Steven Fehr
NHLPA

Steven Fehr is an attorney from Kansas City who currently serves as Special Counsel to the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA). In that role he represented the NHLPA during the owner's lockout in 2012-13 and was one of the lead negotiators in the bargaining that led to a new collective bargaining agreement that was reached in January 2013. He continues to work with the NHLPA on a wide range of matters including contract administration, health and safety, and governmental affairs.

Mr. Fehr's work in sports dates back to 1980. Previously as longtime outside counsel to the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), matters he worked on included strikes, lockouts, several rounds of collective bargaining, the collusion cases of the late 1980s, the Mitchell Investigation in 2006-7 regarding the use of performance enhancing drugs, and the events that led to the passage of the Curt Flood Act of 1998.

Gabe Feldman
Tulane Law School

Gabe Feldman is the Sher Garner Professor of Sports Law and Paul and Abram B. Barron Professor of Law at Tulane Law School, the Director of the Tulane Sports Law Program, the Co-Director of the Tulane Center for Sport (a multi-disciplinary center that studies the sports industry from the legal, medical, financial, social, and political perspectives to help improve the lives of athletes), and the Associate Provost for NCAA Compliance at Tulane University.  He serves as a consultant for the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, is the Reporter for the Uniform Law Commission NIL Committee, and has presented to the NCAA NIL working group and state and federal legislators on NIL and other NCAA issues. Prior to joining the Tulane Law School faculty, he was a litigator at Williams & Connolly in Washington DC, where he practiced in a variety of areas, including sports law, antitrust law, labor law, and intellectual property. 

Torrey M. Feldman
Adidas

Torrey M. Feldman, Esq. is a self-proclaimed live sports, music, and comedy junkie. She holds a Bachelor’s from Appalachian State University, a Master’s from The University of Tennessee, and a Juris Doctorate from American University’s Washington College of Law. Prior to law school, Torrey was a sideline reporter and owned a photography and videography business. Since graduating from law school, she has been an Associate at Baker Donelson, the lead Sports & Entertainment Attorney at a boutique law firm, and is now Legal Counsel for Sports & Culture Marketing at adidas. When Torrey isn’t at games or shows, she is either exploring different pockets of her new city, Portland, or curled up with her dog and cat (probably still watching sports).

Curtis Franks
The Coca-Cola Company

Curtis Franks is currently the Senior Legal Counsel, Head of Global Marketing Procurement for The Coca-Cola Company. In this role, Curtis serves as the lead attorney on global marketing assets across the sports, entertainment, music, gaming, and social media categories. Prior to Coca-Cola, Curtis has held various legal and business roles with the NCAA, the NBC Sports Group, and the Atlanta Hawks. Curtis earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from The University of Georgia, and a law degree from Tulane University.

Paula J. Frederick
State Bar of Georgia

Paula Frederick is General Counsel at the State Bar of Georgia, where she serves as Chief Disciplinary Counsel and in-house counsel to the Bar. She has been with the office for 34 years. Ms. Frederick is a frequent writer and lecturer on topics of ethics and professional responsibility. She is past president of both the Atlanta Bar Association and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys. She is also an active member of the American Bar Association and currently serves as chair of the Coordinating Council for the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility.

Layth Gafoor
Lucentem Sports & Entertainment Law

Layth is a Partner at Lucentem Sports & Entertainment Law in downtown Toronto. His practice involves advising on business and legal matters in the sport and entertainment industries. His practice has allowed him to serve as outside counsel to a variety of sporting organizations, teams, elite professional athletes and musical artists. His practice also encompasses providing legal advice and representation to clients in the music, film and television industries.

His experience in the area of sport, has allowed him to become one of Canada's leading television and media legal commentators. He is called upon to cover a wide variety of national and international sport stories and analyze them from a Canadian legal framework. He also regularly lectures at leading universities throughout Canada and the United States in the area of comparative American and Canadian law, including competition/antitrust.

Layth is also involved with the firm's crisis management group. This team is responsible for providing direct crisis communication support and litigation for high profile individuals and corporations facing criminal and regulatory charges throughout Canada. Lucentem Sports has become a source that international organizations turn to when Canadian sport, entertainment and litigation expertise is required.

Jessica Gelman
Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR)

Jessica Gelman is an experienced CEO, industry leader, and entrepreneur with a data-driven, customer-centric approach to innovation. She is the CEO of Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR), a technology and services company that helps sports & entertainment organizations get analytics right – increasing value and impact along the way. KAGR's data management platform, analytics and strategic services is driving industry redefinition through data and technology. KAGR's clients include all major US professional leagues, colleges, industry movers and in 2021, partnered with J.P. Morgan Private Bank.

Prior to KAGR's creation in 2016, Jessica joined the Kraft Family in 2002 working for the sports properties (New England Patriot, Gillette Stadium and New England Revolution) where she led business operations, marketing, & strategy for Kraft Sports & Entertainment.

Jessica co-founded and continues to co-chair the highly regarded MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, the first and largest analytically focused sports conference. Previous speakers have included President Barack Obama, Adam Silver, Steve Ballmer, Nate Silver, and many other sports and analytics luminaries.

Jessica has received recognition for her leadership and innovation, including the 2014 Sports Business Journal "Forty under 40" which honors the most promising young executives in sports business under the age of 40 and in 2012 Sports Business Journal's "Game Changers," which honors women who are leading and innovating in sports business.

Jessica earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA, cum laude from Harvard College. While at Harvard, she was selected as Harvard Female Athlete of the Year and in 2018 was honored as an Ivy League Legend of Basketball. She is an elected board member of the Harvard Varsity Club. Additionally, she is a board member for Peace Players International and Shooting Touch.

Gelman and her wife have two sons and reside in the greater Boston area.

Jeffrey Gewirtz
BSE Global

Jeff Gewirtz is the Executive Vice President of Business Affairs and Chief Legal & Compliance Officer for BSE Global (BSE). Gewirtz joined BSE in May 2007 as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, and he was promoted to his current EVP and CLO position in 2010. He also previously served as BSE’s Chief Administrative Officer.

