Bravehearts

Worcester, MA - The Worcester Bravehearts will host their annual Sport Management Summit on February 10th in partnership with Nichols College and Boston College Woods College of Advancing Studies. The Sports Management Summit will be held at Worcester State University and will run from 9am- 2pm.

The Summit will be a three part event that will feature a job fair, five panel discussions, and a keynote address. Five Worcester Sports teams will be represented including the Bravehearts, Worcester Railers, Worcester Red Sox, Massachusetts Pirates and Worcester Smiles. Other organizations with representation include the Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, New England Patriots, Washington Nationals, New York Mets, DraftKings, ESPN, 98.5 The Sports Hub and more.

The Summit’s four main panel topics will be a Diverse Voices in Sports Discussion, a Homecoming Panel with sports business professionals who got their start in Worcester, a Sports Marketing Panel and a New-World Sport Partnership Panel. 

The Diverse Voices in Sports Panel will feature Boston Celtics Director of Community Engagement Johnson Tran, Boston College Program Director of Sports Administration Dr. Patty Keller, Boston Red Sox Human Resources Manager Kara Buckley, Baller TV General Manager Dela Gbordzoe, and ESPN Director of Content Development Kati Fernandez. The Panel will be moderated by MIT Associate Director of Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Steve Branch.

The Homecoming Panel will feature former Bravehearts intern and current Senior Project Manager at CVent, Emily Gigliotti, as well as former Bravehearts and Assumption University Pitcher and current Washington Nationals Account Executive, Brendan Desautels, among others. The Panel will be moderated by 98.5 The Sports Hub Host and Worcester-native Tim McKone.

The Marketing Panel will feature Boston Bruins Director of Creative Services Mark Majewski, 8-time Emmy Winner and former Director of Digital Content for the Celtics, Justin Peterson, New England Patriots Social Media Supervisor Veronika Behonick and Vice President of Media & Marketing for 3-Step Sports, BJ Schecter.

The New-World Sports Partnership Panel will feature discussions on the hottest trends in Sports Partnerships such as NIL Deals, Cannabis Partnerships and Gambling Deals. This panel will feature Pete Sachs, Manager of Corporate Partnerships for the New York Mets, and Tom Schneider, CMO of RevClinics and David Ortiz’ new cannabis brand “Papi cannabis” among others.

The Bravehearts will also offer a lunchtime Q&A “Mega-Panel” with speakers from sports organizations around the area.  Speakers will include DCU Center General Manager Sandy Dunn, and former Boston Cannons Director of Corporate Partnerships and Special Events, Bonnie Lattimore. A full list of updated confirmed panelists can be found at WooSportsSummit.com.

For individual registrations, visit WooSportsSummit.com.

If you are an educator looking to book a trip to the Summit for a class, club, team or group, please contact Don Porcaro via email at [email protected] or call the Bravehearts office at 508-438-3773.