Judges: 2023

Julia Pallé is an expert on sustainability within motorsport.

She is Sustainability Director at the world’s first fully electric single-seater racing series, the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.

She certified the championship “net zero” being the first sports in the world to achieve this since inception after having achieved “sustainable events” certification (ISO 20121 third party) making it the first ever motorsport series to achieve this prestigious standard together with a renewed three stars level for FIA’s Environmental Management system.
Formula E’s mission is to push elective vehicle adoption globally to improve air quality in city centres and contribute in fighting climate change.

She is also Sustainability Advisor for Extreme E, the all-electric SUVs series, bringing electric racing to some of the most remote corners of the planet to highlight the climate change challenges faced by different ecosystems.

After an award-winning career agency side working for various clients and industries, including alcohol, telecoms, technology, FMCG and sports, James was recruited by Coca-Cola to join their marketing team. After various roles in Northwest Europe James started a 10-year cycle on the Olympics for Coca-Cola, starting in London 2012 all the way through until just returning from Japan after leading and guiding the team through one of the most challenging environments in history. Not only did he drive innovative thinking over this time, but Tokyo 2020 games are now Coca-Cola’s most commercially successful games on record while also creating the highest ESG impacts for the business and country. After 16 highly successful years, last month James hung up his Coca-Cola boots and returned home to the UK to be closer to family and friends and explore the next chapter of his career.

Fiona joined the global purpose-driven sports entertainment league SailGP last year with a mission to help make sustainability and inclusivity essential to the fabric of sport. Fiona is the mastermind of the SailGP Impact League – a world-first in sport which sees athletes race to win two podiums: one for sporting performance and one for the planet. The league champions authentic, committed and impactful initiatives and rewards positive sustainability and social actions.

Fiona has an exceptional track record of shaping social impact strategy, promoting gender equality and campaigns for some of the world’s most high-profile sports brands and talent. She was the driving force behind Sky’s corporate and social purpose team, The Bigger Picture, and led the Sky Ocean Rescue consumer campaign, which reached an awareness of over 50 million people across Europe and resulted in behavioral change among its customers towards plastics. Fiona is proud to be an Ambassador for Meaningful Business, an advisory board member at 17 Sport and Non-Executive Board Member of the Manchester Originals a team in the new Hundred tournament shaking up and growing the game of cricket.

Omar Mitchell is the NHL’s Vice President, Sustainable Infrastructure and Growth Initiatives. He focuses on embedding environmental sustainability throughout the League and growing access to hockey via the sport’s physical infrastructures such as community rinks. Mitchell joined the NHL in 2012, serving as the League’s first environmental sustainability director and overseeing the award-winning NHL Green initiative. He has led corporate social responsibility, public affairs and philanthropic efforts including management of the NHL’s Foundations. Mitchell holds an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, a Master of Architecture from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Design from the University of Florida.

Kate Johnson is the Director of Global Sports & Entertainment Marketing Partnerships, Content and Media at Google, where she is building the company’s strategic approach to sports and entertainment marketing partnerships across its many business verticals.

As the former Vice President of Global Sponsorship Marketing at Visa, Kate oversaw Visa’s global partnership portfolio, including its 30-year partnership with the IOC, FIFA and the NFL.

In 2017, Kate was named among Adweek’s ‘35 Most Powerful Women in Sport’ and she won the 2017 Sports Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award. A former professional rower, Kate competed at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens where she and her teammates won a silver medal.

In 2021, Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now cancer-free, she speaks about the positive impact being an athlete had on her cancer journey. A mother to two boys, Kate and her family split their time between California and Utah.

Dan is Head of Sustainability at Right Formula where he leads the delivery of sustainability for a range of sports and brands.

Dan won the 2020 inaugural Global Association for International Sport Federation’s Sustainability Award and was recently crowned ‘2021 Environmental Professional of the Year’ by the Society for the Environment at COP 26.

Before Right Formula he was Head of Sustainability at the international federation World Sailing where he developed and managed the global sustainability programme.

Prior to this, he spent 9 years at the national governing body, the Royal Yachting Association and British Marine (the leisure marine trade association) on a collaborative environmental programme.

During his time at the RYA he was seconded to London 2012 where he was the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Competition Sustainability Manager and was responsible for the first venue in the world being certified to ISO 20121.

Dan has worked across various sports on sustainability strategy and delivery including Formula E teams, World Rowing World Cup, Wimbledon hospitality, 6 Day, Powerboat P1, The America’s Cup and others.

He is Co-Chair of the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Framework, Board Member for British Association for Sustainable Sport and a member of British Triathlon’s Sustainability Commission and the RNLI’s Sustainability Advisory Group.

He is a Chartered Environmentalist, a full member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and a Certified Marina Professional.

Aileen McManamon is the Founder and Managing Partner of 5T Sports Group, a global sports management firm and certified B Corp. 5T focuses on futureproofing the sports industry by aligning its team and league revenue models, and top-level sports partnership activations. to the environmental, social and economic realities of today.

Aileen’s career began in the European auto industry as brand steward for FIAT and Alfa Romeo. Her experience spans the Olympic Games, FIFA Women’s World Cup, MLB, MLS, MiLB, Tour de France and the NFL, and brands such as Microsoft, EA Games, Hewlett-Packard and Mercedes-Benz.Aileen is passionate about leveraging sports for sustainable development and was recognized by the UN Global Compact Network (Canada) for 5T’s leadership in championing the UN Global Goals. She was also among the eight authors of the UN’s Sport for Climate Action Initiative launched at COP24.