Gewirtz is responsible for advising BSE’s ownership and his executive management colleagues on key business, strategic, and legal matters for BSE’s holdings, including the Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center, the NBA G League’s Long Island Nets, the NBA 2K League’s NetsGC, the WNBA’s New York Liberty, and, through 2019, NYCB LIVE – home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and Webster Hall. Gewirtz has oversight for all corporate, commercial, transactional, media, litigation, and day-to-day business and legal affairs for the BSE companies. Gewirtz also works closely with management of Barclays Center on a wide-range of critical arena operations and event programming initiatives. He additionally has oversight for BSE’s external affairs function.

Gewirtz was a key member of the negotiating team for BSE’s most significant commercial initiatives over the past several years, such as: the 2012 relocation of the New Jersey Nets to Brooklyn; development of the $1 billion Barclays Center; the 2015 relocation of the New York Islanders to Barclays Center and oversight of all legal affairs for the Islanders’ business operations through 2019; team and arena ownership transfer transactions in 2010, 2016, 2018, and September 2019; re-development of NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum; development of the Brooklyn Nets’ state-of-the-art practice facility, the HSS Training Center; acquisition of the Webster Hall business; and BSE’s media rights alliance with YES Network.

Gewirtz was named to the 2019 United States GC Powerlist by The Legal 500 and in 2015 his legal department was named one of the top 50 in-house legal departments in the United States by The Legal 500. In addition, Gewirtz was named 2014 Sports Counsel of the Year by the Association of Media & Entertainment Counsel, and in 2009 Gewirtz was selected to the prestigious “Forty Under 40” by Sports Business Journal as one of the 40 top sports executives under the age of 40 in the United States. Gewirtz sits on the Board of Directors of the Sports Lawyers Association and he is a past Sports Committee Chair of the American Bar Association’s Forum on the Entertainment and Sports Industries. In 2017 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Volunteers Lawyers Project and in 2018 he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Prior to BSE, Gewirtz served as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) General Counsel and Chief Legal & Government Affairs Officer where he was responsible for all USOC legal matters, as well as the USOC’s government relations activities with Congress and federal government agencies. Gewirtz has also held positions with: The Coca-Cola Company’s Corporate Legal Division – as Global Marketing Counsel – where he negotiated many of Coca-Cola’s most significant sports industry transactions such as its $500 million+ NCAA Corporate Champion sponsorship and media alliance with CBS Sports; IOC Television & Marketing Services SA – as Director of Legal Affairs – where he served as lead counsel for the International Olympic Committee’s global sponsorship Olympic Partner (“TOP”) Programme in connection with the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games and 2004 Athens Olympic Games; the LPGA Tour as General Counsel; and the WTA. He began his legal career as a corporate associate at the New York City law firm of Dunnington, Bartholow & Miller LLP.

A native of Baldwin Harbour, New York, Gewirtz is a graduate of Tufts University, where he was a four-year member and Captain of the Tufts Varsity Tennis Team his senior year, as well as a member of its New England Championship team. In 2016 he was appointed to the Tufts Athletics Board of Advisors. Gewirtz received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School, where he was the recipient of a three-year merit scholarship and from which he is a two-time recipient of its Alumni Achievement Award in Sports Law.

Gewirtz lives in Manhattan with his wife, Brooke Raphael, who is Vice President for Commercial with Phosplatin Therapeutics, and their two children, Eton and Dalia.

Kevin Glidewell
Warner Bros. Discovery

Kevin Glidewell serves as SVP, Sports Legal for Warner Bros. Discovery. His group provides legal support for sports media properties like the NBA on TNT, MLB on TBS, NHL on TNT, March Madness on TNT/TBS/truTV, and Bleacher Report. Prior to Warner Bros. Discovery, Kevin was an attorney at Alston & Bird LLP in Atlanta, GA focused on technology, intellectual property and media transactions. He's a graduate of the University of Georgia and Vanderbilt University Law School.

J. Dax Hansen
Perkins Coie LLP

J. Dax Hansen helps innovators transform and adopt technology and financial services. He is internationally recognized by Chambers and Partners as a pioneer of the fintech industry, having played a key role in the development of the practice area. He is also regarded as a leading figure in the blockchain and cryptocurrencies field, with particular experience advising startups and financial services businesses on regulatory matters. Dax has advised clients on many industry “firsts,” ranging from the first bitcoin exchanges and tokenized assets, to the first public company adoption of bitcoin as a reserve asset and the first mainstream non-fungible token (NFT) auction. Dax founded the firm’s leading Fintech industry group, which, for many years, has served clients innovating and operating at the intersection of emerging technologies and money. Much of Dax's work is international, and he maintains a Japan-related technology practice. More at www.perkinscoie.com/DHansen/

Leigh Hawley
USA Skateboarding

Leigh Hawley is USA Skateboarding's General Counsel. Leigh will oversees the business and legal affairs for USA Skateboarding and is responsible for managing the organization's compliance strategies, policies, and business operations. Leigh joined USA Skateboarding after working most recently as Associate Counsel, Sports Business & Entertainment at Leopoldus Law, APC consulting NGBs on Compliance and Certification strategies, as well as working with professional athletes, sports agencies, music artists, movie directors and writers, and professional sports teams as outside counsel. Prior to her time at Leopoldus Law, she served as a staff auditor at the USOPC. A graduate from Sandra Day O'Connor's College of Law's Sports Law & Business Program at Arizona State University, Leigh returned home to Los Angeles where she was born and raised and began her sports business and legal career as the Basketball and Business Operations Assistant with the Los Angeles Sparks, during the 2016 WNBA Championships.

