Speakers 2026

Laura Green

Conference emcee, gameshow host

Laura Green is a comedic content creator who aims to get runners and the running industry to have a good laugh at themselves. The ultimate goal is to make the viewer feel more connected to the running world by letting them all in on the inside jokes of being a runner. Because even something as boring as putting one foot in front of the other can be entertaining when we all stop taking ourselves so seriously.

Alex Vander Hoeven

Co-CDO, ASICS Organization and CEO of ASICS Apps

About the Speaker

Alex started his career in Deloitte’s consulting practice as a systems analyst gaining expertise in helping companies organize their sales and procurement data to optimize business processes. After completing his MBA, Alex teamed up with a group of high school friends to organize the Rock the Road 10K, which led to the founding of Race Roster. Alex is an avid golfer who loves gadgets and technology.

Steve Finley

Bandit Running, Director of Community and Partnerships

About the Speaker

Steve Finley is a runner, coach, and community leader whose career spans professional competition, athlete development, and brand strategy. A former professional athlete with the Nike Oregon Track Club Elite, he competed collegiately for the University of Virginia and the University of Oregon, where he was an NCAA All-American, PAC-10 Champion, and U.S. Outdoor Nationals finalist in the 3000m steeplechase.

After his professional career, Steve transitioned into coaching and community building, working with Nike Running and Nike NYC from 2015 to 2020 to lead large-scale training and engagement programs across New York City. During this time, he also co-founded Brooklyn Track Club, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, growing it into one of the largest and most competitive running communities in the city. Under his leadership, BKTC developed professional-level coaching, annual training journeys, and strategic partnerships that continue to support both local and national level athletes.

Following Nike, Steve served as Global Community Lead at Tracksmith before joining Bandit Running in 2021 as employee #1 and Director of Community and Partnerships. At Bandit, he launched the Bandit Membership program, spearheaded wholesale strategy, and built community partnerships while also driving brand marketing initiatives such as The Unsponsored Project and the Bandit Grand Prix. Across his career, Steve has combined his experience as an elite athlete with his expertise in community strategy to help brands and athletes connect, grow, and perform at the highest levels.

Sean Brock

Chef, Writer, TV Host, 45 RPM DJ, Dad

About the Speaker

Raised in the Coalfields of rural Virginia, Sean Brock has been intensely dedicated to the repatriation of the Southern pantry and its cuisine for the past 25 years. In 2010, Brock won the James Beard Award for Best Chef and is also a four-time finalist for the James Beard Outstanding Chef award, as well as a three-time finalist for the James Beard Rising Star Chef award. His first cookbook, Heritage, is a New York Times Bestseller and winner of the 2015 James Beard Award for American Cooking. Chef Sean hosted season 2 of the television show Mind of a Chef, alongside Anthony Bourdain, winning the EMMY for Outstanding Culinary Program in 2014. For his role in the show, Sean was nominated for an EMMY Award in the category of Outstanding Culinary Host. Sean is featured on season 6 of the popular Netflix show, Chef’s Table. He released his second cookbook, SOUTH, in 2019, quickly making it a New York Times Bestseller and securing a James Beard Award nomination.

Chef Brock has created, founded and operated some of the South’s most celebrated restaurants, including Husk, McCrady’s, The Continental, Audrey, Joyland and June. In 2025, Sean opened two ambitious new projects. The first is Sho, a pizzeria in East Nashville inspired by his obsession with Tokyo Napoli pizza. In the Summer of 2025 Sean opened his first restaurant outside of the American South. Darling, set to open in Los Angeles, is a restaurant inspired by Chef Brock’s profound love for HiFI audio and rare vinyl records. Darling explores the indigenous ingredients of Southern California with a Southern accent.

Jared Orton

President, Savannah Bananas

About the Speaker

Jared has been the President of the Savannah Bananas since day one of the franchise.

He regularly speaks to organizations and business leaders around the country to help them create their own Fans First Experiences. Jared currently lives in Savannah with his wife, Kelsey, and their daughter. He originally began working with Fans First Entertainment during the early days of the organization in Gastonia, NC before moving on to a minor league baseball team for two seasons. Jared learned the ropes of the sports and entertainment industry in those early years where it became clear that a relentless focus on the fan experience could bring an organization to new heights.

Building on that experience, Jared took on the challenge of leading the resurgence of baseball in Savannah, Georgia beginning in 2015 where a new team at a historic ballpark would become the Savannah Bananas. What now seems like an overnight success is over 10 years in the making. The Savannah Bananas packed out Historic Grayson Stadium in Savannah for 5 straight seasons. In 2021, the team embarked on a One City World Tour to Mobile, Alabama with their brand new game – Banana Ball – the fastest and most entertaining game in sports. Now, in 2025, the Bananas, along with new Banana Ball rivals – the Party Animals, Firefighters, and Texas Tailgaters will play in front of two million people across the country.

Jared and the Bananas believe this is due to staying true to many of their foundational principles such as being Fanatical about the Fans, Playing the Long Game, Entertaining Always, Plussing the Experience, and more.

Joe Pace

VP, ASICS Ventures

About the Speaker

Joe Pace is VP at ASICS Ventures, the innovation arm of ASICS Corporation, where he leads new product strategy across emerging digital platforms — from Web3 and VR to AI-powered consumer experiences. A two-time startup founder with two exits, Joe brings a builder’s instincts to one of sport’s most storied global brands.

