PAST Speakers
Kevin Gilmore
President & CEO of
the Montreal Impact
Luc Robitaille
President, Alt. Governor of the Los Angeles Kings
Luc Robitaille, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, the highest scoring left wing in NHL history and the all-time Kings leader in goals scored, is in his second season as Kings President, in which he directs and oversees all hockey and business operations. He is also in his 12th season overall in the Kings front office after working the previous 10 years as President, Business Operations. For the Kings Business Operations department, Robitaille has especially been effective in the areas of Sponsorship Sales and Renewal, Fan and Customer Relations, Game Entertainment, Communications and Broadcasting.
Kevin Gilmore was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the Montreal Impact and Stade Saputo on January 22, 2019. Gilmore has accumulated over 25 years of experience in the worlds of sports, media and entertainment, contributing to the success of world-renowned enterprises like the Walt Disney Company, Disney Sports Enterprises, Anschutz Entertainment Group and Le Club de hockey Canadien. He was mandated in 1991 to lead the strategy and negotiations in acquiring the Anaheim Mighty Ducks franchise in the NHL, efforts that led to the team’s launch in 1993.
Josh Boyd
Assistant General Manager of the Texas Rangers
Josh Boyd started his career in the sports industry covering minor league prospects and the draft for STATS Inc., mlb.com and Baseball America. In 2004, he was hired as an area scout by the San Diego Padres before joining the Texas Rangers front office. He worked in a variety of roles in the pro scouting department before being promoted to Assistant General Manager in 2017. His responsibilities include overseeing research and development, pro scouting and Pac Rim Operations, while also helping to shape organizational philosophy.
Eric Joyce
Assistant General Manager of the Florida Panthers
Eric Joyce was named Assistant General Manager in May 2016. He also serves as the GM of the Panthers American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. Eric joined the Panthers and Sunrise Sports & Entertainment in 2013 as assistant to the General Manager. Eric's current duties with the team include overseeing player development as General Manager of the Panthers AHL Affiliate, negotiating player contracts and managing the team's salary cap. Eric also works closely with the pro and amateur scouting staffs to identify and acquire/draft pro and amateur prospects.
Tyrone Thomas
Member/Co-Chair, Sports & Entertainment Business at Mintz
Tyrone has gained national recognition for his work in employment and sports law. He advises academic institutions on executive compensation arrangements. Tyrone also provides compliance assessments on governance issues and advises clients on conflicts of interest. In addition, he focuses on legal issues pertaining to intercollegiate athletics and professional sports. Tyrone is highly regarded for his insight on sports matters and has served as a legal analyst for various publications. He also chairs the firm’s Diversity Committee.
Jeff Goering
CFO & Sr. Vice President of the Baltimore Ravens
Jeff Goering, who joined the Baltimore Raven in 1999, oversees the Ravens’ finance, human resources and information technology departments. As CFO, he also works with the team’s insurance and risk management matters. In overseeing the HR and IT departments, he focuses on matters such as staffing, employment policies/benefit plans, hardware/software applications and network security/infrastructure.
Helene St-Amand
CFO of Tennis Canada
Helene St. Amand, CPA has been CFO at Tennis Canada since 2014. With experience across multiple areas of the business, she is a member of the senior leadership team and she oversees all aspects of the support services including Finance, Technology, HR, and Administration and leads the budgeting and planning processes for the organization. Prior to joining Tennis Canada, she was the Vice-Principal of Finance and Administration at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke Quebec since 2007 and she previously worked in finance for major public and multi-national corporations. She has a Masters of Accounting degree from the University of Waterloo.
Paul Wilson
Sr. Vice President of Public Affairs & Communications of Groupe CH
Wilson was appointed as Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications for Groupe CH on May 22, 2018. Reporting directly to the President and Chief Executive Officer, he oversees all aspects of public affairs and communications of the company, and specifically the Montreal Canadiens and evenko. Paul also served as Vice President, Marketing and Strategic Planning for 3 years at GPF1, a company that owns and operates Formula 1 and NASCAR races in Canada.
Mark Ditmars
Vice President Corporate Partnership
of the Toronto Blue Jays
Mark Ditmars joined the Toronto Blue Jays organization in July 2011 as Vice President Corporate Partnerships responsible for increasing revenue from Canada’s corporate base. In 2016, additional responsibilities of developing strategy and revenue for Luxury Suites was added. Ditmars spent 20 years with Labatt Breweries of Canada in increasingly more senior Sales and Marketing roles, including Director of Marketing and Senior Brand Manager for Budweiser and Bud Light. He also developed marketing strategies for properties including the NFL, Super Bowl, Formula 1, NASCAR and Toronto Blue Jays. Since 2015, has been teaching Sports and Event Marketing at Seneca College.
