cohig was with Ascent Entertainment, overseeing the sales and servicing of corporate partner relationships of the NHL's Colorado Avalanche and the NBA's Denver Nuggets.

Rosalyn Durant
Senior Vice President of Operations, Walt Disney World Resort

Rosalyn Durant joined Disney in 2020, overseeing the Disney Springs shopping, dining and entertainment destination; both Walt Disney World Water Parks, and the resort's sports operations, including ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Previously the senior vice president of college networks at ESPN, Durant played a key part in working with the National Basketball Association to successfully restart the 2019-20 season and host the NBA Championships at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. A member of The Walt Disney Company's CEO Diversity and Inclusion Council, Durant serves on the board of directors of the T. Howard Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, charitable organization dedicated to increasing diversity in the multimedia and entertainment industry.

Elizabeth Lindsey
President, Brands and Properties, Wasserman

Elizabeth Lindsey runs Wasserman's brands and properties business, leading a team of more than 600 professionals globally. Instrumental in the direction of Wasserman's corporate strategy, Lindsey — who has been with the sports marketing and talent management company since 2007 — helps guide the agency's decision-making around acquisition and international expansion, among other initiatives, and serves as a senior adviser to the chairman and chief executive officer. Named one of Adweek's Most Powerful Women in Sports in 2018, she is also the senior leader in charge of The Collective, Wasserman's platform for raising the profile of and creating opportunities for women in sports, a passion area of Lindsey's since launching a women's networking group more than a decade ago.

JoAnn Neale
President and Chief Administrative Officer, Major League Soccer

JoAnn Neale oversees human resources, social responsibility, player engagement, technology and administration for MLS and leads the league's long-term business planning and annual planning processes. She also spearheads the overall strategy of the league's social responsibility platform, MLS WORKS, and created the player engagement department, which delivers programs to support player education and engagement while offering assistance with off-field career development and transition. Recognized as one of Adweek's 2019 Most Powerful Women in Sports and Crain's New York Business' 2019 Notable Women in the Business of Sports, Neale previously spent four years as an attorney at the law firms of Latham & Watkins and Duval & Stachenfeld, focusing on corporate finance and real estate transactions.

Caroline Clarke
Chief Brand Officer, Black Enterprises Women of Power

Award-winning journalist and author Caroline Clarke’s media experience spans print, digital and television outlets. At the media company Black Enterprise, she has served in a number of key roles — including senior editor, editor at large, editorial director and general manager — across the various assets of the franchise. In 2006, she launched Women of Power, a professional development and executive leadership brand that has become Black Enterprise’s leading asset. A graduate of Smith College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Clarke hosts the Women of Power television show and is the author of Take a Lesson: Today’s Black Achievers on How They Made It & What They Learned Along the Way and Postcards from Cookie: A Memoir of Motherhood, Miracles, and a Whole Lot of Mail.

Paige Bonomi
Manager of Global Sales and Partnerships, Team Liquid

Paige Bonomi has worked in the esports and gaming space for the last six years, tackling roles across sales and business development, partner management and product marketing (ESL Gaming/DreamHack) and public relations (JSA Strategies). In her current role as a member of the global sales and partnerships team at the most winning esports organization in history, Bonomi spearheads brand sponsorships across Team Liquid’s North American, European and Brazilian professional teams and talent roster. Prior to Team Liquid, Bonomi was the first-ever U.S. hire for the esports and gaming unit at global sports marketing agency Sportfive. The Long Island native starred in lacrosse, earning a scholarship to the University of Southern California.

