2021 HOSTS & FEATURED SPEAKERS
Kate
Ackerman, MD
Harvard Associate Professor and Medical Director, Female Athlete Program, Division of Sports Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital
Malika
Andrews
NBA Reporter and Host of 'NBA Today', ESPN
Zaila
Avant-garde
2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee Champion
Halle
Berry
Academy Award-winning actress and Director of the upcoming film, Bruised
Maya
Brady
Standout UCLA softball player
Heidi
Browning
Chief Marketing Officer, NHL
Angela
Courtin
Global Head of Brand Marketing, YouTube
Rachel
Epstein
Senior Director, ESPN and espnW Marketing
Julie
Foudy
espnW columnist and ESPN soccer commentator
Laura
Gentile
Executive Vice President, Commercial Marketing, Disney Networks & ESPN and Founder, espnW
Ginny
Gilder
Co-Cwner, Seattle Storm
Allison
Glock
Journalist, TV writer/producer, and filmmaker
Gwen
Goldman
Yankees Bat Girl
Raina
Kelley-Garfman
Vice President and Editor-in-Chief, The Undefeated
Nina
King
Athletic Director, Duke University
Kelly
Kleine
Executive Director of Football Operations, Denver Broncos
Alix
Klineman
Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist
Candice
Lee
Athletic Director, Vanderbilt University
Brian
Lockhart
Senior Vice President, ESPN+ Original Content and ESPN Films, ESPN
Nicole
Lynn
President of Football Operations, Klutch Sports Group
Sarah
McLachlan
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter
Abby
McLoughlin
Marketing Director, Curran Theater & Gwen Goldman's daughter
Jessica
Mendoza
MLB Analyst, ESPN
Alana
Nichols
Six-time Paralympic medalist, wheelchair basketball and alpine skiing
Debra
OConnell
President, Networks - Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, The Walt Disney Company
Lynn
Olszowy
Producer, ESPN and Co-Host of espnW's Laughter Permitted podcast
Jon
Patricof
CEO and Co-Founder Athletes Unlimited
Dawn
Porter
Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Trilogy Films
Shelby
Rogers
Professional Tennis Player
April
Ross
Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist
Angela
Ruggiero
CEO and Co-Founder, Sports Innovation Lab
Mollie Marcoux
Samaan
Commissioner, LPGA
Saycon
Sengbloh
Award-winning actress and stars in ABC's 'The Wonder Years'
Ramona
Shelburne
ESPN NBA Insider and Senior Writer
Sarah
Spain
espnW Columnist and ESPN Reporter
Michele
Steele
Studio Anchor, Reporter, ESPN
Carol
Stiff
President Stiff Sports Media Consulting, LLC
Hannah
Storm
SportsCenter Anchor
Gabby
Thomas
Olympic medalist & New Balance Athlete
Tyler
Tumminia
Commissioner, Premier Hockey Federation
Julie
Uhrman
Founder and President, Angel City Football Club
Ginny
Gilder
Co-Cwner, Seattle Storm
Ginny Gilder – aka Virginia Anne Gilder - has started several business and non-profit ventures, whose founding dreams range from the practical to the transformational. In the early 1990’s she established Washington Works, dedicated to altering the lives of women on public assistance by improving their earning capacity and helping them find and retain livable wage jobs. About ten years later, she launched Gilder Office for Growth, a single family investment office, which she still heads as CEO. At the same time, in partnership with her sister, Britt-Louise Gilder, she launched a family foundation, The Starfish Group, with a mission to champion the underdog, individuals who face steeper odds in creating a sustainable life for themselves. The foundation invests in organizations that seek to expand opportunities for individuals to measurably improve their lives and contribute to their communities.
Ginny’s latest chapter commingles her love of business with her passion for sports and deep belief in its power to transform lives. Joining with fellow civic leaders Lisa Brummel and Dawn Trudeau, Ginny helped create Force 10 Hoops to purchase the WNBA's Seattle Storm, which they have owned since 2008. As a company dedicated to the philosophy that women should enjoy access to competitive opportunities at every level, the Storm showcases the power of women as inspirational athletes and leaders. The franchise’s latest initiative, Force4Change, puts its commitment to generating social change in the forefront of its business.
Prior to her career as an entrepreneur, Ginny earned four varsity letters as a rower at Yale University and was an All-Ivy Champion three times. During her freshman year, she helped usher in the post-Title IX era at Yale by participating in the now-famous Women’s Crew Strip-in to protest the lack of equal facilities. Ginny represented the United States on four national rowing teams, including two Olympic teams. She was named to the U.S. team that boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and the 1984 team that competed in Los Angeles. She holds a pair of international medals, including a bronze from the 1983 World Championships in the single and a silver as the stroke of the women’s quadruples sculls with coxswain from the LA Olympics.
Ginny has since helped launch community rowing programs in Boston, Mass. and Derby, Conn. Beacon Press published her memoir, Course Correction, A Story of Rowing and Resilience in the Wake of Title IX, in 2015. She received an NCAA Silver Anniversary Award for community service in 2004, The Jack Kelly Award from U.S. Rowing in 2015, and the 2015 George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award from Yale University. The mother of three children, step-mother of two, and grand-mother of three, Ginny lives with her wife, Lynn, and their poodles in Seattle, Washington.
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