The Sport Performance Summit

Carlo Ancelotti  is a retired footballer and Italian football manager. He is currently managing Bayern Munich. Ancelotti is the only manager to have won the UEFA Champions League three times and reached four finals (three finals and two victories with Milan, and one victory with Real Madrid). He is also the first manager to have won the FIFA Club World Cup for the European clubs. Ancelotti is regarded as one of the best and most successful managers of all time.

Nicknamed Carletto, Ancelotti played as a midfielder and began his career with Italian club Parma, helping the club to Serie B promotion in 1979. He moved to Roma the following season, where he won a Serie A title and four Coppa Italia titles, and also played for the late 1980s Milan team, with which he won two league titles and two European Cups, among other titles. At international level he played for the Italian national team on 26 occasions, scoring once, and appeared in two FIFA World Cups, finishing in third-place in the 1990 edition of the tournament, as well as UEFA Euro 1988, where he helped his nation to reach the semi-finals.

As a manager, he has worked for Reggiana, Parma, Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, and has won domestic titles in Italy, England, France and Spain.

Thomas is one of the most respected executives in football due to his passion and vision for the Falcons, his dynamic drafting and philosophical approach to building a team – and since he joined in 2008, the team has experienced a level of consistency that is unmatched in the team’s 46-year history. After his first season with the Falcons, he was named ‘Executive of the Year’ and again went on to be honoured in 2010. He then helped guide the Falcons to their third consecutive playoff appearance for the first time in franchise history in 2012. Prior to his tenure at the Falcons he was with the New England Patriots between 2002-2007.

Chris Weidman is a UFC superstar and currently the undefeated Middleweight Champion with a record of 13-0-0, including 6 knock-outs. Chris comes from a wrestling background and earned All-American honours while at college, then switched his attention to MMA, where he was introduced to trainer Ray Longo, and after noticing his unique techniques and skill-set, he was encouraged to train full-time at Longo’s MMA Academy.

He made his MMA debut in 2009, and quickly established himself as one of the ‘most highly-touted middleweight prospects ever’ becoming Middleweight Champion. He then made the switch to UFC, and won five fights before getting his title shot against arguably the greatest MMA fighter of all time Anderson Silva, who has the longest title defence streak in UFC history. Chris won the fight via a second round knock-out and inflicted Silva’s first loss in the UFC and ended his seven-year, 17-fight undefeated streak. Chris later defended his title against Silva, as well as two others, including a first round TKO against Vitor Belfort at UFC 187.

Gerard Houllier is a one of the most highly respected managers in soccer with a career spanning over 40 years, and has enjoyed spells at Liverpool FC, RC Lens, Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa, as well as the French National Team. At Liverpool he won the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup, and he also won a league title while at PSG. He now heads up Red Bull’s international portfolio of clubs as sporting director, where he oversees clubs such as Red Bull Salzburg, New York Red Bulls and teams in Ghana and Brazil.

Desjardins served as Head Coach of the Texas Stars for two seasons compiling a 91-40-21 (.667) regular season record in 152 AHL games. He was awarded the Louis A. R. Pieri Award as the AHL’s Coach of the Year in 2013, his first season with Texas. Desjardin’s second season with Texas produced a regular season record of 48-18-10 (.697) and a 15-6 playoff record culminating in the Stars’ first Calder Cup Championship. Desjardins began his four year tenure with the Stars organization as an Associate Coach with Dallas before serving as Head Coach of their AHL affiliate.

From 2002 to 2010 Desjardins was Head Coach of the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL adding the role of General Manager in 2005. Desjardins twice led the Tigers to Western Hockey League championships winning the President’s Cup in the 2003.04 and 2006.07 seasons. In two Memorial Cup berths Desjardins’ Tigers advanced to the Finals once in 2007. Desjardins was awarded the Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s Coach of the Year for the 2005–06 season. He was also honoured by the Canadian Hockey League and presented with the Brian Kilrea Coach of the Year Award that same season. Desjardins first WHL Head Coaching role was with the Saskatoon Blades in the 1997.98 season.