Stephanie Jarvis
ASU Selig Sports Law and Business

Stephanie Jarvis is an alumnus of Northwestern University and the University of Cincinnati, where she earned a Juris Doctorate degree. After a 13-year tenure as Associate Commissioner of the Horizon League, Jarvis transitioned to the Phoenix metro area in 2012. Since coming to the Valley, Jarvis has held several leadership roles in local sports organizations, including: General Counsel/Chief Compliance Officer of the Fiesta Bowl; Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the 2016 College Football Playoff Championship Game; and Chief Operating Officer of the Phoenix Local Organizing Committee for the 2017 NCAA Final Four. She joined the ASU Sports Law & Business Program in August 2017 as a Lecturer. Additionally, she is the founder of SJarvis Consulting where she serves as a strategic consultant for the Arizona Sports and Entertainment Commission ,Teall Properties Group and is part of the team that helped secure the 2024 Phoenix Men's Final Four and the 2026 Phoenix Women's Final Four.

Ashland Johnson
The Inclusion Playbook

An attorney, equity and inclusion strategist, and former Division I athlete, Ashland Johnson has over a decade of civil rights experience working with social justice communities, advising sports leaders, and serving in leadership roles in advocacy organizations.

Ashland recently served as the Director of Public Education & Research for the Human Rights Campaign, executing innovative, data-driven campaigns at the intersections of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, health care, sports, and faith. As a member of HRC's senior leadership team, Ashland also helped establish and chair HRC's Racial Equity & Inclusion table to further the organization's commitment to and engagement with communities of color. Prior to HRC, Ashland served as Athlete Ally's Policy Director, working with sports leaders to promote LGBTQ inclusion both on the field and under the law. She previously served as Policy Counsel for at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, where she helped develop the first national LGBTQ Sports Project. In 2016, Ashland was named as one of the 40 best LGBTQ lawyers under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association.

Ashland has extensive experience working with major sports leagues and associations, including the NBA, NCAA, NFL, USOC, and various national governing bodies to strengthen their social responsibility programming, policies, and platforms at the intersection of inclusion, race, gender, and the law. She recently authored the groundbreaking report, Play to Win: Improving the Lives of LGBTQ Youth in Sports which provides critical insights and action steps for more inclusive sporting spaces.

Ashland is a graduate of Furman University, where she was a member of the Varsity Women's Basketball team. She holds a law degree from the University of Georgia School of Law. She is a former National Board member of the American Constitution Society and currently serves on the National Board of Directors for the Point Foundation.

Han Lee
Global Sporting Integration (GSI)

Han Lee is the founder and CEO of GSI Sports, a full-service sports agency focusing on representing professional baseball players around the globe. He represents clients that play in MLB, MiLB, KBO, NPB, and CPBL. 

Han received his Dual Degree in International Relations and General Management from Michigan State University, and a Juris Doctor from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.

Michael Lenard
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)

Michael Lenard OLY has served, representing the interests of athletes, on the governing board of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) since its founding in 1994 and as its Vice President since 2010.  He has served as President of CAS Ad hoc Divisions at numerous major international sports events, including the Olympic Games, Asian Games, and FIFA World Cup.  Mr. Lenard previously has held numerous positions in sport, including as a member and then Vice Chairman of the athletes’ commission of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and then as USOC Vice President.  He was a member of or has testified to numerous commissions empaneled to investigate or study and recommend structural and cultural changes to the USOC.  He has provided the USOC’s lead testimony in US congressional hearings and has served as special counsel to the USOC Ethics Committee.  He was a member of the board of directors of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games organizing committee and its Audit and Ethics Committee.  Mr. Lenard serves and has served in senior business positions in international private equity firms (including as Chief Compliance Officer implementing regulatory compliance programs and leading foreign corrupt practices investigations) and on numerous boards of directors (including as Chairman) of international and domestic public and private companies.  He previously was a partner in the international law firm of Latham & Watkins.  Mr. Lenard earned numerous scholastic honors in conjunction with his undergraduate business school degree in both accounting and finance and his juris doctor degree.  

Brandon Leopoldus
Leopoldus Law

Brandon Leopoldus is a California-based attorney and founder of Leopoldus Law, APC – the solutions firm for those in the sports and entertainment industries.

Mr. Leopoldus’ sports practice has included representing professional sports franchises, unions, NGB's, individuals working in or retired from high level, Olympic, and professional sports, and sports officials.  He is also an Adjunct Professor of Sports Law at Loyola Law School (Los Angeles).

Some of his highlights have included representing an MLS team during the beginning of 2021, advising the Association of Minor League Umpires during COVID, advising dozens of collegiate athletes as they prepare for professional playing careers, and most recently developing the model to maximize returns for collegiate athletes leveraging their name, image, and likeness rights.

Before becoming an attorney, Mr. Leopoldus spent many years in Minor League Baseball as an umpire – only being called out on SportsCenter once.

In his spare time, Leopoldus enjoys spending time with his friends and family, including his incredibly smart dog, Harvey – named after Hall of Fame umpire Doug Harvey.

Pam Lester
Lester Sports and Entertainment, Inc.

Pam Lester has spent her career negotiating in the professional sports and entertainment industries as a lawyer, agent, and business affairs executive.  Before going out on her own, Lester was Chief Operating Officer of HBO Properties, where she created and ran Home Box Office’s (HBO) licensing and merchandising business, including the inaugural licensing programs for The Sopranos and Sex and the City.  Prior to her role at HBO Properties, Lester served as Senior Vice President, Business Affairs and General Counsel of Time Warner Sports and its pay-per-view television subdivisions, TVKO and TVKO Entertainment, where she negotiated contracts for a variety of events, including pay-per-view championship prize fights, concerts and special events, World Cup Soccer, and Wimbledon.

Lester joined Time Warner Sports from Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld, where she worked on matters for the NFL Management Council, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball (including the Steinbrenner investigation), and the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Lester began her career as an athlete agent and General Counsel at Advantage International, Inc. (now Octagon).

