CHAIRS, SPEAKERS and PROGRAM COMMITTEE MEMBERS

 

CRISTIANO CARLUTTI (confirmed) - Mr. Carlutti is presently employed as Flagship Development Manager in Fiat Group Automobiles, where he is in charge of the creation of the international distribution network owned by the company: his responsibilities range from business and financial planning to real estate investments and constructions, to the coordination of human resources activities and IT projects in 10 different countries.

 

JUAN DE DIOS CRESPO PEREZ (confirmed) - Lawyer based in Valencia, Spain, registered at the Bar since 1985, specializes in Sports Law.  His work focuses on legal consultancy to the Spanish National Football League, several Spanish and worldwide football clubs, footballers and agents, as well as to associations and clubs of badminton, cycling, track and field, bowling, hockey, tennis, swimming and motor sports.

Mr. Crespo Perez is a professor in the CIES-FIFA Master Program, as well as a lecturer in several Spanish and International Master programs, Seminars and Conferences on Sports Law.  He has published on Sports Law in Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Argentinean and Brazilian Sports Reviews and has been a  contributor to two books on Sports Law. He is currently one of the most active lawyers before the TAS-CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) as well as the President of the Valencia Bar Sports Law Section.

 

Dr. LISA DELPY NEIROTTI (confirmed) - Dr. Neirotti is Associate Professor, Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, School of Business, The George Washington University.  She is the Director of the MBA in Tourism, Hospitality, Event and Sport Management.  Dr. Neirotti is also involved in developing and offering professional certificate courses in management and marketing related to events, sports, and tourism.

Dr. Delpy Neirotti received her undergraduate degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; she also holds a MS in Sport Management from George Mason University, Fairfax, VA; and a PhD in Sport Administration from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.  In addition to her responsibilities at the university, Dr. Delpy Neirotti works with a number of sport event organizers and professional teams to conduct economic, spectator, and market research studies including the Olympic Games, Pacific Life Tennis Open, Legg Mason Tennis Classic, Marine Corp Marathon, Rock and Roll Marathon, Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Race, Army Ten Miler, Washington Wizards, Washington Capitals, Washington Nationals, and Washington Redskins.  Dr. Delpy Neirotti is also a pioneer in the field of sports tourism and founded the annual TEAMS: Travel, Events, and Management in Sports conference.  Furthermore, Dr. Delpy Neirotti co-authored The Ultimate Guide to Sport Event Management and Marketing and serves on the editorial board of SportsTravel magazine.  She also is a member of the Women’s Sport Foundation (WSF) advisory board and is President of the DC Chapter of Women In Sports and Events (WISE).

 

Dr. COSMIN DOBRIN (confirmed) - Dr. Dobrin is the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Management within the University of Economic Studies of Bucharest, Romania.  He is a graduate in Finance, Banking and Stock Market Operations from the ASE University and a has a doctorate in Industrial Engineering from the Politechnics University in Bucharest.  He has participated in several post graduate/doctoral courses and research at the University Carlos III, Madrid, Spain, the National Institute of Public Administration, Madrid, Spain and the University Paris 12, France.  He is a co-author of several books as well as author of published scientific papers presented at national and international symposia.

 

AYKUT FERAH (confirmed) - Mr. Ferah is the General Manager of Red Bull Turkey and has served in this position since 2004.  He graduated from the Vienna University's Economy Department in 1998 and is a member of several prestigious organizations, including but not limited to, TÜGİDER- All Food Foreign Trade Association, DEIK- Foreign Economic Relations Board, Turkish-Austria Council, YASED-International Investors Association, ATIS- Austrian Turkish Businessmen and Industry Association, and serves as a  RİZESPOR Footbal Club Board Member in charge with the Press.

 

 

VADA MANAGER (confirmed) - Mr. Manager currently serves as director of global issues management for NIKE Inc. -- a hybrid role of in-house business consultant and strategic communications advisor and for the global company.  Throughout his ten-year tenure at NIKE, Mr. Manager has served as a senior strategist, advisor to senior management and project manager in multiple areas of the company.  He is a member of the Corporate Leadership Team – among the top 300 leaders within NIKE’s $16 billion sports company.

In his work for both the private and governmental sectors, Mr. Manager has traveled extensively internationally. Before joining NIKE in April 1997, he served in a very similar capacity at Levi Strauss & Co.'s Global Headquarters in San Francisco and also as a Vice President of the prominent Washington, DC based public affairs firm -- Powell Tate (now Powell Tate Weber Shandwick). Manager has an extensive background in corporate, government and professional sports policy and communications. His past professional affiliations and/or institutional clients include:  Secretary of the Interior and former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt, Arizona Governor Rose Mofford, Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly (Washington, D.C.); British Council/London School of Economics (LSE); Major League Baseball and the PGA Tour.  In the finance world, he briefly served as a Vice President of Finance at Young Smith & Peacock – a Phoenix-based NYSE brokerage where he served on teams that structured multi-million dollar bond projects.   

In his work he has been interviewed by various publications: CNN, NBC’s Today Show, Fox Sports Last Word with Jim Rome and BBC TV The Economist, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Sydney Morning Herald and many others.  Manager is a political science graduate of Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) and is a Nov. 2000 inductee in its Hall of Fame (College of Liberal Arts).  He also performed graduate level study at the UK’s LSE. Manager is also a member of several national and global organizations including: the Issue Management Council (Chairman 2007-08); American Council on Germany; the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) Civilian Public Affairs Committee (Chairman 2008).  In 2000, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s Sports Task Force named Manager as its “Sports Executive of the Year”. 

