// On Stage

2026 Agenda

See below the working agenda for the Sport Performance Summit New York.

Working Agenda

Tuesday 16 June 2026
12:00 – 13:30
Welcome

Arrival, Networking & Lunch

Main Area

The Practice Facility
12:00 – 13:30
Welcome

Arrival, Networking & Lunch

Main Area

The Practice Facility
12:30 – 13:15
Working Lunch

Empowered to Perform: Building Culture, Coaching Craft and Independent Athletes

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Vanja Cernivec

Portland Fire

12:30 – 13:15
Working Lunch

Empowered to Perform: Building Culture, Coaching Craft and Independent Athletes

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How do we stop over-managing talent, unintentionally stripping athletes of the critical thinking and decision-making skills required under peak competitive pressure? Drawing on a global leadership career, Portland Fire General Manager Vanja Černivec explores the delicate balance between high-challenge accountability and high-support infrastructure in building truly independent athletes. In this session, you will: 

  • Explore the Expansion Blueprint: Methodologies for establishing an aligned organisational identity from day one. 
  • Defeat Dependency: Practical environment-design techniques that force athletes to make micro-decisions and take ownership of their preparation. 
  • Master the Art of Coaching & Relationships: Rebalancing data and human connection to ensure athletes and staff feel valued, inspired and empowered to perform creatively. 

Vanja Cernivec

Portland Fire

13:30 – 13:45

Welcome & Setting the Scene

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Holly Ransom

Host

The Practice Facility
13:30 – 13:45

Welcome & Setting the Scene

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Is your performance environment keeping pace with the demands placed on it? This 15-minute roundtable explores how you need to rethink systems, culture, and support to better meet the needs of the modern performer.

  • In this session you will:
    • Share your perspective on whether current environments are enabling or limiting performance.
    • Hear from peers on how they are adapting their approach to better support modern athletes.

Holly Ransom

Host

The Practice Facility
13:45 – 14:15
Presentation

Built to Last, Not Just to Win: The Leadership Challenge of the Next Generation

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Linda Hill

Genuis at Scale

The Practice Facility
13:45 – 14:15
Presentation

Built to Last, Not Just to Win: The Leadership Challenge of the Next Generation

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Setting the tone for the two days, this session challenges you to reflect on which leadership behaviours, structures and assumptions will future‑proof your next era of performance. In this opening session, you will explore: 

  •  Why future advantage depends less on star individuals and more on the systems you design and how research reframes leadership as creating the conditions where collective intelligence can thrive. 
  • How trust, productive tension and shared ownership either unlock or limit performance in complex, multidisciplinary teams. 

Linda Hill

Genuis at Scale

The Practice Facility
14:15 – 14:45
Roundtable

Roundtable: Architect, Bridger or Catalyst

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Linda Hill

Genuis at Scale

The Practice Facility
14:15 – 14:45
Roundtable

Roundtable: Architect, Bridger or Catalyst

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In this roundtable, you will explore:

  • Identifying where your current systems, behaviours and structures support or constrain the next generation of performers and staff.
  • How your role needs to shift as a leader: Reflecting on when you act as Architect, Bridger or Catalyst and where you may need to adapt your leadership approach to unlock greater collective ownership and contribution.
  • One priority action you can take now: Clarifying a tangible change (structural, cultural or behavioural) that will help your environment move from winning in the moment to building what lasts.

Linda Hill

Genuis at Scale

The Practice Facility
14:45 – 15:15

Break

The Practice Facility
14:45 – 15:15

Break

The Practice Facility
15:15 – 15:45
Panel

The Road Beyond the Olympic Rings: Future Proofing Across the Next Olympic Cycle at USOPC

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Jen Bryant

USOPC

The Practice Facility
15:15 – 15:45
Panel

The Road Beyond the Olympic Rings: Future Proofing Across the Next Olympic Cycle at USOPC

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Fresh from a historic, record-breaking performance at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games, Jen Bryant, High Performance Director of Winter and Summer Olympic and Paralympic Sport at the USOPC, will share with you: 

  • Lessons from their most successful Winter Games to date, driven by a relentless strategy. 
  • The details of Team USA’s performance, particularly the intentional technical and cultural strategy that led to a historic medal haul. 