Drew is an experienced, international award-winning sports producer and journalist.

Over his 20+ year career, Drew has written, produced and directed content for elite broadcasters and companies in Britain and the Middle East, including BBC Sport, Endemol, Abu Dhabi Media, News UK and Discovery.

Drew is a founder member and Chair of the Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS), a Black-led organisation that works to help diversify the UK sports media. Taking a lead on consultancy with some of BCOMS high-profile partners, he is committed to helping drive positive change in equity, diversity and inclusion across the sports media.

Katie is the Founder of Pledgeball. Pledgeball is a research-driven charity that mobilises sports fans, with a focus on football fans, to address environmental sustainability. Pledgeball works with stakeholders across the sports community, from clubs to the Football Supporters Association, from leagues to County FAs.

Jonny joined Sky on the Corporate Affairs graduate scheme nearly ten years ago and has enjoyed many roles at the company over the last decade. He spent three years in the Sky Sports press office, before moving to the Sky Business communications team, where he looked after all of the internal communication campaigns across the department. In 2019, Jonny joined Sky’s Bigger Picture team, where he now looks after activating key sports partnerships to leverage Sky’s environmental campaigns, including Sky Zero, Sky’s ambition to be net zero carbon by 2030. As part of this Jonny led on the delivery of Game Zero – the world’s first net zero carbon football match when Tottenham hosted Chelsea in the Premier League in 2021.

A member of Richemont, a global luxury conglomerate that owns iconic brands such as Cartier, Chloé, Van Cleef & Arpels and Montblanc.  Jose Prudencio is the Head of Sustainability for the Americas region consisting of the U.S., Canada, Brazil, LATAM and Mexico.  Jose is focused on leveraging Richemont’s core business and its portfolio of well-regarded brands to create long-term impact through various operational, social and environmental projects and partnerships.  This year, he has embarked on the next phase of a global Richemont Sustainability Strategy with his colleagues to amplify a decade of action.

As a member of the Business Development Team at Richemont Americas, Jose is a valuable bridge between the leadership and members of other departments and brands regarding operational business projects, ESG governance and social impact investments.  Jose has worked on projects that focus on optimizing the business, reducing Richemont’s environmental footprint while expanding Richemont’s footprint into local communities, and infusing a collaborative mindset that has generated team-driven results.  He was part of a team that established a peer-to-peer recognition award, hands-on learning platforms and other regional collaborative initiatives and policies that have developed high employee engagement.

Last year, he helped implement the Laureus acceleration program in the Americas Region to deepen the connection within communities and increase opportunities for students of Laureus grantee programs by providing mentoring, internships and career day activations for students interested in fashion/luxury goods as a career path.

A resident of northern New Jersey, Jose is a first-generation immigrant with strong and direct links to Hudson County – a diverse, multicultural middle-class community of New Jersey.  He established and taught a United States Citizenship course in Union City, New Jersey, to help various bi-lingual and nonnative Hispanic Americans pass their citizenship interviews.  A New Jersey City University graduate with a Political Science degree and has completed courses in sustainability and leadership at New York University.  Jose is the first in his family to graduate from a U.S. university and is passionate about helping others succeed for the greater good of society.

Lauren Spitzer is the SVP of Fundraising and Development at Comic Relief US, a nonprofit dedicated to breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty through the power of entertainment. Since 2017, Lauren has been at the forefront of driving business development, individual fundraising, and institutional philanthropy efforts. Spitzer introduced the Innovation and Growth Fund in 2021, a $10 million funding pipeline linking purpose, brand, entertainment, and content to power the nonprofit’s growth and fund new models of social impact.

Previously, Lauren was the Chief Development and Marketing Officer of Single Stop, the only national spinoff of the Robin Hood Foundation. She’s also served as the SVP of Institutional Advancement at United Way of New York City.

Lauren is a board member of the She Runs It Foundation, which provides community, advocacy, and support for women leaders in marketing, media and tech.

Dr. Madeleine Orr is a lecturer in the Institute of Sport Business at Loughborough University London, and co-director of The Sport Ecology Group. Her research in sport ecology examines the impacts of climate change on the sport sector. Madeleine currently serves as the Chair of Green Sports Day Canada, and the Sustainability Lead on the Commonwealth Sport for Development and Peace Youth Network. Her work has appeared in ESPN, BBC, TSN and CBC. Madeleine has been recognized by Corporate Knights Magazine (30 Under 30 in Sustainability Leadership, class of 2020), and the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2021.

As WTA Vice President Philanthropy & Community Development, Ann Austin oversees the global philanthropic activities of the WTA and the WTA Foundation for which she also serves as Executive Director.

Upon the incorporation of the WTA Foundation in 2016, Austin was appointed as the Foundation’s first administrator charged with complementing and enhancing WTA member initiatives through programs consistent with the WTA Foundation’s mission to empower girls and women to live fully and support WTA communities worldwide to promote equality, education, leadership, and health & wellness.

Under Austin’s leadership, the WTA Foundation has developed successful global programs including COME PLAY which provides access to tennis for both youth and adults in communities worldwide and ACEing Cancer to fundraise to fight women’s cancers. In addition, the WTA Community Fund has been established to provide grants to members to support their mission-driven initiatives.