She is the first woman to chair the ABA Forum on the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Industries, the first woman Sports Division Chair of the ABA Forum on the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Industries, and the first woman President of the Sports Lawyers Association.  She is also the inaugural recipient of the Sports Lawyers Association Women in Sports Award recognizing her pioneering and mentoring role for women sports lawyers in 2011, the 2007 recipient of The Ed Rubin Award, presented by the ABA Forum on the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Industries for excellence in the entertainment and sports industries and service to the Forum, and the 2004 recipient of the Professional Sports Law Award presented by Fordham University School of Law.

Lester is a frequent speaker on negotiation and sports industry topics.  Her Negotiation and Persuasion Club on the Clubhouse social media app has grown to over 14,000 members in a year. 

She received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 1983 and a B.A., cum laude, in comparative literature from Amherst College in 1980, where she was captain and MVP of four varsity sports teams.  She continues to play field hockey as a member of the US Women’s Over 60 Field Hockey indoor and outdoor national squads.

Mark Levin
NFL Players Association

Director of Salary Cap & Agent Administration since 2012, prior to that I was the Salary Cap Manager and Contract Negotiator for the Washington Commanders. My main responsibilities at the PA are overseeing the entire agent certification program and assisting players and agents in their individual contract negotiations against the 32 Clubs in the NFL.

Wendy Li
BSE Global

Wendy Li is the Associate Counsel of BSE Global, parent company to the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, WNBA’s New York Liberty, NBA G League’s Long Island Nets, and the owner and operator of Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Prior to joining BSE Global, Wendy was a corporate associate at global law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell in the New York office, where she focused her practice in the Mergers & Acquisitions group. Wendy received her Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Berkeley (2014) and her Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School (2019), where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a James Kent Scholar.

Abraham Madkour
Sports Business Journal, Sports Business Daily/Global

Abraham Madkour is Publisher & Executive Editor of Sports Business Journal.

He is responsible for the overall business of the recognized leader in sports business news and information. He oversees the editorial content, as well as the business performance and business strategy. In addition, he oversees the various conferences produced by SBJ, including the prestigious World Congress of Sports, the Forty Under 40 awards dinner and the Sports Business Awards gala. Mr. Madkour is an oft-requested speaker on all issues related to the sports business. He started at the company a Staff Writer at The Sports Business Daily in 1994.

Harry Marino
Advocates for Minor Leagues

Harry Marino is an attorney and former Minor League pitcher with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Baltimore Orioles. He currently serves as the executive director of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a collective voice for Minor League baseball players. Prior to joining Advocates, Harry worked as a litigation associate at Williams & Connolly LLP. Before that, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Karen LeCraft Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the Honorable J. Frederick Motz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Harry is a graduate of Williams College and the University of Virginia School of Law. He resides in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife Kaitlin and their dog Shea.

Chris McCleary
USOPC

Chris McCleary has served as general counsel for the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee since January 2015. In this role, he leads a team of legal professionals responsible for all USOPC legal, contract, intellectual property, and dispute resolution matters. Additionally, he serves as the organization’s ethics officer and works with the USOPC Ethics Committee to advance USOPC’s ethics and conflicts of interest policies and practices, and to resolve ethics questions as they arise.  He also leads USOPC’s governance work and serves as corporate secretary to the USOPC board of directors.

McCleary oversees the USOPC’s partnerships with the World Anti-doping Agency, U.S. Anti-doping Agency and Partnership for Clean Competition. He also serves as a member of the Association of National Olympic Committee’s Legal Commission.

McCleary joined the USOPC from Visa Inc., where he served eight years as the senior vice president and senior associate general counsel of global brand and client management, in which he led the company’s worldwide legal operations in marketing, sponsorships, intellectual property and client licensing.

Previously, McCleary served as senior vice president and deputy general counsel for Visa International Service Association, focusing on the Visa Worldwide Services legal department. In a prior stint with the company, he also served as senior vice president for Visa U.S.A. Inc., where he led the legal department in all marketing and advertising matters.

In addition to his experience with Visa, he served as general counsel for Move.com and practiced law with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, concentrating on intellectual property matters.

McCleary received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 1986, and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Michigan Law in 1991. He and his wife, Kristina Chung, live in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with their two children, Chase and Caroline.

Leilyn Miles
Arizona Diamondbacks

Leilyn graduated from the Texas Christian University with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science with a Criminal Justice minor. She is also a former NCAA Division I Student-Athlete, as she competed for the frogs on their track and field team. After graduation, Leilyn began law school at the University of Oregon School of Law, where she is now a rising 3L. Leilyn serves as Vice President of the Sports and Entertainment Law Forum and is also a Multnomah Bar Association Fellow. She has interned with Nike Inc. and the Arizona Diamondbacks and hopes to continue a career in the sports and entertainment law sector of the legal profession.

Shannon Minter
NCLR

Shannon Price Minter (he/him) is one of the nation's most experienced transgender legal advocates and the legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a legal advocacy group for LGBTQ people with a long history of precedent-setting victories in state and federal courts. NCLR's Sports Project has been at the forefront of efforts to secure inclusive policies for LGBTQ athletes and coaches. NCLR partners with the NCAA in the Common Ground initiative, which brings LGBTQ advocates and athletes together with athletic directors, coaches, and other staff from religious colleges and universities. Shannon is committed to building relationships between LGBTQ people and conservative faith communities.

Matt Mitten
Marquette University Law School

Matt Mitten is a Professor of Law and the Executive Director of the National Sports Law Institute. He is a member of the Sports Lawyers Association (SLA) Board of Directors (serving as SLA president from May 2015-May 2017) and the Advisory Board for the Sports & Society Initiative of The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences. Before becoming a law professor, he practiced antitrust law, intellectual property law, and commercial litigation with Kilpatrick Townsend in Atlanta, Georgia.

He has authored Sports Law in the United States (Wolters Kluwer 2011, 2nd ed. 2014, 3rd ed. 2017) and co-authored a law school textbook, Sports Law and Regulation: Cases, Materials, and Problems (Aspen/Wolters Kluwer 2005, 2nd ed. 2009, 3rd ed. 2013, 4th ed., 2017, 5th ed. 2020), and Sports Law: Governance and Regulation (Wolters Kluwer 2013, 2nd ed. 2016, 3rd ed. 2020), an undergraduate/graduate text. A leading sports law scholar, he has published articles in several highly ranked law reviews as well as in medical journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine.