Internationally, Desjardins has represented Canada as Head Coach in 2010 (silver) and Assistant Coach in 2009 (gold) at the World Junior Championships. He was Assistant Coach for the Canadian national men’s team when Canada finished fourth at the at the 1999 IIHF World Championship in Norway.

Mike Johnston is Head Coach of three time Stanley Cup winners Pittsburgh Penguins, who are captained by current NHL MVP Sidney Crosby. Mike has great experience at all levels of Hockey after assistant coach roles with Vancouver Canucks and LA Kings as well as Canada at the Olympics and World Championship. He was then Head Coach and GM of the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL, before taking his first Head Coach’s job in the NHL with the Penguins in 2014 . He has also co-authored two hockey books with former NHL player Ryan Walter: ‘Simply The Best: Insights and Strategies From Great Hockey Coaches’ and ‘Hockey Plays and Strategies’.

Eric DeCosta has been a part of the Ravens organization since the beginning. A graduate of the Ravens’ “20/20 Club” (includes members of the team’s personnel staff who started with the Ravens as young assistants and grew into evaluators with more input), DeCosta joined the franchise in an entry-level position in 1996. He moved up the personnel ranks, first as an area scout, then as director of college scouting (six years) and director of player personnel (three years) before his most recent promotion to assistant general manager (2012). DeCosta assists GM Ozzie Newsome in overseeing both the college scouting and pro personnel departments. The Taunton, MA, native was honored in 2005 by The Sporting News as one of the top young stars in sports and was selected to both the 2008 Baltimore Business Journal and Baltimore Magazine “40 Under 40” group. He also served on the eight-member committee to interview and select Ravens head coach John Harbaugh in 2008.

Adam Grant is Wharton’s youngest full professor and top-rated teacher. He has been recognized as one of HR’s most influential international thinkers, BusinessWeek‘s favorite professors, and the world’s top 40 business professors under 40. He is the author of Give and Take, a New York Times bestselling book that has been translated into 27 languages and has been named one of the best books of 2013 by Amazon, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal— as well as one Oprah‘s riveting reads, Harvard Business Review‘s ideas that shaped management, and the Washington Post‘s books every leader should read. Malcolm Gladwell recently identified Adam as one of his favorite social science writers, calling his work “brilliant.”

Risa Steinberg, both faculty and Associate Director of Dance at The Juilliard School, has been an active member of the dance community for more than 35 years as a performer, teacher, re-constructor of the works of José Limón, and mentor to young choreographers. She has had the good fortune to travel the world performing and teaching extensively. Former principal dancer with the José Limón Dance Company, Bill Cratty Dance Theater, Annabel Gamson, Anna Sokolow’s Player’s Project, Colin Connor, and American Repertory Dance Company of Los Angeles, Ms. Steinberg has also been a guest artist with choreographers including Wally Cardona, Sean Curran, and DanzaHoy of Caracas, Venezuela.  Her solo concert, A Celebration of Dance, featured repertory from Isadora Duncan and Doris Humphrey as well as contemporary choreographers. As a re-constructor of the works of Mr. Limón, Ms. Steinberg has worked with companies and dancers around the world including Nureyev and Friends, Frank Augustyn, Karen Kain, and the Pennsylvania Ballet.  She was a dance panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts; presently sits on the Artists Advisory board for Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church and is on the selection committee of The Bessies.  Ms. Steinberg is currently the Choreographic Advisor and Rehearsal Coach for Brian Brooks Moving Company.

Saleem Abdulrauf, MD, is a physician specializing in neurosurgery in St. Louis, Missouri, who has helped develop high-flow brain bypass surgery, a procedure for treating intracranial aneurysm, a less-invasive procedure than traditional methods. He is Chairman of the Department of Neurological Surgery at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and Director of the Center for Cerebrovascular and Skull Base Surgery at Saint Louis University Hospital in Saint Louis, Missouri. Abdulrauf has served on the boards of multiple neurosurgical societies, including the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) and the World Federation of Skull Base Societies (WFSBS).

