Panelists

David Baxter

Head of Sport Performance, adidas America

As president of the adidas Group’s Sports Licensed Division (formerly OnField), David Baxter is responsible for overseeing all of Reebok’s sports licensed products and partnerships with the National Football League and National Hockey League, and adidas’ partnerships with the National Basketball Association, Women’s National Basketball Association and National Basketball Development League. Under David’s leadership, SLD leverages these League partnerships to significantly enhance both brands and increase their visibility, one of the company’s strategic priorities. He reports to both the President of Reebok and CEO of adidas.

David joined Reebok in March 2001 as senior vice president and chief operating officer of OnField. Promoted to president of OnField in October 2002, David assumed additional responsibility for leading the development and implementation of strategies to achieve brand and financial objectives for Reebok’s Sports Licensed Division. With the merger of Reebok’s two apparel groups, OnField and Reebok Apparel, in October 2003, David was named to the position of president of Reebok Apparel. Following the acquisition of Reebok by adidas, David was promoted to his current position in February 2006.

David has extensive sporting goods and apparel industry experience. Prior to joining Reebok, he served as president of Logo Athletic. He joined Logo Athletic in 1998 as senior vice president of Sales and Marketing, after serving as director of apparel sales for national accounts for adidas America from 1995-1998.

David began his career in 1982 as a clerk and store manager for Hibbett Sporting Goods. He went on to gain considerable industry experience as buyer for Sports a Foot (1990 – 1992) and then as buyer and divisional merchandise manager of apparel for Sports and Recreation (1992 – 1995), both of Florida.

David has twice been selected to Sports Business Journal’s annual “Forty under 40” list, which recognizes the most influential executives in the sports industry under the age of 40. A four-year track athlete in college, David enjoys all sports and fitness. A native of Chicago, he currently resides in Boston. 

Maurizio Gherardini

Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations, Toronto Raptors

Maurizio Gherardini joined the Raptors in June 2006 as the club’s vice president and assistant general manager. He is the first European to hold a senior management position with an NBA franchise.

Gherardini was the general manager of Italy’s Benetton Treviso, where he established himself as one of the brightest minds and administrators in the history of European basketball. During his tenure, he built Benetton into one of the most recognizable basketball organizations outside the NBA.

In his 14 years with Benetton, his teams captured four League championships (1997, 2002, 2003 and 2006), seven Italian Cups (1993-95, 2000, 2003-05), three Italian Supercups (1997, 2001 and 2002), two Eurocups (1995 and 1999) and made four appearances in the Euroleague’s Final Four (1993, 1998, 2002, and 2003).

Under Gherardini’s guidance, Benetton became a training ground in Europe and a destination for NBA personnel to scout players. He organized basketball camps and clinics, including the first NBA coaches clinic in Europe. He also oversaw the Reebok Big Man camp and Reebok Eurocamp, where top European young players learned and competed, as well as the Treviso Summer League, which is the only event of its kind in Europe.

Gherardini’s influence gained him positions on the FIBA Sports Commission (1998-2000) and the Euroleague Board (2001-06). He also oversaw four editions of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders in Treviso.

Gherardini has been honoured as the La Gazzetta dello Sport Executive of the Year (2001) and the Legabasket Executive of the Year (2006), and won the FIBA Oscar Basketball Award “Pietro Reverberi” (2003) and GIBA Players Association Oscar Award (2004).

Gherardini started his basketball career playing in the youth leagues in Forli, Italy. He held the positions of assistant coach and director of youth teams for the Forli club from 1975-82. In 1982, he was promoted to general manager of the Forli entry that played in the top league (serie A). He remained in that capacity until 1992 when he joined Benetton.

Gherardini was born in Forli, Italy on September 22, 1955. He attended McCluer High School in Florissant, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, as a foreign exchange student and graduated in 1973.

Gherardini and his wife, Luana, have two children: Michele (23) and Valentina (20).

Sunil Gulati

President, United States Soccer Federation & Kraft Soccer

Sunil Gulati, Lecturer in Economics splits his time between Columbia University and his multiple roles in the soccer world, where he serves as President of the United States Soccer Federation and President of Kraft Soccer (the New England Revolution).   At Columbia, Gulati teaches courses in introductory economics, the global economy and a seminar in applied microeconomics, the latter generally focusing on the sports industry.  In two separate full-time stints at Columbia, he has been a member of the Columbia economics faculty for over 10 years.