He previously was a professor of law at South Texas College of Law-Houston and received the 1997 Vinson & Elkins Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship, and Service. He has taught U. S. Sports Law as a Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School, International Sports Law at the University of Barcelona, and Comparative Sports Law at the University of Queensland (Australia). He has been a visiting professor at the University of Toledo College of Law and a visiting lecturer in sports medicine at The University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine. In 2018, he received the National Athletic Trainers Association Professional Responsibility in Athletic Training Award for distinction in the advancement of legal, ethical, and regulatory issues.

Matt testified before a U.S. Congressional joint subcommittee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the Senate Commerce Committee as well as the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics regarding various college sports law issues. He has discussed a wide variety of sports law, business, and ethics topics at more than 200 conferences and seminars throughout the United States as well as in Australia, Canada, China, England, Hungary, Republic of Korea, and Turkey.

He is an arbitrator for the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland (serving on the ad hoc Division for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia and Anti-doping Division for the 2020/21 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan) and the American Arbitration Association’s sports, commercial, and consumer arbitration panels as well as the UFC and the Ladies Professional Golfers Association anti-doping panels.

Leonard N. Moore
University of Texas at Austin

Leonard N. Moore is the founder and executive director of the Black Student-Athlete Summit. He is currently the George Littlefield Professor of American History at the University of Texas at Austin and he serves as board chair of the Austin Area Urban League. He is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, who earned his BA from Jackson State University in 1993 and his PhD from the Ohio State University in 1998. Leonard was a professor at LSU from 1998-2007 and he has been at Texas for the past fifteen years. Inside the classroom Dr. Moore teaches more than 1,000 undergraduate students every academic year in his two classes: History of The Black Power Movement and Race in the Age of Trump. Dr. Moore also directs summer programs in Beijing, Cape Town, and Dubai, which have taken more than 500 Black and Brown students abroad since 2014. As a scholar Professor Moore is the author of three books on black politics and his fourth book, Teaching Black History to White People, was nominated for a 2022 NAACP Image Award.

Dr. Moore’s interest in the Black Student-Athlete started in January of 1995 while he was a Ph.D. student at Ohio State. While tutoring a group of Black football players he knew that much of his time as a professor would be spent helping them maximize their academic opportunities. He works tirelessly to empower Black Student-Athletes while simultaneously encouraging athletic directors and athletic departments to put systems in place to help Black Student-Athletes succeed off the field. Started in 2015, the Black Student Athlete Summit is the only venue where Black student-athletes, athletic directors, coaches, athletic administrators, professors, graduate students, and community leaders, come together to share ideas, explore solutions, and celebrate the success of Black student-athletes.

Leonard and his wife Thais, are the parents of three student-athletes: Jaaucklyn (19), Lauryn (18) and Leonard (16).

Sandra Morgan
Covington& Burling LLP

Sandra Douglass Morgan is Of Counsel with Covington & Burling, LLP and is  well-versed in substantive areas and emerging issues affecting the gaming, sports, and technology industries, including regulations, corporate culture assessments, internal reviews, and sensitive investigations, diversity and inclusion policies, data privacy and cybersecurity, fantasy sports, Esports, social gaming, payment processing, as well as cutting-edge gaming developments across Asia, Europe, and other regions. She is the immediate past Chair of the Nevada Gaming Control Board and a former Commissioner of the Nevada Gaming Commission, has nearly two decades of expertise in the gaming industry. She has led and managed regulatory, investigatory, cybersecurity, and litigation matters, and represents gaming companies – including integrated resorts and casinos, game manufacturers, social gaming companies, and payments processors – and other companies on a wide range of matters. Sandra is the first person of color and second woman to serve as Chair in Nevada’s history.  Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors of Allegiant Travel Company, Caesars Entertainment, Inc., and Fidelity National Financial, Inc.

Chris Mosier
Athlete

Chris Mosier has been called “the man who changed the Olympics” by the BBC and New York Magazine. In 2020 he made history by becoming the first transgender athlete to compete in the Olympic Trials in the gender with which they identify. In 2015 he became the first openly trans man to make a Men’s US National Team and was the catalyst for change of the International Olympic Committee policy on transgender athletes. In June 2016 he became the first trans athlete to compete in a world championship race under the new rules. Chris is a six-time member of Team USA, a two-time Men’s National Champion, a Men’s All-American, and an inductee into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame. He is sponsored by Nike, and was the first transgender athlete to land a contract with any major sporting company. Chris’s website, transathlete.com, is the go-to source for information about transgender athletes in sport. He has written and advocated for change in policies from the high school level to national governing bodies and professional leagues and has become one of the leading grassroots organizers against the current wave of anti-trans legislation across the United States. When not fighting the good fight, he mentors transgender and non-binary athletes around the world in hopes that he can live by his motto of “be who you needed when you were younger.”

Margaret Ntim
Trinity 3 Agency

Margaret “Maggie” Ntim, known to many as the ‘Connector’ from Queens, New York has built her brand as a sports and entertainment sponsorship and partnership maven, founder of Trinity 3 Agency, entrepreneur and FIFA Soccer Agent. After spending half a decade successfully navigating sponsorship and partnership deals for sports, entertainment, and technology companies including working with such talent as 50 Cent, and others, her career and notable success has led to her being recruited by the following companies Universal Music Group, Viacom Media Networks, G-Unit Records, United States Tennis Association, Madison Square Garden and Coca-Cola. As one of the first African American female soccer/football agents in the U.S.A., she’s on a mission to recruit more female agents, and continues to advocate for more women and men of color in sports and soccer.