Sam joined Manchester City Football Club in the summer of 2011 as Head of Sports Science and oversees all aspects of sports science, fitness and conditioning for the club. Sam is also the Global Lead for Human Performance within City Football Services (CFS) – based at the new state-of-the-art training facility by the Etihad Stadium. In this role he oversees the approach and shares best practice between the City Football Group clubs worldwide in the areas of medicine, sports science and psychology. Previous to this he was Head of Sports Science at Tottenham Hotspur FC for 7 years and prior to this he worked for several years at The English Football Association as a Sports Scientist. 

Trevor is one of sport’s most recognised mental performance coaches, and has consulted with a variety of elite organizations in both sports and in business. He is well known for being the mental coach to Seattle Seahawks quarterback and Super Bowl Champion, Russell Wilson. He has worked closely with the best coach in college football Nick Saban and his Alabama Crimson Tide football program for the past eight years, and six consecutive seasons with Florida State football coach Jimbo Fisher – he works with both coaches and players, and has been part of the teams for four of the last six national championship finals. Trevor has also been part of the Memphis Grizzlies set up this year, and in the past worked with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins as well as strategic partners in the armed forces special operations community. 

Sean Donellan is the Director of Sports Performance for the New York Islanders of the NHL, overseeing both the Athletic Training and Strength and Conditioning departments – he had also previously served as their Strength and Conditioning Coach and Assistant Athletic Trainer.  He has been in the fitness, rehabilitation and performance training industry for almost 25 years and alongside his full-time roles, he has coached athletes from teams including the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks from NFL, Anaheim Ducks from NHL and New York Yankees from MLB.

For the past twenty years, Darren has worked in the world of high performance sport and provided performance psychology support to Olympic and World Champions and athletes who have competed and won at the highest levels of collegiate and professional sport – he currently works with coach and marathon legend Alberto Salazar at Nike’s Oregon Project, and has been instrumental in the success of the world’s finest distance runners including Double Olympic Gold Medallist Mo Farah and Olympic Silver Medallist Galen Rupp.

In addition to his work with Nike, Treasure is working with a select number of professional athletes in the NFL and NBA, the University of Oregon, and other organizations invested in pursuing high level performance. He is experienced working with high profile coaches and has driven cultural change programs with teams and whole organizations, and in addition to his practical experience, Darren has been a highly productive research Professor at two of the highest ranked universities in the world, making him an acknowledged thought leader in his field. 

Trent is the Head Pit Crew Coach for NASCAR’s Penske Racing for both the #2 (Brad Keselowski) and the #22 (Joey Logano) Cup Teams, and is in charge of leading and coordinating the pit stop team, as well as keeping the crew members in top physical shape. He has been at Penske for fifteen years; as a pit crew member he has won seventeen cup races and thirty nine total wins. As a coach he has been coaching for twelve years and has a total of sixty two wins along with winning the pit competition in 2007 as a player-coach. His experience as an accomplished high school and college athlete has allowed him to help develop one of the most successful pit crew teams on pit row.

Nada is Managing Director of Russell Reynolds, who are one of the world’s best headhunting firms. They advise clients such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and other FTSE 250 and Fortune 500 companies on recruiting and retaining outstanding and impactful leaders, and help them mitigate the risks associated with senior level appointments. Nada heads up the technology sector, as well as the sports and media/entertainment practices, to help companies build excellent leadership teams and fill board and C-suite positions.

She has assessed candidates for Head Coach and GM positions across the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB and the firm has created player assessments for them during free agency and the draft. She has recently placed a GM of an NHL team and her firm has placed top leaders including the CEO of Bank of America and Sheryl Sandberg onto the board at Disney. The firm also includes PhD’s on staff who are experts in analytics, data, cognitive assessment, and organisational psychology, conduct many competencies assessments for the positions they are recruiting for, as fit is everything, culturally and functionally.

Ramel is the dynamic Team Psychologist and the Mental Performance Coach to NBA basketball team, the Milwaukee Bucks. He conducts testing and interviews for the draft process and works directly with the players, individually and in a group setting. He has a hugely passionate and innovative philosophy, which has made him an integral part of the new era under young Head Coach Jason Kidd in Milwaukee, who is of course known himself as one of the most forward thinking coaches in the NBA. Ramel is hugely diverse in his work, and alongside working with the Bucks, he also provides mental counselling to inmates at Wisconsin Department of Corrections, child and adolescent therapy support at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and also produces and hosts his own cable TV show, helping address mental health issues in the Greater Milwaukee community.

