Speaker Profile

Kate Johnson is Google’s Global Marketing Director, Sports, Entertainment, and Content Partnerships. It is the first role of its kind for Google where she is tasked with building and executing the company’s strategic approach to sports and entertainment marketing partnerships across the company’s many business verticals.

Formerly Vice President of Global Sponsorship Marketing at Visa, during her 7 year tenure Kate oversaw Visa’s global partnership portfolio, including the company’s 30-year partnership with the IOC, FIFA and the NFL. Prior to joining Visa, Kate worked in New York, Vancouver, and London building and executing sponsorship marketing platforms for a variety of clients as part of IMG’s Global Consulting Group.

Adweek named Johnson as one of the ‘35 Most Powerful Women in Sport’ in both 2022, and 2017. She won the 2017 Sports Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award, and the 2017 Leaders Under 40 Award. Kate serves as an IOC Commission Member for Marketing and Digital Media, she serves on Gatorade’s Women’s Advisory Board, and is a Trustee to the Women’s Sports Foundation.

A former professional rower, Johnson competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece where she and her teammates won a silver medal. She is a 2004 Olympic medalist, 2002 World Champion and former World Record holder. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Johnson is a three-time first team All-American, and was inducted into the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 2016. In 2021, Kate was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and is in active remission. She speaks openly about the positive impact being an athlete had on both her career and cancer journey. A mother to two active boys Alex (13) and Brennan (5), and wife to an avid outdoorsman and physician Jason, Kate and her family split their time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Park City, Utah.