Join the Conversation. All are Welcome to Invest In Equity.
Friday October 18, 2024
7:00 - 10:00 AM
Sheraton Grand Seattle
1400 6th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101
The Seattle Sports Commission (SSC) welcomes attendees to enjoy a morning of inspiration at our annual Women In Leadership Breakfast presented by AT&T. An opportunity to reflect, grow and lean-in to your unique leadership qualities, the Women In Leadership Breakfast features engaging discussion on topics relevant in the workplace and in the development of leaders in our community. Wherever you are on your leadership journey, we hope you leave the Breakfast feeling empowered, inspired, and reconnected to your peers.
“This event filled my soul when I especially needed it.”
An Intimate Discussion On Intentional Leadership
We’re setting the stage for conversations on equity in the workplace, investing in yourself, lessons learned from sports, and navigating an ever-changing professional landscape.
A Morning of Intention. A Challenge to Take Action.
Spend Like It Matters with Intentionalist
2023 WISE Women of Inspiration Award
Storm’s Jewell Loyd Breaks Scoring Record
Megan Rapinoe’s Final Match
Resources from the 2022 Program
2023 Panel and Featured Speakers
Hosted By 9x Emmy-Award-winning anchor
Joyce Taylor | KING 5
Investing in Economic Equity presented by PNC Bank
Official Sponsor: Symetra
Celiné Justice
Pivotal Ventures | Strategy Lead
Celiné Justice leads a team working to support the work of dynamic female leaders of color in the United States through deep trust, innovative grantmaking and the power of convening. Her expertise sits at the intersection of deep listening, strategic thinking, and collective visioning.
At Pivotal Ventures, an incubation and investment company founded by Melinda French Gates, she runs the Centering Women and Girls of Color portfolio, which consists of 25 dynamic grantee organizations fighting for equity and justice, while concurrently leading a strategy design process and running an innovative grantee engagement model.
Prior to joining Pivotal, Celiné founded and led Rooted Justice Solutions, a progressive consulting firm, in which she supported a roster of brilliant women including managing philanthropist Abigail E. Disney’s international grantmaking portfolio; co-leading the strategy arm of Moore Philanthropy; facilitating a strategic planning process for the $100M Warner Music Group Social Justice Fund.
Laura MacNeil
PNC Bank | Regional President, Washington State and West Coast Territory Executive
Laura MacNeil, who joined PNC in September 2020 and has served as a finance industry executive for over 30-years, started her career in corporate finance with KPMG in Moscow, Russia and moved to Bank of America before spending the last 14 years at Wells Fargo.
During her time at Wells Fargo, she led diverse teams in middle market, large corporate and business banking, as well as operational risk and compliance. Most recently she served as the Commercial Banking market executive for Western Washington and Western Canada leading six teams across 10 geographies, focusing on closely held, private middle market and small businesses.
MacNeil chaired the Diversity & Inclusion Council for Wells Fargo’s commercial business nationally and served on the Reputation Management and Contributions committees for Washington.
MacNeil has been recognized as one of Puget Sound Business Journal’s “Women of Influence,” “40 Under 40,” and "Power 100 List" as well as one of Dallas Business Journal’s “Women in Business.”
Katie Postich
The Coca-Cola Company | Senior Manager, Sports Marketing
Katie Postich is a seasoned sports marketing professional with a decade of experience in the industry. She’s made stops along the way in college athletic recruiting, a side hustle with an NFL team, and most recently has managed 5 North American sport properties at The Coca-Cola Company.
Katie currently oversees the NCAA partnership at Coca-Cola, a 21-year partnership that continues to flourish. She champions the importance and value of women’s sports across the organization, leading brand programming and activations with Men’s and Women’s Final Four and Men’s and Women’s College World Series. She recently completed a Title IX 50th anniversary initiative, in partnership with TOGETHXR that drove awareness and attendance at collegiate women’s sports across the nation. One of her biggest honors in her career has been the development of “Moments of Courage” a temporary exhibit at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. The exhibit showcased untold stories of influential black baseball players in Atlanta (Hank Aaron, Bill Lucas, and Marquis Grissom) that shaped the sport, and the community.
Sharmila Swenson
Symetra | VP Public Affairs and Social Impact
Sharmila K. Swenson serves as Vice President of Public Affairs and Social Impact for Symetra Life Insurance Company, a national provider of employee benefits, annuities and life insurance. In her capacity as VP, Swenson oversees public affairs at the local, state and federal level, community relations, corporate giving, employee community engagement and corporate social responsibility.