Jen Bryant

USOPC

The Practice Facility
15:45 – 16:35
Panel

Building Brooklyn’s Identity: Leadership, Influence and Alignment

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Andy Birdsong

Brooklyn Nets

Sean Marks

Brooklyn Nets

The Practice Facility
15:45 – 16:35
Panel

Building Brooklyn’s Identity: Leadership, Influence and Alignment

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In this session, you will explore your role in setting a clear and credible organisational identity, from defining values and standards to modelling the behaviours that signal what truly matters.

  • How you shape identity, values and direction as a leader. You’ll examine how leaders create alignment across teams, functions and personalities, and how openness, trust and clarity plays its part.
  • Applying these lessons in your own context, you’ll gain practical insight into the decisions, trade‑offs and leadership choices involved in building and sustaining culture over time and how you can apply similar thinking to strengthen identity, influence and execution.

Andy Birdsong

Brooklyn Nets

Sean Marks

Brooklyn Nets

The Practice Facility
16:35 – 16:45
Close

Thank you & Close

The Practice Facility
16:35 – 16:45
Close

Thank you & Close

The Practice Facility
16:30 – 18:00
Drinks

Drinks on the Rooftop

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The Practice Facility
16:30 – 18:00
Drinks

Drinks on the Rooftop

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As we close up Day 1 of the Summit, we’ll enjoy a few drinks on the rooftop and take in the panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline.

The Practice Facility
Wednesday 17 June 2026
08:30 – 09:30
Working Breakfast

Working Breakfast: When the World is Watching: Going for Gold for Athlete Care

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Celeste Geertsema

Match Doctor – 2026 FIFA World Cup

08:30 – 09:30
Working Breakfast

Working Breakfast: When the World is Watching: Going for Gold for Athlete Care

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Drawing on two global sporting moments, Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Dr. Celeste Geertsema will share with you how these moments: 

  • Impact athlete health and medical systems performing under extreme pressure (climate, travel, condensed schedules, media pressures). 
  • Can inform how global research can be better translated into decisions, systems and behaviours that protect athletes long-term. 
  • Position athlete health research as a responsibility, not just an output, in future proofing performance for the next generation. 

Invite Only

Celeste Geertsema

Match Doctor – 2026 FIFA World Cup

8:30 – 9:45
Breakfast

Arrival, Networking & Breakfast

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Barclays Center
8:30 – 9:45
Breakfast

Arrival, Networking & Breakfast

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Barclays Center
9:45 – 10:00
Welcome

Welcome Back & Set the Scene

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Barclays Center
9:45 – 10:00
Welcome

Welcome Back & Set the Scene

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Barclays Center
10:00 – 10:45
Panel

The Art of Sustaining Performance: Lessons from the Late Night

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Seth Meyers

NBC Universal

Barclays Center
10:00 – 10:45
Panel

The Art of Sustaining Performance: Lessons from the Late Night

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This session explores how high-performance environments maintain clarity, adaptability, and creativity under constant pressure – drawing lessons from the fast-paced world of television and broadcasting, where performance expectations are relentless. In this session you will:

  • Explore how pressure reveals strengths and gaps in culture, and how leading organisations sustain creativity and performance in unpredictable environments.
  • Learn how teams adapt at speed, with practical insights on maintaining clarity, making decisions, and evolving performance over time.

Seth Meyers

NBC Universal

Barclays Center
10:45 – 11:15
Panel

The Juilliard Blueprint: The Strategy Behind the Arts Most Prestigious Training for Actors

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Evan Yionoulis

The Juilliard School

Angus Mugford

USTA

Barclays Center
10:45 – 11:15
Panel

The Juilliard Blueprint: The Strategy Behind the Arts Most Prestigious Training for Actors

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What does it take to consistently cultivate the top 0.1% of global talent? For decades, The Juilliard School has stood as the undisputed world leader in performing arts education, operating a high-performance system unmatched. In this session, you will: 

  • See behind the curtain on the conservatory’s blueprint for talent development. 
  • Examine the pedagogical, cultural and strategic frameworks that make Juilliard the global gold standard for artistic training. 

