New Orleans, LA—A Sneak Peek Into the Year 6 of the Sports Power Brunch: Celebrating the Most Powerful Women in Sports
The Sports Power Brunch is a celebration that honors prominent and influential women in sports annually in the host city of the Super Bowl during the Big Game Weekend. This year ESPN Films will be the presenting sponsor as a sold-out crowd will gather at the Four Seasons Hotel in New Orleans on Wednesday, Feb. 5, to listen to panels, to participate in workshops and to witness an awards ceremony recognizing five of the year’s most outstanding females in sports.
overseeing the revival of the school’s athletics programs following hurricane Katrina. The Louisiana native, was appointed President of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC), which is now known as the HBCUAU in 2009, and was later named the athletic director in 2011. The doctorate degree holder is responsible for reconstructing the GCAC after half of the teams departed the conference. Dr. Barnes also founded ‘So You Want a Career in Athletics’, a program that utilizes her experience building athletic organizations to empower the future of women leaders in sports.
Alicia Tillman is the chief marketing officer (CMO) of Delta Airlines and she is receiving this year’s Leadership award. She’s been named as Forbes Most Influential Chief Marketing Officer four times. Before Delta, Tillman spent 11 years at American Express, was the Global CMO at SAP and was the Chief Revenue Officer at Capitolis. She leads Delta’s brand strategy and holds over two decades of experience in strategy and global marketing.
This year’s Impact Award honoree is Swin Cash, the Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations and Team Development for the New Orleans Pelicans. She’s been with the Pelicans since 2019, where she was hired as Vice President of Basketball Operations and Team Development.
Cash was an All-American at UConn and won two national championships in 2000 and 2002, where she was the 2002 Final Four Most Outstanding Player, before being selected No. 2 in the 2002 WNBA draft by the Detroit Shock. Over her 15-year career she won three WNBA titles, in 2003 and 2006 with the Shock and in 2010 with Seattle Storm, and earned two Olympic gold medals (in 2004 and 2012). The recipient of the National Civil Rights Museum Freedom award also earned four All-Star appearances, two All-Star MVPs, was twice named to the All-WNBA second team and once earned All-WNBA Second Team defense. In 2002, the Olympian was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Since her retirement from basketball in 2016, Cash has worked for CBS Sports from 2013-2019 holding multiple positions as an analyst, tv personality and as an NBA ambassador. She’s also worked as a host for MSG Networks Inc. and for the New York Liberty as the Director of Franchise Development. The Olympian is the founder of ‘She’s Got Time’, a community network for women in sports that offers resources and support through interactive summits, their career opportunities, their storytelling and their members-only network.
Dawn Aponte, the Chief Football administrative officer for the NFL, will be receiving this year’s visionary award. Aponte owns over 25 years of football experience, working for the New York Jets (senior director of football administration), Miami Dolphins (vice president of football administration) and the Cleveland Browns (vice president of football administration).
The Wagner college graduate has previously worked for the NFL Management Council as the vice president of labor and finance. Aponte serves on the USA board of directors where she oversees the game’s development for amateur athletes. The New York law school Juris Doctor also served as an executive for RSE Ventures, an international sports, entertainment and tech firm.
Ali Krieger will be honored with the Game Changer award. Krieger, who is currently an analyst for ESPN, played soccer professionally for 17 years from 2006-2023. During her career playing overseas, in the NWSL and for the senior women’s national team (USWNT), the Penn State Nittany Lion became an Olympian, a two-time World Cup champion, and won the NWSL title in her final season.
The former Gotham FC defender was named to her only Olympic team at the 2016 Olympics, becoming the oldest first-time Olympian for United States women’s soccer.
Programming:
There will be a panel that will consist of ESPN staff and talent called ‘The Future of Women Storytelling at ESPN.’ The talk will be moderated by their NFL reporter Kimberley A. Martin. The panelists will be Heather Anderson, who is the VP of original content and business affairs, Chantre Camack, the senior director of client relations, Marsha Cooke, who is the VP and Executive Producer of ESPN Films and “30 for 30” and Kati Fernadez, the senior director of original content development.
The host of the event, returning for the third consecutive year, is Taylor Rooks. Rooks is a reporter, host, and executive producer, who contributes to shows for Amazon and Turner Sports properties. Next season (2025-2026), Rooks will host an NBA studio show for Amazon Prime Video, that will see Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin as analysts and feature pregame, postgame and halftime segments.
Purpose:
A portion of the proceeds from this year’s event will be donated to the Sterling Legacy Fund.
The mission of the fund, named in memory of Story’s first-born son, who passed away from cancer in 2019 is to assist people from minority communities by granting them access to learning tools, guidance, recreational facilities and early detection healthcare screenings.
Founding Mother:
For more information on how to help with these goals, please visit:http://sterlinglegacyfund.org