Swenson joined Symetra in 2019 and established their first public affairs and corporate social responsibility programs. She continues to expand the reach and strategic positioning of the company’s legislative, advocacy and philanthropic focus. Her prior experience includes over two decades of public affairs work in Washington D.C. and throughout the Puget Sound region in the private, public and non-profit arenas with a focus on Energy, Education, Labor, Transportation and Economic Development.
Investing In Our Athletes, Fans, and Employees presented by Regence BlueShield
Official Sponsor: KPMG
Jen Mueller
ROOT SPORTS
An Emmy-winning producer, accomplished author and dynamic speaker, Jen uses humor and compelling questions to keep Seattle fans close to the action. In addition to her work in broadcasting, Jen spent 10 years officiating high school football. A three-time published author, Jen literally wrote the book on how to become a sports fan and expands that content through her Talk Sporty to Me platform. As if her days were not busy enough, Jen launched her digital cooking show, I Cook, You Measure, in 2023, combining her passions for sports, food and storytelling.
Jen is a member of the Seattle Sports Commission and regular figure at the organization’s annual Women In Leadership Breakfast. In 2022, Jen received the Keith Jackson Media Excellence Award for her meaningful contributions in telling the stories of Washington sports through media.
Jessica Berman
National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL)
Jessica Berman serves as the Commissioner of the National Women’s Soccer League, overseeing all league operations with a focus on player support, club collaboration, and fan engagement. Under her leadership since 2022, the NWSL has risen as a global player in women's sports.
In her first season, the NWSL achieved significant milestones, drew a million fans to matches and set a record Championship game viewership of 915,000. Sponsorship revenue increased by 90%. At the halfway mark of the 2023 campaign, the NWSL’s average match attendance increased by 48 percent, while regular season match viewership on CBS is up 21 percent from 2022.
Berman led the league's expansion to 14 clubs, establishing record franchise valuations. She navigated the NWSL through a comprehensive internal investigation into abuse allegations, resulting in substantial reforms.
Sandy Cross
Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA)
Sandy Cross, a member of the PGA of America staff since 1996, serves as the Association’s first Chief People Officer. Cross is charged with enhancing a purpose-driven and values-based culture, as the PGA of America strives to be personally fulfilling and meaningful to a multi-generational membership and workforce. Cross focuses on creating opportunities to stretch, lead, and grow, by supporting well-being, learning and development, recognition and reward, and making a positive social impact in the communities where the PGA team works and lives. Cross also oversees the People Team and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Departments.
As Chief People Officer, Cross has been instrumental in launching and sustaining the golf industry’s Make Golf Your Thing movement and PGA of America programs such as JobMatch, VendorMatch and Beyond the Green to present career and business opportunities to individuals and companies from underrepresented backgrounds, along with inspiring general interest and availability to the game of golf.
Investing In Olympic & Paralympic Aspirations presented by KING 5
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Para Nordic Skiing
Erin Martin, an internationally ranked athlete and Seattle native, competed in her first Paralympics as part of the U.S. Women’s Nordic Skiing Team at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, in Beijing, China.
Originally from South Dakota, Erin moved to Seattle in 2005 to expand her outdoor pursuits. After a fall while rock climbing left her partially paralyzed in 2013, Erin connected with a colleague at Seattle Children’s and started para skiing.
She first tried seated para nordic skiing in 2019, and competed at the 2021 Canmore World Cup, where she placed 10th in cross-country skiing, and has continued to train and compete internationally.
Still an avid adventurer, Erin is a biathlete and mountain biker, and loves that Nordic skiing allows her to challenge herself physically and mentally, while also training and competing outside in some of the most beautiful places in the world.
“For parasports, the camaraderie that you get from spending time with other disabled people in an outdoor competitive sport, you just build these really incredible relationships and friendships. And I think helping people accept their disabilities and feel confident and regain their sense of self and athleticism. That is a really, big, huge part.”
Investing In Yourself presented by Virginia Mason Franciscan Health
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On-Air Talent / Former Athlete
Angie Mentink worked her way up from an intern to an Emmy award winning reporter and anchor at ROOT SPORTS. She is now one of the featured personalities on live events and team programs throughout the year. Her favorite assignment is getting inside the game with athletes for her Tricks of the Trade segments.