Jeremy is a top performance coach and is currently a consultant to Team Penske and works closely with the team to deliver their high performance programme. He also consults with Team Elite & SwimMAC Carolina and is the host of the iTunes featured podcast ‘Coach Your Best’ – In the past has also worked with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and an array of athletes from the NFL, NBA, MLB and MLS.

For more than three decades Dr Mark Aubry has been working in medical sport at all top levels of competition internationally. He entered the international hockey arena in 1992 when he was named the Chief Medical Officer for the Canadian Olympic Team, then later became team physician for the Ottawa Senators of the NHL. In 1998, he became the Chief Medical Officer for the IIHF and six years later added the same title for Hockey Canada to his expanding role in international hockey. Additionally, he is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission, and in 2006 received the Dr Tom Pashby Sports Safety Award, the most prestigious sports medicine honour in Canada.

Prof Roald Bahr joined Aspetar as the Head of the Aspetar Sports Injury & Illness Prevention Programme in October 2012. He is also a Professor of Sports Medicine and the Chair of the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences. In addition, he is the Chief Medical Officer and Department Chair for Olympiatoppen and the Department of Sports Medicine at the Norwegian Olympic Training Center in Oslo. He is authorised as a Sports Medicin ePhysician by the Norwegian Society of Sports Medicine and is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. Prof Bahr is a member of the IOC Medical Commission – Medical and Scientific Group and the Medical Commission of the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB). His main research area is the prevention of injury and illness in athletes, and has published more than 200 papers and book chapters.

Daniel Chao is a medtech entrepreneur, specializing in devices that retune the brain. Currently, Dr. Chao is co-founder and CEO of Halo Neuroscience, a venture backed start-up based in San Francisco developing a novel, simple, and powerful neuroscience-based technology for optimizing brain performance for the healthy and impaired. Prior to Halo, Dr. Chao was the Head of Business Development at NeuroPace where he played a central role in the development of the world’s first closed-loop neuromodulation device for the treatment of epilepsy. Dr. Chao was a consultant at McKinsey & Company in their New York office and received his M.D. and M.S. in neuroscience from Stanford University.

In 2014, Brian Decker transitioned from the Army Special Forces to the Cleveland Browns.  In his current capacity, Decker works closely with general manager Ray Farmer to develop and refine processes related to the talent acquisition strategy.  Decker is a career Special Forces Officer who recently retired after achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  During his final three years in the Army, he commanded the Army Special Forces Assessment and Selection Program (SFAS).  Decker’s work at SFAS was considered by many to be transformative.  Using an evidenced-based approach, he redesigned a legacy assessment program and talent acquisition strategy that had remained relatively unchanged since 1988. He has repurposed several of the same methods, allowing the Cleveland Browns to better understand the character and intellectual demands of elite level performers in the NFL.

Trent Edwards is a Los Gatos, CA native and former Stanford and NFL quarterback. He was drafted in the third round by the Buffalo Bills in 2007 and spent three seasons as the team’s starting quarterback. Following his stint with the Bills, Edwards spent a season each with the Jaguars and Eagles and two training camps with the Oakland Raiders. In the beginning of 2015, Trent traded in his pads for a virtual reality headset and – along with friend and former Stanford teammate Derek Belch – helped co-found STRIVR Labs, Inc., a Palo Alto-based startup that trains football players using virtual reality. To date, STRIVR has signed five collegiate and one NFL team, with several more in the pipeline for the beginning of the 2015 football season. As STRIVR’s VP of Product, Trent brings his playing experience as a quarterback at the professional, collegiate, and high school levels to the development of STRIVR’s products and services.  

Brian Hainline, M.D., is Chief Medical Officer of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As the NCAA’s first Chief Medical Officer, Brian oversees the NCAA Sport Science Institute, a national center of excellence whose mission is to promote and develop safety, excellence, and wellness in college student-athletes, and to foster life-long physical and mental development. The NCAA Sport Science Institute works collaboratively with member institutions and Centers of Excellence across the United States. For over 25 years, Brian has been actively involved in sports medicine.