 

DMITRY MOSIN, MA - Mr. Mosin is the Sochi 2014 Bid Committee's Director of Strategic Planning.  Since 2003 he has worked as a marketing manager of the major national car dealer ROLF, prior to which he was employed by AYAXI, an e-business solutions and internet incubator, as director of strategic planning.  Mr. Mosin has previously worked at Coca-Cola in Russia as a channel marketing manager and as a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Economic Relations in the Nizhny Novgorod regional administration.  With a degree in linguistics, Dmitry also earned a Master of Arts degree in economics from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom.  From 2004 to 2005, Mr. Mosin had consulted on strategic planning for the Moscow 2012 Bid Committee.

 

ANGELO PARIS (confirmed) - Mr. Paris is Managing Director of the Expo 2015 Planning Committee.  Starting in 2003, he worked as head of strategic planning for the Torino Winter Olympics, subsequently becoming Vice General Manager of Toroc, the foundation which organized the 2006 Torino games.  Mr. Paris has a broad experience in strategy definition and execution, implementation of sound operations and financial performance improvement programs and in the coordination of programs involving an high number of people and complexity. 

 

JAYNE PEARCE - Ms. Pearce heads Pearce International and is a veteran of five Olympic Games, five Football World Cups (men's and women's) and every level of track and field. She has been Media Director of two International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Athletics and one IAAF World Indoor Championships. She has worked as a media consultant to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a Media Officer for Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Press Director of the IAAF and recently advised the London bid for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  Jayne Pearce has been involved in the organisation of over 50 major international events thus far in her career.

 

Dr. ION POPA (confirmed) - Dr. Popa is Associate Professor and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Management, University of Economic Studies (ASE) in Bucharest, Romania. He is also a trainer, an international marketing and management consultant for the SC Manager Group SRL.  Dr. Popa holds a doctorate in Economics, with a specialization in management from the Univeristy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania and a Master degree in Public Administration and Management from the same university.

Dr. Popa’s additional training also include training stages in public administration and management at University Roma II, Italy, Porto University, Portugal, SME’s area at d’Artois University, Aras, France, Universities in Seoul, South Korea and Beijing, China, Berlin, Bonn and Karlshrue, Germany, University Paris XII Valle De Marne, Paris, France and at universities in from Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka in Japan.  He is also an author and co-author of several research papers in management as well as an award winner of research grants in the field of management.

 

Dr. EMILIO POZZI (confirmed) - With over 15 years of experience running large-scale international events, Dr. Pozzi has a proven record of success in Event Operations.  His professional career covers prestigious positions with the Organizing Committee's of the 1990, 1994, and 1999 FIFA World Cups to the Olympic Games of Atlanta, Salt Lake, Athens, and Torino. As Managing Director of Venue Management for the 2006 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Torino, Mr. Pozzi was in charge of all competition and non-competition venue planning and operations, including the three Olympic Athlete Villages.  Also under his direction were the Food and Beverage operations, as well as, waste management and cleaning operations. The sport of passion for this Italian is soccer.  As Executive Vice President for the 1999 Women's World Cup, Mr. Pozzi had a major role in record ticket sales for a women's sporting event, with the final game attracting 110,000 people to the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles.  Since 2001, he has served as Vice-President of International Sports Events, Inc. that specializes in the management of a variety of sporting events, and organizes consulting seminars around the globe.

 

JORGE RAMOS (confirmed) - Mr. Ramos is known as “el relator de America” – the commentator of the Americas – and is synonymous with soccer for millions of fans in the U.S.  The renowned Spanish-language sportscaster is the ESPN Deportes Radio's lead voice of the soccer lineup. With his trademark combination of enthusiasm and knowledge, Ramos brings out the game’s finer points and punctuates them with his unique sense of humor on his weekday show, “Jorge Ramos y 10 Mas.”  A native of Uruguay, Ramos started out in the US as a writer and editor for Chicago-based “La Raza,” a top Spanish-language newspaper. Before joining ESPN, he and Hernan Pereyra co-hosted Univision Radio’s national program “Locura por el Futbol.”

 

Dr. JULIAN STANCULESCU (confirmed) - Dr. Stanculescu brings more than 25 years experience in the organization of global events, including the Winter and Summer Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups, Continental Confederation competitions, and many national competitions for different sports. His direct involvement at the Olympic and FIFA World Cup event levels, provided him with an intimate knowledge of the infra and the superstructure of international and national sports' governing entities and their events.  Dr. Stanculescu holds a doctorate degree from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania and a Masters in the Science of Management.  Having lived in several countries across the world and speaking eight languages, Dr. Stanculescu brings forth a vast expertise in international relations as well as cross cultural communications.

 

NORMAN WAIN, Esq. (confirmed) - Mr. Wain is presently employed as Vice President – Corporate Legal Affairs, Assistant General Counsel at The Finish Line, Inc. (Finish Line), a U.S. publicly traded, billion dollar athletic footwear and apparel retailer, which is known for its broad selection of footwear, apparel and accessories.  Mr. Wain has been a licensed attorney in California for eleven years, specializing in corporate transactional and sports and entertainment law.  He spent the last eight years negotiating, drafting and reviewing all corporate contracts and policies, reviewing all marketing, ad approvals, contests, sweepstakes and promotional materials, providing HR with guidance on general employment issues and monitoring outside counsel in any litigation proceedings.  Prior to joining Finish Line, Mr. Wain worked in the Business & Legal Affairs Department at Writers & Artists Agency, Inc., a Los Angeles based talent agency (subsequently purchased by Paradigm), as well as in-house at BigShot Films International, and he spent some time with Major League Soccer (MLS) during its inaugural season.