Heather Garozzo
Vice President of Community and Events, Raidiant and Dignitas

A veteran of the esports industry, Heather “sapphiRe” Garozzo is responsible for creating and executing marketing, media and content engagement strategies at Raidiant and Dignitas. Garozzo is considered one of the most successful FPS observers (or in-game directors) for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Valorant, among other FPS titles. She has been billed on the broadcast lineup for some of the genre’s most prestigious events, working alongside top-tier tournament organizers. During her career as a professional Counter-Strike player, Garozzo competed in more than 250 tournaments, winning the 2012 ESWC Women’s World Cup with team Ubinited. In 2019, Garozzo was inducted into the Esports Hall of Fame, the first — and, so far, only — female to earn enshrinement.

Heather Ouida
Co-founder and President/COO, the*gameHERs

Heather Ouida is the co-founder, president and chief operating officer of the*gameHERs, a media company, social networking community and lifestyle brand for women who game and who work in the gaming space. Prior to co-founding the*gameHERs, Ouida was a vice president at Kidtagious, the entertainment company run by Al Kahn, who was the visionary behind Pokémon and many other acclaimed hits. At Kidtagious, Ouida spearheaded initiatives to introduce disruptive technology to kids’ products in the esports and gaming world. In 2006, she co-founded the parenting media and networking company Mommybites, which through its online and in-person events quickly became one of the largest communities for mothers in New York City before launching nationally and subsequently being acquired by a large media conglomerate.

Farrell Sweeney
Director of Partner Management, ESL Gaming

Farrell Sweeney oversees the partner management team at ESL Gaming, the world’s largest esports and gaming lifestyle company. After becoming the first partner manager at ESL in 2017, she has spent the past five years setting up the company’s global structure and workflows, fostering long-term brand and media partnerships, and overseeing the team that executes some of the most innovative programs in the space. She has worked with brands such as Intel, Mountain Dew, Twitch, Coinbase, Shopify and others. ESL’s growth throughout Sweeney’s tenure resulted in the company becoming the first ever $1 billion esports acquisition earlier this year. Prior to joining ESL, Sweeney worked in traditional sports for Fox Sports Media Group.

Sophie Kelly
Senior Vice President, Whisk(e)y, Diageo North America

With a global advertising career spanning more than two decades and four continents, Sophie Kelly has established herself as a business-minded creative force and an agent of change. She joined Diageo in 2016 as the senior vice president of its industry-leading whisk(e)y portfolio in North America, leading growth on some of the most iconic and valuable brands in the category. In her previous role as CEO of The Barbarian Group, Kelly transformed the company from a small, innovative digital production shop to a tech-forward creative company that became the inaugural winner of the Cannes Lions Innovation Grand Prix, was named to Crain's Best Places to Work list, and won marquee accounts, including Pepsi, IBM, Etihad and Kind.

Jess Smith
Head of Revenue, Angel City FC

Jess Smith is head of revenue for Angel City FC, one of two National Women's Soccer League expansion teams debuting in 2022. Smith oversees sponsorship, ticketing, operations and data for the Los Angeles-based team — one of the only organizations in North American professional sports whose ownership group is composed mainly of women. Responsible for the club's purpose-driven partnership model — 10% of each partnership goes toward benefiting equity, essentials or education — Smith has a passion for creating revenue streams with intent. Prior to Angel City, Smith held leadership positions within Major League Soccer, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball with the San Jose Earthquakes, Columbus Blue Jackets and Oakland Athletics.

Thayer Lavielle
Executive Vice President of The Collective, Wasserman

Thayer Lavielle joined Wasserman in 2011 and currently serves as executive vice president of The Collective, leading the charge to raise the visibility of women and drive inclusion in sports and entertainment. Lavielle spearheaded the formation of The Collective Marketplace in 2021 and The Collective Think Tank in 2020 — both first-of-its-kind innovations for women in sports. A producer at ABC News on "World News Tonight" and "Good Morning America" before transitioning into the marketing world, Lavielle has held a variety of leadership positions throughout her career. Well-versed in brand and talent strategy, partnerships, events and hospitality, she has been at the forefront of innovations in consumer engagement, research and insights, strategy building, personalized experiences, retail integration, ticketing and delivering thought leadership.