Elected U.S. Soccer President in 2006, Sunil Gulati has more than 30 years of experience at all levels of soccer in the United States.  Gulati currently serves as the President of Kraft Soccer Properties, taking the position after serving as Major League Soccer's Deputy Commissioner from its launch until 1999.  The native of Allahabad, India, is spearheading the U.S. effort to bring the World Cup back to the United States in 2018/2022 and serves on the multiple FIFA Committees (Strategic Committee, Ticketing Sub Committee and the Confederations Cup Committee).  Additionally, Gulati served on the Board of Directors of FIFA Women's World Cup USA 1999 and 2003 and is currently a member of the Board for the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the Randall's Island Sports Foundation.

Gulati graduated Magna Cum Laude from Bucknell University and earned his M.A. and M. Phil. in Economics at Columbia University. He served on the Columbia Economics Faculty from 1986 to1990 before joining the World Bank through its Young Professionals Program in 1991 and serving as country economist for the emerging country of Moldova.

Gulati, 50 and his wife, Marcela, have one son, Emilio, and one daughter, Sofia.

Mark Waller

Chief Marketing Officer, NFL

Born in Kenya, Mark Waller attended Monmouth Grammar School before graduating with honors from Durham University (England) with a BA degree in Spanish and Italian. 

 

Immediately after graduation he embarked on an international business career that now spans more than 23 years with global companies and includes positions overseas in the United Kingdom, Spain, the Canary Islands, Greece and the United States. 

 

Waller joined the NFL in February 2006, heading up the league’s international effort. He was named senior vice president of marketing and sales in June 2007 before being named the NFL’s first Chief Marketing Officer in September 2009.

 

Waller is responsible for creating an integrated marketing function that operates across all NFL platforms and properties, including NFL Ventures, NFL Network and NFL.com. He works closely with sponsors, network partners, advertisers and licensees to ensure that the NFL brand is consistently presented in alignment with our goals. In addition to his responsibility for the NFL brand, marketing, promotions and creative across all entities, Waller continues to oversee the international business.

 

He began his business career with Gallaher Ltd, the UK tobacco manufacturer of market-leading brands Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut, in 1983.  After five years in Gallaher’s International Division, working in Spain and the Canary Islands, Mark joined Guinness in 1988 as Regional Director for Guinness Export.  With the acquisition of Distillers PLC, Mark joined the Guinness subsidiary of United Distillers, and moved to Spain, initially as Marketing Director and then General Manager. 

 

Following successful assignments as General Manager of United Distillers Greece, Mark moved to the USA in 1996, initially as VP Marketing for Scheffelin & Somerset, with overall responsibility for the marketing of Johnnie Walker, Dewars and Tanqueray brands. 

 

With the merger of Guinness/Grand Metropolitan, Mark led the business integration in the Midwest as President-Central Region, before joining Diageo North America as executive vice president for consumer strategy & marketing.  In this role Mark led the design and execution of strategies to grow the popularity of spirits with the U.S. consumer using integrated innovation and marketing programs.  Mark also spearheaded the development of legislative and consumer access initiatives to broaden the availability of the spirits within the United States.

 

Mark is married with two children and lives in Darien, CT.

Moderator

Jessica Gelman

Vice President of Customer Marketing & Strategy, The Kraft Sports Group

Jessica Gelman is The Kraft Sports Group's Vice President of Customer Marketing & Strategy.  She leads the Business Development Department, which she created and has nurtured during her 8 years with the organization.  In this capacity she serves as a key strategic and operational advisor to the Executive Management Team of the New England Patriots, New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium, and Patriot Place. 

Her responsibilities encompass four primary areas: identifying, evaluating and creating new businesses; creating strategic analysis to leverage the Patriots’ assets, locally and internationally; overseeing direct marketing efforts and market research; and working closely with existing business units to further develop business strategy and operations.  Most notable of the new businesses Gelman created is Extra Points, the first sports loyalty rewards credit card program, which is now rolled out across the NFL.

To further identify areas of growth, potential new businesses and operational improvements, Gelman initiated an analytic approach combining market research, direct marketing analysis and operational metrics. This has been critical in prioritizing strategy and business development efforts across the organization.

Prior to the Patriots, Gelman worked as a strategy consultant at the Mitchell Madison Group. Her primary areas of focus were the entertainment and financial services industries.

Gelman earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA, cum laude in psychology, from Harvard College. She was honored as Harvard Female Athlete of the Year after leading Harvard to consecutive Ivy League Basketball Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances. Subsequently, she played professionally in Europe.  Gelman has been inducted into both the New England Basketball Hall of Fame and The Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. She is the co-chair of the Harvard Basketball Friends Group. 

Gelman co-founded and continues to chair the annual MIT Sloan Sports Business conference, the first and largest analytically focused sports business conference.