Tag: Q&A

Angela Ruggiero

Angela Ruggiero

An Olympian from 1998 through 2010 (winning a gold, two silvers and a bronze), Angela Ruggiero has skated in more games for Team USA than any other player, man or woman. But her career has also included other milestones, including her election in 2010 to the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission and a seat on the U.S. Olympic Committee board. She continues to play a number of IOC roles, including work on the 2016 Youth Olympic Games and coordinating the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. In November, she will become the fourth woman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. A former president of the Women’s Sports Foundation, Ruggiero is also serving on the board of Boston’s 2024 Olympics bid. In this interview with SportsTravel’s Jason Gewirtz

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Max Siegel

Max Siegel

Max Siegel has had many noteworthy accomplishments since taking over as CEO of USA Track & Field in 2012. But significant achievements have followed him throughout his career, as the first African-American to graduate with honors from Notre Dame law school, as an athlete representative, as president of global operations for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and as the founder of Rev Racing. His role at USATF, however, has led to an 84 percent increase in annual revenue, a slate of new sponsors and a new approach to events In April, his leadership helped Eugene, Oregon, secure the 2021 IAAF World Championships without even submitting a bid, the first time the event will be held in the United States. In this interview with SportsTravel’s Jason Gewirtz

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Mark Miles

Mark Miles

During his 15 years running the ATP men’s professional tennis tour, Mark Miles mastered the ins and outs of growing a series. That experience has come in handy in his role since December 2012 as CEO of Hulman & Company, which owns the Verizon IndyCar Series as well as Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The series, which features 16 races this year, is now in growth mode, looking to expand internationally and gain on the momentum of increased television viewership. In addition to leading the ATP from 1990 to 2005, Miles has an extensive sports background that includes running the 1987 Pan American Games in Indianapolis as well as serving as president of the host committee for the city’s successful Super Bowl in 2012

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Rich Davey

Rich Davey

As the former Massachusetts secretary of transportation, Rich Davey knows about complicated, big-picture projects. But in January, he stepped into an even higher-profile position for an even more complex project, Boston’s upcoming bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. Before stepping down in October from the government post he’d held for three years, Davey was general manager of both the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad. Now he is charged with organizing the city’s bid to meet the International Olympic Committee’s new Agenda 2020 streamlined bid criteria, as well as making the case to residents at 20 public meetings already underway statewide. In this interview

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Steve Penny

Steve Penny

The nature of leadership positions at national governing bodies makes them short-term propositions for many, as top officials need to keep many constituencies happy while maintaining control of the organization. Few have succeeded like Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. Penny joined the NGB in 1999 and has been president since April 2005. In that time, he’s become a leading voice in the NGB world and has put the sport of gymnastics on solid footing, with U.S. teams consistently winning medals at international events. But the number of colleges fielding gymnastics teams is decreasing, and Penny still faces the ongoing challenge of producing results as well as compelling events

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Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands, poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York
Joie Chitwood III
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Joie Chitwood III

Joie Chitwood III

From the time he was 5 years old, Joie Chitwood III was a part of the family business—a traveling automotive stunt show that made his grandfather and father famous. But Chitwood eventually left the show to pursue a career in management. After overseeing the launch of the Chicagoland Speedway from 1999–2002, he joined the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, eventually becoming president and COO. In 2009, he joined International Speedway Corporation and took over as president at Daytona International Speedway in 2010. Now he is overseeing the Daytona Rising project, a massive $400 million redevelopment of the track’s grandstand that will redefine one of racing’s historic tracks

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Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands, poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York
Pat O’Brien
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Pat O’Brien

Pat O’Brien

Pat O’Brien was in the middle of some of the biggest sports stories of the 1980s and ‘90s. He served as a regular NFL voice on CBS and covered events that regularly included the NCAA Final Four and the U.S. Open, and later several winter and summer Olympics. His run on CBS Sports lasted from 1981 to 1997. But he became even more well known after making the leap into entertainment reporting, helping to launch “Access Hollywood” until eventually becoming a story himself after an explicit voice mail he had left was leaked to the press. Now recovering from his own addiction to alcohol, he has written “I’ll Be Right Back After This,” a memoir chronicling his problems and

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Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands, poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York
Phil Liggett
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Phil Liggett

Phil Liggett

Phil Liggett didn’t set out to be the most respected broadcaster in cycling. He began his career as a rider and eventually was asked to become the organizer of Britain’s famed Milk Race. Meanwhile, he developed his journalism chops on London’s Fleet Street and was eventually asked to try his hand at broadcasting. And that’s where he’s made his mark, teaming for years with Paul Sherwen and becoming the “Voice of Cycling.” His excitement and phrasing while covering races—he refers, for example, to leading riders as “dancing on the pedals”—are his trademarks. He has covered 42 Tours de France and, in the United States, he leads NBC’s coverage of the Amgen Tour of California and the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado. In this interview with SportsTravel’s Jason Gewirtz

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Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands, poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York
Kurt Schneider
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Kurt Schneider

Kurt Schneider

When Kurt Schneider took over as CEO of the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters in 2007, he knew there was work to be done. A generation that knew the Globetrotters best for stars Fred “Curly” Neal and Meadowlark Lemon, or watched them on cartoons, was getting older and their children weren’t nearly as familiar with the team and its act. But the former WWE executive vice-president of marketing—who also worked at Fox Sports Net and Disney—knew that a different type of media exposure could make the team even more popular. As the Globetrotters perform more than 300 events in the U.S. and 100 overseas, there are signs that a new generation is discovering the joy

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Leven, President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands, poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit in New York
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Jim Baugh

Jim Baugh

In his lengthy career in the sports industry, Jim Baugh has overseen some significant campaigns. While he was vice-president of sales and marketing for Prince from 1977–1983, he helped launch and market the first oversized tennis racket. As racquet sports general manager and later president at Wilson Sporting Goods from 1987–2003, he oversaw a $1 billion company with a global marketing reach. His work in tennis later led him to become president of the Tennis Industry Association and a USTA board member. Now a sports-industry consultant, his latest project is as president and CEO of PHIT America, which is pushing passage of the Personal Health Investment Today

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