Maggie holds several degrees, a B.S. in Business Management and Finance, B.B.A in Marketing from Brooklyn College and dual Master’s in Sports Management and Project Management from Northeastern University. In addition to her work she also serves on several boards such as Women in Music, Women in Soccer, and Women in Sports Tech. She’s also a member of orgs Sports Business Daily Journal, Women in Sports Law, Women in Sports and Events, and Women in Football UK

Maidie Oliveau
Arent Fox Schiff LLP

Maidie Oliveau's practice focuses on sports-related transactions and arbitration. She has developed a multi-faceted practice including television, streaming, naming rights, sponsorship and event-related rights, for single sport and multi-sport/international events; acquisitions of sports events and/or clubs; and US and international sports arbitration.  Clients call on Maidie for her deep sports law experience and note that she instills confidence in decision making.  She has served as an arbitrator on the Court of Arbitration for Sport since 1997.  In addition, Maidie is on the panel of the American Arbitration Association and International Center for Dispute Resolution.

Katie Peters
FanDuel

Katie is a seasoned in-house government relations and public affairs professional, skilled at crafting strategy to achieve legislative and regulatory outcomes. With over 20 years of experience in the public policy arena, she has advised entertainment companies on intellectual property, privacy, antitrust, spectrum, and tax policy.

Currently, she is the head of Public Policy for FanDuel, serving as the company's lead advocate on policies impacting live events for Congress, the Administration, and state governments.

Katie started her career on Capitol Hill with a Member of the Appropriations Committee. She joined the FanDuel team in November 2021 and lives in Washington, DC.

Qaadirah Abdur-Rahim
Mayor's Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (OEDI)

Qaadirah Abdur-Rahim has always been a trailblazer. Born and raised on Atlanta's Southside, she was the first person in her family to graduate college, earning degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, and, later, Goizueta School of Business at Emory University.

Two decades after graduating college, she led the legislative process to establish the City of Atlanta's first, Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. In her role as Chief Equity Officer, a senior level-cabinet position, Qaadirah works with City leadership to develop social justice policies and programs that confront equity, diversity, and inclusion issues, particularly around the areas of workforce mobility, housing affordability, health, education, youth engagement, and LGBTQ affairs.

A former U.S. Air Force Reservist, Qaadirah spent 17 years working at the Future Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to disrupting the cycle of poverty by helping students at underinvested-in public schools thrive and pursue higher education. She departed as the organization's CEO, having increased the organization's revenue by 432% and ensured a 100% high school graduation rate among afterschool participants.

As a Black woman in a groundbreaking new leadership role, Qaadirah remains devoted to her personal mission to dismantle systems of injustice that marginalize people and communities with her lived experience. She believes each one of us has a role to play in empowering voices that go unheard, leading with dignity, and uniting with each other to chart the path to a better tomorrow.

LaChina Robinson
ESPN

LaChina Robinson is an award-winning basketball analyst for ESPN having served for 12 season of college basketball and entering her 15th season of WNBA coverage across various networks throughout her career including ESPN, Turner, and Fox. Her work around women’s basketball as an analyst, host, and reporter spans a wide range of Collegiate and WNBA events during the regular season, NCAA Tournament, Final Four, Playoffs, Finals, and Draft coverage.

In 2018 Robinson received high honors as the recipient of the Dawn Staley Excellence in Broadcasting Award, followed by the prestigious Mel Greenbrerg award in 2021 given annually to a member of the media or sports communications professional who has best displayed a commitment to women’s basketball and to advancing the role of the media in the women’s game. In the 30 years of the awards existence LaChina is only the 2nd black women to win the award, the other was Robin Roberts in 2001. In 2020 LaChina was recognized with the Giving Gracefully Award as a nod to her work as co-founder of her own non-profit, Rising Media Stars which is a mentorship and training program for young women of color that want to start a career in sports broadcasting. Robinson has also given countless volunteer hours including current appointments to the Board of Trustees for the Women’s Sports Foundation and the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

Robinson has served as the host of espnW’s podcast “Around The Rim” for 6 years, the podcast was chosen as one of the best sports podcasts of 2017 by Sports Illustrated. LaChina was a student-athlete at Wake Forest University where she achieved All-ACC recognition both in the classroom and on the court. Robinson has been inducted into two Hall of Fames in her hometown including the Inaugural Alexandria City Public School’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.

Since 2008 LaChina has also served as the Founder and CEO of her own consulting company ‘Stretch Beyond’. Through ‘Stretch Beyond’ LaChina serves as an NCAA-Certified facilitator and career Transition Coach for women and athletes. Robinson’s work in this space have made her a sought after personal brand developer and keynote speaker for colleges and universities including Notre Dame, Cal, Florida, Georgia Tech, Penn State, and many others.

Dan Rube
National Basketball Association

Dan Rube joined the National Basketball Association in 1995 and currently serves as the league's Executive Vice President and Deputy General Counsel.

Rube's principal responsibilities include collective bargaining with the National Basketball Players Association; CBA system oversight, including with respect to player transactions, the salary cap, and related financial matters; enforcement of CBA-related and other league rules; and the development and implementation of league revenue-sharing policies. Among other things, Rube also works on a wide range of competition-related and governance matters, manages the NBA's agreement with FIBA, basketball's world governing body, relating to contract clearances and national team play, and oversees the structuring and implementation of player-related benefit and insurance programs.

Prior to joining the NBA, Rube clerked for the Hon. Robert E. Cowen of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and worked in the litigation departments of the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss and the Philadelphia law firm of Ballard, Spahr. He is a graduate of Amherst College and Harvard Law School.

Maddie Salamone

Maddie Salamone is a sports attorney, college athlete advocate, and former lacrosse player for Duke University. She received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While in college, Maddie chaired the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), where she led athletes from each of the Division I conferences in advocating for athletes across the country. As chair, she served on rules working groups, legislative and leadership councils within the NCAA, and consulted with numerous groups on issues concerning college athletes. During the 2014 NCAA Convention, she delivered a speech demanding that athletes be given voting power at all levels the NCAA governance structure, which was eventually granted. She was awarded the ACC President’s Award for Exemplary Service in 2017 for the lasting impact of her advocacy.

