Top sports executives, including representatives from the National Football League, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball and the U.S. Tennis Association, gathered at George Washington’s Jack Morton Auditorium Feb. 10-11 for the 2012 Sports Industry Networking and Career (SINC) Conference.
George Washington has co-hosted the conference since 2004, which features networking lunch roundtables and panels on a variety of industry topics, including collegiate athletics, event and facility management and media and communications.
Director of GW’s Sport Management Program Lisa Delpy Neirotti said the SINC conference is an opportunity for students to network with industry leaders and to get an understanding of the issues facing the sports industry today.
“It’s a learning and networking opportunity,” she said.
Many GW alumni also attend the conference as well as participate on the roundtables and panels, said Dr. Delpy Neirotti. Alumni who participated this year include Allison Hall, M.T.A. ’11, associate director of facilities, operations and events at the University of Maryland; and Matt Taylor, assistant director of communications at the Indianapolis Colts.
Students also gain experience by putting on the conference. Dr. Delpy Neirotti said student volunteers and members of the GW Sports Marketing Student Association take the lead on managing many aspects of the SINC conference, including marketing and event logistics.
Dr. Delpy Neirotti said the quality of the conference and of this year’s keynote speakers, which included Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, United States Olympic Committee’s Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Baird and Octagon President of Athletics and Personalities Phil de Picciotto, made it the “best one yet.”
“We were full two weeks in advance, we had a wait list, the speakers were all wonderful and everything went extremely smoothly,” she said.
“When we invite all these professionals to come to GW and we do a professional job of hosting the event, they have a very good impression of our students and our school,” she added. “So when they’re looking to hire, hopefully they turn to GW.”