Evan Yionoulis

The Juilliard School

Angus Mugford

USTA

Barclays Center
11:15 – 11:40

Break

Barclays Center
11:15 – 11:40

Break

Barclays Center
11:40 – 12:30
Panel

Ctrl + Alt + Compete: How Do Tech Trends Impact Leaders?

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Michael Jabbour

Microsoft

Damiano Bernacchini

Technogym

David Howarth

New York City FC

Joe Lemire

Sports Business Journal

Barclays Center
11:40 – 12:30
Panel

Ctrl + Alt + Compete: How Do Tech Trends Impact Leaders?

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In this session, we’ll be exploring how changing athlete needs, new knowledge, and emerging innovations are reshaping performance and development programmes. We’ll take a deep dive into the vision, the innovation and the strategy – focusing on the tech ecosystem and the connected athlete, and also how that is applied pitch-side and the day-to-day impact of technology.

  • 11:40 – 12:00 – Michael Jabbour: The Vision – What Emerging Innovations will be Impacting Us
  • 12:00 – 12:30 – Damiano Bernacchini & David Howarth: The Innovation and The Strategy
    • Damiano – Tech Ecosystem and The Connected Athlete
    • David – Applying All This Pitch Side and Day to Day Impact of Tech

 

Michael Jabbour

Microsoft

Damiano Bernacchini

Technogym

David Howarth

New York City FC

Joe Lemire

Sports Business Journal

Barclays Center
12:30 – 13:50

Lunch

Barclays Center
12:30 – 13:50

Lunch

Barclays Center
* Lunch Break *
13:50 – 14:00

Welcome Back

Barclays Center
13:50 – 14:00

Welcome Back

Barclays Center
14:00 – 14:30
Presentation

Learning as a Competitive Edge: Designing Systems That Deliver

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Wendy Walsh

US Air Force

Barclays Center
14:00 – 14:30
Presentation

Learning as a Competitive Edge: Designing Systems That Deliver

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This session explores how performance at scale requires intentional design – and how organisational learning sits at the core of aligning strategy, culture, and execution in complex environments. Drawing on a case study from the US Air Force, you’ll examine how high-performing organisations build learning systems that drive consistency, adaptability, and sustained success. In this session you’ll:

  • Understand how leading organisations design learning systems that align strategy, culture, and execution across large, complex environments.
  • Explore how learning drives adaptability and performance at scale, with practical principles you can apply to build more effective, future-ready systems.

Wendy Walsh

US Air Force

Barclays Center
14:30 – 14:55
Roundtable

Roundtable: Mission Ready

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Wendy Walsh

U.S Airforce

Andrea Tullos

U.S Airforce / Air University

Barclays Center
14:30 – 14:55
Roundtable

Roundtable: Mission Ready

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In this roundtable, you will explore:

  • What does a learning system look like in your organisation today?
  • How do you measure whether learning is driving execution?
  • How are you currently aligning learning with strategy (not just delivering programmes alongside it)?
  • Where does ownership of learning sit and is that helping or hindering performance?

Wendy Walsh

U.S Airforce

Andrea Tullos

U.S Airforce / Air University

Barclays Center
14:55 – 15:05

Afternoon Break

Barclays Center
14:55 – 15:05

Afternoon Break

Barclays Center
15:05 – 15:50
Presentation

The Next Gen Athlete: Closing the Gap Between Research and Reality

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Dr Kate Ackerman

Barclays Center
15:05 – 15:50
Presentation

The Next Gen Athlete: Closing the Gap Between Research and Reality

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The expectations placed on athletes are evolving and so are their needs. This session explores how you must adapt to support the next generation. Learn how: 

  • Athlete motivations, behaviours and pressures are changing. 
  • What this means for those designing high-performance environments 
  • to use environment, not instruction, to drive motivation and development. 

Dr Kate Ackerman

Barclays Center
15:50 – 16:00
Close

Thank You & Close

Barclays Center
15:50 – 16:00
Close

Thank You & Close

Barclays Center

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