Maddie is passionate about empowering athletes with the tools they need to succeed in all areas of life. She has been a leading voice for NCAA reform and college athletes’ rights over the years, consulting with leaders and lawmakers across the country, and providing insights into the major issues within college sports. Maddie works with college athletes on matters concerning eligibility, scholarship appeals, abuse and mistreatment, transfer, mental health, well-being, and mindset. She also educates and consults on policies and issues related to name, image, likeness (NIL) in college sports. She also provides informative content through her YouTube channel, her podcast, “Speaking of Athletes,” and co-hosts the podcast, “College Athlete Strong,” all of which address the complex issues within college sports, especially those affecting athletes.​

Steven Smith
BCLP

I have been with BCLP for over 30 years, focusing on Sports Law. My areas of expertise include sponsorship and naming rights, Olympic-related issues, collegiate sports law, television and media rights, professional sports matters and international sports. Clients include sports organization in the Olympic world, collegiate sports conferences and university athletic departments, professional sports teams and leagues, and corporations that invest in sponsorships, naming rights and advertising in sports.

Teri Smith
NFLPA

Teri Smith was hired as Special Counsel to the Executive Director at the National Football League Players Association on August 4, 2009.  She was promoted to Deputy Managing Director in August of 2010, Acting COO in February of 2019 and then became the first female and Black COO in March of 2021.

Prior to joining the NFLPA, Teri participated in multi-million dollar merger and acquisition deals for numerous Fortune 500 companies as a corporate associate at Latham & Watkins, which was ranked as the 2nd best law firm in the world at the time she was hired.  She has advised a variety of start-up organizations, including non-profits founded by current and former professional athletes. 

Teri proudly received her undergraduate degree in Accounting, summa cum laude, from Howard University in 1997 and her Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law 2001.  She is licensed to practice law in the State of New York and the District of Columbia.

Teri Smith is the first female to be named counsel at the NFL Players Association. As Acting Chief Operating Officer, Teri has a diverse role and a broad range of responsibility within the NFLPA. She has wide influence and responsibility for not only NFLPA staff but also for players and their families. In this role, Teri provides direction of over 140 employees and advises the Executive Director on discreet legal matters and NFL front office communication.

In 2013, she led an internal team in launching “The Trust”, an independent initiative whose sole purpose is to serve former players. The Trust is funded by money negotiated in the 2011 Collective Bargaining agreement. Her responsibilities included overseeing hiring personnel, drafting and executing relevant legal documents. She continues to serve as Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees.  She also sits on the Boards of OneTeam Collective and Rep Worldwide, both subsidiaries of NFL Players, Inc.

As an adjunct professor in Georgetown’s Sports Industry Management program, Teri has taught a sports law class since 2011 and has a direct influence on future leaders of the sports industry.

She has been named Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal Forty Under 40: Class of 2015.  She was also named to the EnVest Foundation’s “40 Under 40” list in 2010 and is a member of the Sports Lawyers Association.  Teri is a frequent panelist in the sports arena and continues to pursue opportunities to educate and assist those up and coming. 

Teri was raised in Charlotte, NC and now, she and her family reside in Washington, DC.

Debbie Spander
Insight Sports Advisors

Debbie Spander is an accomplished sports and entertainment executive with multifaceted experience in business and law. She is a skilled negotiator who has closed over $2 billion in deals, with expertise in traditional and new media, distribution and branding.

Debbie joined Wasserman in 2012 to launch its broadcasting division. She currently serves as Senior Vice President of Media and Coaching, where she drives revenue representing high profile coaches, executives and broadcasters. Debbie prepares her clients to maximize post-playing careers and grows and monetizes their personal brands.

Debbie has strong relationships with key decision-makers throughout the NBA, college athletics and the media. A fierce advocate, she is skilled at protecting her clients’ business and legal rights and getting them maximum value.

Shira Springer
MIT Sloan and Boston University

Shira Springer covers stories at the intersection of sports and society, and teaches leadership communication at MIT Sloan and journalism at Boston University. She created the courses “Sports Storytelling” and “Sports, Gender & Justice” at BU and currently writes regular columns on women in sports for the Sports Business Journal. She’s reported on all four major Boston professional teams, the NBA Finals, World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup Final, and the Winter and Summer Olympics. She served as the Boston Globe’s Celtics beat writer for seven years. As a Globe staff writer, Springer reported on the Boston Marathon bombings and shared in the paper’s 2014 Pulitzer Prize for that coverage.

Her stories on the Celtics and the NBA, as well as the larger sports world, earned national awards for investigative journalism, breaking news, and feature writing. Her radio storytelling for NPR and NPR affiliate WBUR won national awards for sports reporting and narrative sports features. In collaboration with colleagues at MIT Sloan, she’s co-authored two business case studies on the NWSL-- "The National Women's Soccer League (A): Navigating Uncertainty, Building for the Future" (May 2021, MIT Sloan School of Management) and “The National Women’s Soccer League (B): Navigating a Crisis, Repairing a Culture” (April 2022).

Irene Scholl-Tatevosyan
Nixon Peabody

Irene Scholl-Tatevosyan leads Nixon Peabody’s Esports Industry group—one of the first dedicated esports groups among AM100 law firms, and is the vice president of the Esports Bar Association. Irene’s passion for esports and gaming has made her an active member and thought leader in the esports and gaming community. She is often called on to present at conferences nationwide and comment on legal issues affecting the industry. At Nixon Peabody LLP, Irene is a trial and practicing labor and employment attorney representing employers in all aspects of labor and employment matters. She regularly partners with esports and gaming clients, counseling them on the full range of legal issues to ensure their businesses thrive, and protecting them in or through litigation as needed. Irene litigates complex contract disputes, employee mobility issues, wrongful termination, discrimination and retaliation cases, wage and hour actions, labor, and workplace safety (OSHA) matters.