Greg Kirstein
Vice President Corporate Partnership of the Columbus Blue Jackets
Greg Kirstein is the senior vice president and general counsel for the Columbus Blue Jackets organization and oversees all legal matters for the club as well as its human resources department. He joined the club as general counsel in 1998, bringing with him over 16 years of experience as a litigator and additional expertise in the sports field. He spent over a decade working with the firms Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease (1982-87), Squire, Sanders and Dempsey (1987-93) and Ray, Alton and Kirstein (1993-98), while also representing minor league baseball’s Columbus Clippers and the East Coast Hockey League’s Columbus Chill.
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Norman Vossschulte
Director Fan Experience of the Philadelphia Eagles
Norman Vossschulte is originally from Berlin, Germany. His culturally rich background included living ten years abroad in Africa, Iraq and Spain before moving back to Germany to finish High School and College. He has worked in the hotel industry, the non-profit industry, as well as both sports and entertainment industries. Twenty years of practicing customer and client relations has given him an overview of which techniques consistently enhance guest experiences. Norman has over 12 years of staff training and team leadership experience working with The Walt Disney Company and currently the Philadelphia Eagles.
Anthony Marci
Vice President Partnership Marketing of the Memphis Grizzlies
Anthony Macri enters his sixth season with the Memphis Grizzlies as Vice President of Partnership Marketing. They are responsible for developing and activating marketing relationships with national, regional and local businesses which seek to associate with the Grizzlies. He had spent two years in Southeast Asia as the Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of a professional basketball league (the ASEAN Basketball League). During that time, Macri served as Chief Executive Officer of ASEAN Sports Ventures, a sports marketing company that handled sponsorship, media rights negotiations, and commercial growth for sports properties entering the marketplace.
Steve Hatzepetros
Sr. Vice President Scheduling & Broadcasting of the NHL
A native of Montreal, Steve Hatze Petros began his career at the National Hockey League in 1986. Since he has been the League’s schedule maker for the last 19 years. After working in various capacities over the next several years he took over the complex annual role of scheduling the NHL’s more than 1200 regular-season and nearly 60 Stanley Cup Playoff games. From Montreal and New York, Hatzepetros pieces together an intricate puzzle that must satisfy the demands of broadcast rights holders in North America and Europe. As a result of the League’s explosive growth in recent years, Hatzepetros holds the distinction of having scheduled more than half of the games played in the NHL’s 102-year history.
Scott Wilkinson
Exec. Vice President & Chief Legal Officer of the Atlanta Hawks
In 2004, Wilkinson assumed responsibility for all Hawks and State Farm Arena legal matters. He is currently responsible for all legal and business affairs of Atlanta Hawks, LP, CMWM, LLC (College Park Skyhawks), Hawks Gaming, LLC (Hawks Talon GC), Arena Operations, LLC, Atlanta Hawks Foundation, Inc. and ATL Investco, LLC (and its various related affiliates). He previously had the additional duty of Hawks Assistant General Manager from 2006 until 2015, serving in that basketball operations role during a stretch of eight consecutive Hawks playoff appearances under three different GMs.
Steve Chapman
Exec. Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer of the St. Louis Blues
Steve Chapman joined the Blues in March of 2015 and currently serves as Executive Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer of the organization. Chapman participates in all areas of strategic planning for the Club as a member of the Blues executive team. He oversees all aspects of sales and marketing operations, including corporate partnerships, ticket sales, marketing, communications, community relations, broadcasting, in- game entertainment, digital platforms and team retail merchandising. He was a member of the Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues organization during their historic last-place-to-championship season in 2019.
Sandrine Garneau Lebel
Director of Marketing
for Formula 1
Sandrine Garneau-Le Bel is a Graduate from McGill University. She has been with the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix since 2013. Starting as a summer intern, Sandrine has risen to the position of Director of Communications and Marketing over the course of 5 years.
Sean Dennison
Sr. Vice President of Marketing & Communications of Chicago Fire
The Chicago Fire Soccer Club announced on March 29, 2018 that long-time Major League Soccer (MLS) and Soccer United Marketing (SUM) executive Sean Dennison had been named Senior Vice President, Communications & Media. Dennison manages all Club communications functions, including soccer communications, public relations and broadcast. Previously, as vice president of communications at MLS/SUM, Dennison oversaw all business and non-sports communications for the League and its commercial arm. He worked closely with all MLS clubs, as well as all prospective expansion groups, to support growth in each local market.
Thomas Houlton
Agent for Dulcedo
Thomas Houlton is a strong sales professional with a passion for sports. Graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) before starting his career at Quartexx Management, an elite Montreal hockey agency where he got his first taste of working with professional athletes. In 2018 Thomas started at Dulcedo where he now leads the Sports & Entertainment division currently representing a wide variety of professional athletes making him a strongly skilled in athlete management, often dealing with sponsorships, sports marketing, public relations, and strategic partnerships.