He co-authored Drugs and the Athlete, and played a pivotal role the development of drug testing and education protocols worldwide.  He has served on the New York State Medical Advisory Board, the USOC Sports Medicine Committee, and was a founding member of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Neurology Sports Neurology Section, where he serves as vice-chair. Brian has played a pivotal role in the development of health and safety standards in tennis, both nationally and internationally.

He was Chief Medical Officer of the US Open Tennis Championships for 16 years, and then served as Chief Medical Officer of the United States Tennis Association before moving to the NCAA. He is chair of the International Tennis Federation Sport Science & Medicine Commission, and oversaw the rollout of international wheelchair tennis competition, a sport for which he wrote the rules of eligibility for both para- and quad-tennis. Brian is Clinical Professor of Neurology at New York University Langone School of Medicine and Indiana University School of Medicine. 

Dr. Harris is a physician and teacher who is an expert in coaching for high performance.  She has special expertise in helping people to provide high impact feedback in a relationship context that fosters their learner’s autonomy and skills for self-awareness.

She is passionate about translating traditionally academic pursuits such as neuroscience, psychology and learning theory into actionable insights that can be used across disciplines. This has led her to work in settings as diverse as screenwriting, business, military, and major league sports.

Through her work with healthcare providers at Washington University School of Medicine, she coaches students on how to work in teams and how to communicate effectively during medical encounters. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of stressors on health professionals and identifying the key behaviors that drive team performance as well as patient and team satisfaction across different health disciplines, in order to provide individualized coaching that improves the performance of healthcare teams.

She has received the Washington University School of Medicine Class of 2018 Distinguished Service Teaching Award and Washington University School of Medicine Class of 2017 Full-Time Clinical Teacher of the Year in recognition of this work.

As the High Performance Manager at Red Bull, Per supports athletes in their pursuit of improving athletic performance as well as building a platform for human exploration. Per joined Red Bull in 2010, and has also held roles within different ski federations including sport science development within the US Ski & Snowboard association and the Swedish Ski Federation. 

Keke is the Director of Performance for the best team in the NBA regular season this year, the Golden State Warriors. He is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the team’s strength and conditioning, nutritional, recovery and monitoring strategies, which has been influential in keeping the players, such as the 2014/15 MVP Stephen Curry, in peak condition throughout the campaign. During his tenure with Golden State, he has been instrumental in introducing and implementing GPS and health and readiness monitoring technology to an organization, and has been innovative in the strategies that have been put in place. He has spent 7 seasons in the NBA with the medical and performance staffs of the Celtics, Pacers, and Timberwolves prior to the Warriors.

David is the coach to Olympic gold medal swimmers Ryan Lochte, Cullen Jones, Tyler Clary, Kirsty Coventry and Nick Thoman, and has coached 47 Olympians from 19 different countries. He is CEO at SwimMac Carolina, one of the most prominent swim schools in the US and host to numerous Olympic and World Champions. Before SwimMac, David enjoyed an incredibly successful 17-year career at Auburn University, and is considered the best college swimming coach of all-time. His primary role at SwimMac is to provide leadership and vision, and he focuses on developing the elite program, for athletes who rise to a world class level. He has twice coached at the Olympics, been National Team Coach seven times, nine-time NCAA National Coach of the Year and won numerous NCAA Team Championships (7 men’s, 5 women’s), titles while at AU, while also developing 22 Olympians who have won seven medals.

Jeff serves as Senior Vice President of Health and Safety for the National Football League. He oversees the NFL’s player health and safety programs, scientific research and youth football programs, and previously served as head of the NFL’s Washington office. With brain injury and concussion such an important issue, and in football in particular, the NFL has teamed up with GE and Under Armour to promote some of the most innovative thinking on protecting against and diagnosing concussions. The ‘Head Health Challenge’ is part of the NFL’s efforts to not only improve the safety of both professional and young players of the sport, but to advance the science and technology around preventing brain injuries.