Tony Frost

Associate Professor, Business, Economics and Public Policy

About the Speaker

Tony Frost is an associate professor of international business, and the former MBA Program Director at the Ivey Business School. Frost received his Ph.D. from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. His thesis “The Geographic Sources of Innovation in the Multinational Enterprise” received the inaugural Gunnar Hedlund Award for the best doctoral dissertation in international business. Before earning his Ph.D., Frost completed the first year of Sloan’s MBA program and worked as an intern at Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Washington. His undergraduate degree (BComm) is from the University of British Columbia.

Frost’s research interests revolve around strategy and competition in a global context. The main focus of his research is on the capacity of foreign subsidiaries to assimilate, utilize and transfer geographically localized knowledge during the process of technological innovation. Papers from this research stream have been presented at various academic conferences and published in leading academic journals. More recently, Frost has embarked on a research project looking at competitive dynamics between multinationals and local firms in emerging markets. A paper from this project, co-authored with Ivey’s Niraj Dawar, was recently published in Harvard Business Review. Frost’s research has been funded by various organizations including Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Center for European Studies at Harvard University, Industrial Performance Center at MIT, and Carnegie Bosch Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Since joining Ivey in 1996, Tony Frost has taught Ph.D., MBA and undergraduate courses in Business, Economics and Public Policy and strategic management. He has also taught on several Ivey executive programs, including the recently launched Accelerating Management Talent program. He is currently Program Director of the Erasmus program in partnership with the Rotterdam School of Management. Frost also teaches specialized executive programs for emerging market companies in various locations around the world.

Douglas Gremmen

Chief Growth Officer and Managing Director for HYROX North America

About the Speaker

Douglas Gremmen is a key executive at HYROX, serving as the Chief Growth Officer and Managing Director for HYROX North America. He plays a central role in the rapid expansion of the fitness racing sport, focusing on gym partnerships, community building, and scaling the event format globally.

Jon Ridgeon

Chief Executive Officer of World Athletics

About the Speaker

Jon Ridgeon is the Chief Executive Officer of World Athletics, the international governing body for the sport of athletics. A former world-class athlete and a successful commercial executive, Ridgeon brings a unique dual perspective to the leadership of the world’s most-watched Olympic sport.

Jason Gewirtz

Senior Vice President Content/Meetings and Sports

About the Speaker

Jason Gewirtz is senior vice president/content, meetings and sports for the Northstar Meetings Group and the publisher of SportsTravel. Gewirtz joined SportsTravel in 2008 as managing editor and has served a variety of roles since, overseeing editorial coverage of the magazine and content at the Northstar’s Sports Division’s events, including the TEAMS Conference & Expo, TEAMS Europe and the EsportsTravel Summit. He now oversees Northstar’s editorial team in the meetings and sports markets across the United States and the UK, as well as the Sports Division of the Northstar Meetings Group. A veteran daily newspaper journalist and editor, Gewirtz previously worked for the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, California, the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado, and the Broomfield Enterprise in Broomfield, Colorado. He is a member of the board of directors for the Sports Events & Tourism Association. 

Alana Casner

Chief Operating & Athlete Officer, Parity

About the Speaker

Alana Casner is currently the Chief Operating & Athlete Officer at Parity, the women’s sports consultancy focused on professional athlete partnerships and closing the gender income and opportunity gap in sports. In her role, Alana oversees athlete relations, client services, brand partnerships, and content strategy across Parity’s growing network of more than 1,400 professional women athletes across 85+ sports, including 300+ Olympians and Paralympians. By developing high-impact campaigns and collaborations between brands, professional women athletes, and their fans, Alana and her team at Parity have proudly driven substantial investments directly into women’s sports. She is responsible for fostering connections between athletes and leading brands and organizations, including Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, LinkedIn, M&T Bank, Jockey, Hormel, AdventHealth, IPSY, European Wax Center, and Nulo. Incorporating her creative expertise, Alana guides both athletes and brands to amplify their voices in authentic, compelling ways that drive meaningful engagement with passionate women’s sports fans. Since joining Parity as one of the company’s earliest executives following its 2021 launch, Alana has helped build one of the largest commercial ecosystems supporting professional women athletes while directing millions of dollars in sponsorship revenue directly to athletes.

Previously, Alana was Director of Creative Strategy at The Players’ Tribune, where she helped amplify athlete storytelling across editorial, video, and podcast platforms. She has also worked in content and creative strategy roles at the NBA, WNBA, Adorama, and AbelCine. She is a longtime advocate for equality for women and the LGBTQ+ community in sports – work she continues in her role at Parity.

Alana holds a B.S. from Pomona College, where she was the starting point guard and a standout track & field athlete. She lives in New Jersey with her son Leo.

Dr. Bailey Parnell

World-Renowned Speaker. Pioneer in Digital Wellbeing. Founder & CEO of SkillsCamp & the Center for Digital Wellbeing.

About the Speaker

Dr. Bailey Parnell is a world-renowned speaker, theorist, entrepreneur, and pioneer in the field of digital wellbeing. At just 22 years old, Bailey was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women. Since then, ahe has partnered with prestigious organizations like the United Nations, Deloitte, the NFL, and various governments and universities around the world to share her insights on our digital lives, generative AI, human skills development, and leadership in the future of work. As a thought leader, Bailey has shared stages with heads of state, consulted on popular TV shows such as Survivor and Love Island, and collaborated on research and initiatives aimed at helping people learn the skills they need to thrive personally and professionally in the future. As a result of this work, Bailey has been featured in Forbes, Good Morning America, CBC, and won numerous accolades. Chief among them, Bailey’s TED talk about social media and mental health has been seen by over 5 million people and counting.