Marci Girton
Chief Operating Officer for
Auburn University Athletics
Marcy Girton’s responsibilities as the Chief Operating Officer in the Auburn University Athletics Department include directing the overall planning, implementation, administration, supervision, and day-to-day operations of the department. She serves as a key advisor to the Director of Athletics. Girton assists the Director of Athletics in shaping and developing goals for the department, and facilitates the development and implementation of the Athletics Department’s strategic plan. She works with the Executive Team and the Assistant Athletics Director for Human Resources in establishing appropriate performance goals for each area of the department.
Irwin Kishner
Executive Chairman
of Herrick
Irwin Kishner is Herrick's Executive Chairman and a member of the firm's Corporate Department. He represents a number of professional sports franchises and has acted as primary counsel on several high profile team acquisitions and dispositions in all of the major sports leagues; cable television and radio contracts; internet and intellectual property rights; joint ventures; credit facilities; advertising and sponsorship contracts; gaming and wagering matters; development and naming rights agreements; franchise transfers and financings; major event and tournament promotions; and seat license agreements for stadiums and arenas.
Katherine Pothier
Exec. Vice President & General Counsel of the Texas Rangers
Katherine Pothier joined the Rangers organization as Executive Vice President and General Counsel in September 2016 and directly oversees all legal, human resources, and risk management functions for the team. She also has extensive interaction with the Rangers’ baseball, finance, business operations, minor league affiliates, real estate development and the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation. Pothier has 25 years of legal experience, of which over a decade has been spent working in professional baseball. She previously served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the San Diego Padres from 2002-2010.
Armaan Alhuwaila
Manager of Business Analytics of the Kansas City Cheifs
Armaan is the Manager of Business Analytics at the Kansas City Chiefs and is currently in his 5th season with the team. He reports directly to the Vice President of Partnerships & Premium and oversees the departments strategy for analytics and measurement. Armaan earned his Bachelors in Business Management from Dalhousie University and his MBA with a focus in sports business from San Diego State University.
Chris Baker
Sr. Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Boston Celtics
Chris Baker enters his 8th season with the Boston Celtics as the Sr. Director of Corporate Partnerships. He previously served for the past 17 yrs working in partnerships for the NFL Houston Texans, Nellligan Sports at Florida Atlantic University (now IMG/Learfield Sports), the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning/ AFL Tampa Bay Storm. Previously he worked for a division of Comcast-Spector who owned the Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers, a subsidiary called Front Row Marketing Services negotiating partnerships for leagues, teams and municipalities throughout North America.
Benjamin Carter
Director of Dulcedo Digital
Benjamin Carter has over 5 years of experience working with Digital talents. Having founded his own agency in 2014 and been acquired by Dulcedo in 2016, he has seen the Influencer industry become what it has today. At Dulcedo, his division currently represents over 30 digital talents ranging between athletes like Dustin Poirier, and Max Parrot, celebrities, fashion, fitness, and lifestyle influencers. Understanding and enhancing a digital personal brand is his job.
Roger Daoud
CFO of SAP Canada
Roger Daoud is the chief financial officer (CFO) for SAP Canada. He is responsible for orchestrating all financial functions, including business planning and analysis, accounting, controlling, forecasting, risk management, and compliance. He also serves as chief transformation agent, driving efforts to streamline processes and implement new business models.
Mike Kelly
SportLogiq
Mike Kelly has spent 15 years in sports media and 5 years at tech startups with focus on sports analytics. He has experience as a national sports host and hockey analyst at TSN and NHL network with a focus on statistical analysis and analytics. He also has colour commentary experience on Laval Rocket (AHL) and select Montreal Canadiens (NHL) broadcasts. He has business development and management experience overseeing the growth of media divisions at sports tech startups. He oversaw content creation and execution while bridging the gap between big data and compelling storytelling on multiple platforms
Patrick Lowe
Head of Sales, LaLiga North America
Patrick is a sports management executive currently serving as the Head of Sales of LaLiga North America, a joint venture between Relevent Sports, a multinational media, sports and entertainment group, and LaLiga, Spain’s top-flight soccer competition and professional association. Previously, Patrick served as the Global Partnerships Sales Manager in LaLiga´s Headquarters based in Madrid, Spain. Prior to joining LaLiga, he spent 5 years as the National Sales Manager in the United States and Canada for Generation adidas International, an international platform for adidas USA and Canada partners to interact and collaborate with adidas clubs, federations and partners internationally. Patrick holds an MBA in Sport Management degree from Universidad Europea Madrid, Real Madrid´s International University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Melanie FitzGerald
Head of the Americas for Bundesliga
Melanie joined Bundesliga in 2018 as Head of the Americas. Before starting with the Bundesliga, Melanie occupied roles with the USL as a senior director, a manager of league operations for the Women’s Professional Soccer, as well as a director, international media for the MLS. Melanie graduated with a BS in Physical Education - Sports Management Track from Clearwater Christian College.