Angie began her broadcasting career with the network as the Mariners beat reporter also providing color commentary for the network's softball telecasts. Her transition to sports television followed an accomplished athletic career as an All-American softball player in college and professionally with the Colorado Silver Bullets baseball team.
Angie’s collegiate career first began at Central Arizona College where she was a two-time All-American and won two NJCAA National Championships. When the University of Washington added the sport of softball, she was a member of the inaugural team. Her single season records for batting average (.472) and stolen bases (59) as well as her career batting average (.429) record still stand today.
Angie was the first Husky softball player to earn All-Pac 10 and All-American honors while topping the Pac 10 conference in hits, runs and stolen bases and then became the first softball player inducted into the Husky Hall of Fame.
A childhood dream came true when Mentink joined a select few women to play professional baseball. As a member of the Colorado Silver Bullets, the first women's professional baseball team since 1954, Mentink toured the country taking on men's semi-pro teams in major league parks like the Kingdome, Shea Stadium and Coors Field.
Pioneering what women can accomplish in sports is nothing new to Mentink who was the first female to play and letter in football as a linebacker and wingback at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California.
Angie frequently engages in community events and public speaking, including the Sports Commission’s Women In Leadership Breakfast and was the recipient of the Keith Jackson Media Excellence Award, given out at the 86th Annual Sports Star of the Year Awards Show.
Katrina Adams | Immediate Past President | USTA
Julie Averill | EVP and CTO, lululemon
Jordan Babineaux | Seattle Seahawks
Sam Bergin | CMO, 98Point6 Inc.
Karen Spencer | CFO, Seattle Seahawks
Ana Cabrera | Anchor, CNN
Pat Campbell | President Mtn. Division, Vail Resorts
Jennifer Cohen | Athletic Director, UW
Rosalie Fish | Collegiate Runner + Activist
Shaney Fink | Athletic Director, Seattle U
Ginny Gilder | Co-Owner, Seattle Storm
Cammi Granato | Olympian + Scout, Seattle Kraken
Nevin Harrison | Olympic Gold Medalist
Mari Horita | Seattle Kraken Executive
Chaunté Lowe | 4x Olympian + Business Owner
Karch Kiraly | Head Coach, US Women’s Volleyball
Elyse Ping Medvigy | US Army Veteran + Mountaineer
Maya Mendoza-Exstrom | Seattle Sounders FC
Stephanie Smith | Chief People Officer, tagboard
Frances Traisman | VP of Sales, Seattle Mariners
Kiki Wolfkill | Executive Producer, Microsoft/Halo
Past Panelists
Program Details
7:00 AM | Registration and Networking Space open
7:30 am | Doors open to breakfast and program
8:00 am | Program begins
10:00 am | Program ends
10:00 - 11:30 am | Networking Space open
*Virtual program available from 7:45-10:00am
Networking Space
The Intentionalist Marketplace presented by BECU
The Intentionalist Marketplace presented by BECU provides an opportunity to shop, mingle and network with 10 local, BIPOC-owned businesses representing a variety of goods and services before and after the event. Don’t miss out on this chance to spend intentionally.
• Black Coffee Northwest
• City Sweats
• Daily Ritual Market
• Friday Afternoon Tea
• Lulumiere
• Puffy Pandy
• QueenCare
• Refugee Artistan Initiative
• Sairen
• Seeking Kombucha
Complimentary Headshot Stations
Courtesy of BECU, take advantage of the professional headshot stations during the pre- and post-event networking reception. That fancy photo will be a great way to celebrate your next big role or provide an exciting update to your digital profile.
Express yourself. Authentically you with a complimentary headshot.
“Each person’s life journey leads them down paths that help them find their unique voice. Our designated leadership must reflect diverse voices that harmonize to create a passionate song. When used correctly, this song can light a fire in the hearts of the people they lead, causing a true and infinite impact that can be felt for generations to come.”
— Chaunte Lowe | Olympic Athlete + SSCWLB20 Panelist
Thank You to Our Partners
Presenting Sponsor
Spend with Intention: Intentionalist Marketplace presented by BECU
Official Broadcast Media Partner
Supporting Media Partners
Segment Presenting Sponsor
Segment Official Sponsors
Official Tech Partner
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