Chris Sulfaro
Twitter

Chris Sulfaro is in-house counsel at Twitter, serving as Legal Director leading the legal team supporting Twitter's content partnerships for sports, news, and entertainment. Chris spent the previous 5 years at Twitter counseling the platform's advertising revenue business and has spent over a decade as in-house counsel in the digital media, advertising, and technology space. His practice focuses on negotiating complex commercial agreements with sports leagues, content publishers, large brand advertisers and ad agencies, and technology partners on issues such as content licensing, brand sponsorships and media placement, data privacy, and influencer marketing, as well as counseling internal business stakeholders on a wide range of legal issues. Chris is a graduate of Colgate University and Fordham University School of Law.

Mori Taheripour
The Wharton School

Mori Taheripour is a globally recognized executive, highly sought-after speaker, and negotiation expert who has worked with some of the most iconic sports leagues and Fortune 100 corporations over the past twenty years. She teaches Negotiation and Dispute Resolution at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is an eight-time recipient of awards for excellence in teaching. 

Top business publications and media outlets have featured Mori's work, including ESPN, Forbes, INC., Money, and NPR. She is a contributor to sports discussions on Wharton Business Daily on SiriusXM. Her current and past clients include Goldman Sachs Foundation, Google, Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), National Football League (NFL), The Timberland Company, United Parcel Service (UPS), US Agency for International Development (USAID), Wasserman, Wells Fargo, and the White House Fellows Program. 

Mori is a member of the Board of Directors for USA Track and Field (USATF), a member of the Board of Trustees of the Women's Sports Foundation, a Global Sport Fellow with the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University, and an Advisory Board Member of the Sports Leadership & Administration Undergraduate Degree Program at UMass, Boston​.

Mori earned her BA from Barnard College of Columbia University, her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Diversity and Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University. Mori's first book, Bring Yourself: How to Harness the Power of Connection to Negotiate Fearlessly, was published by Penguin Random House.  

Elana Meyers Taylor
American Olympic Bobsledder

5x Olympic medalist for the US Bobsled team. Most decorated Black Winter Olympian. Former President of the Women's Sports Foundation.

Tamika Tremaglio
National Basketball Players Association (NBPA)

Tamika Tremaglio is the Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). In this role, she serves as the primary advocate for all players, ensuring the protection of the organization and its membership, including serving as the lead negotiator in all collective bargaining activities. She also oversees the management of the NBPA’s business innovation and partnership arm, THINK450.

Before joining the NBPA, Tremaglio served as the Managing Principal for Deloitte’s Greater Washington practice, where she was responsible for managing over 14,000 professionals across 23 offices providing market-leading services in audit, tax, advisory, and consulting. At Deloitte, Tremaglio was a key leader in the company’s sports industry arm, accumulating over 15 years of experience working with several players’ associations. She has served as a trusted advisor to many Fortune 1000 clients and was selected as one of the Top 50 Most Powerful Women in 2019 by the Washingtonian Magazine.

Caren Ulrich
Diversity Lab

Caren Ulrich Stacy is a talent and behavioral science expert with more than 25 years of experience as the head of talent for several of the world’s top law firms. After her first start-up -- focused on Moneyball related to lawyer talent -- was acquired, Caren founded Diversity Lab.

Diversity Lab works with law firms and legal departments across the globe to create fair, equitable, and inclusive communities and workplaces. By leveraging data, behavioral science, and experimentation, the Lab disrupts biases in talent systems and processes to ensure all lawyers have ample and equal access to quality work, business origination, leadership roles, and other career-enhancing opportunities.  Several of the Lab’s successful initiatives include the OnRamp Fellowship (bringing women who left the workforce back to law), Inclusion Blueprint (tracking and measuring inclusion in law firms), and the Mansfield Rule (boosting diversity in leadership).

Norman Wain
USA Track & Field

General Counsel, Chief of Business & Legal Affairs Norman Wain arrived at USA Track & Field in July of 2010. Wain oversees the USATF legal department (negotiating all contracts, managing corporate governance, handling anti-doping matters, overseeing litigation & risk management, managing the Athlete Representative program, etc). The legal department works with USATF staff and Board of Directors, the Law and Legislation Committee, the Ethics Committee, and various other committees and constituencies to advance the goals and initiatives of the organization and protect its general legal interests.  Wain also leads USATF’s SafeSport efforts and is involved with steering USATF’s business initiatives.

Before arriving at USATF, Wain worked as the Vice President – Corporate Legal Affairs at The Finish Line, Inc., a publicly traded, billion dollar, mall-based specialty retailer operating nearly 700 stores in 47 states across the country and online. Prior to Finish Line, he spent time in the business and legal affairs department at Writers & Artists Agency, Inc., a Los Angeles talent agency (subsequently acquired by Paradigm), and held stints at Fox Sports World and BigShot Films International. He also worked in private practice as a litigator in Santa Monica, CA.

Wain currently serves on the Sports Lawyers Associations (SLA) national board of directors, the Governance Commission for World Athletics, and as chair for the Law In Sport Advisory Committee. He also co-founded and served as the inaugural chair for the ACC Sports & Entertainment Committee and served two terms on the ACC national board of directors.  Wain speaks on various sports topics both domestically and internationally.

Wain graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California-Berkeley in 1992 and received his J.D. degree from the Pepperdine University School of Law in 1996.

James Williams
ArentFox Schiff, LLP

James is a partner at ArentFox Schiff LLP and leads the Firm’s national crypto practice. Aside from his 20+ years of legal experience at the intersection of corporate securities and intellectual property law, James has served as the CEO of a global consumer brand, an operating partner for private equity funds in the US and UK, and the head of strategy of one of the country’s most revered investment advisory firms. His command of deal dynamics reaches far beyond legal issues and deep into the strategic, operational and financial layers of his clients’ businesses.

James routinely counsels on leading-edge deals relating to venture financing, token vetting, protocol/governance/DAO treasury design, minting, licensing/royalty structures and enforcement, consortium blockchain integrations and SEC regulatory compliance.