Organised by Hill+Knowlton Strategies
More than a century after women first competed at the Olympic Games, the announcement that Paris 2024 has committed to exact athlete gender equality represents a huge breakthrough on the global sporting stage. The last two decades have seen the percentage of women athletes increase from 38.2% (Sydney 2000) to 48.8% (Tokyo 2020) and the historic development was one of several changes made by the IOC Board, which will ensure equality in all event programs.
This is the latest move towards greater parity in sport, with particular focus in recent years on the gender pay gap affecting professional athletes – famously discussed by the likes of Serena Williams and Megan Rapinoe. While the majority of competitions now offer equal winning prize money at the top level, gaps still remain in football, golf, and basketball.
As we look beyond questions of parity, organisations looking to engage with sport must acknowledge the significance of female participation and excellence and its role as a marketing tool.
In the first collaboration between our Sport and EquALL teams, we present a panel discussion exploring how sport can be used as a tool for equality, as well as how brands can meaningfully engage their audiences and staff.
This session is an important discussion for business leaders, with key considerations including:
- How women are faring in the industry beyond the field of play
- How to get more women hired into leadership roles in sport
- The role of grassroots movements in sports in increasing equality through participation
- The role of brands in forcing change
The virtual event will consist of a one-hour panel discussion and audience Q+A, moderated by H+K’s Managing Director of Corporate Affairs + Advisory, Tanya Joseph.
About our speakers:
Victoria Gosling, CEO, GB Snowsport
Victoria has had an outstanding career to date with many achievements, including being the Chief Executive Officer for Invictus Games 2016 in Orlando and the Military Project Lead for the first Invictus Games (London 2014), inspiring 14 nations and over 400 athletes to compete. She has completed 21 years’ service within the Royal Air Force culminating with the prestigious rank of Group Captain. Victoria is a passionate sportswoman and dedicates most of her spare time promoting sport across various sectors. She is Chief Executive for GB Snowsport; Board member for the British Olympic Association; Custodian for the Rugby Centurions, responsible for creating Social Impact on a global platform through the rollout of the Centurions Future Leaders Course for children aged between 11 and 18; Invictus Games Strategic Advisor for the UK Delegation Board.
Cassandra Kilareski, Director of Sports & Olympic Marketing, Bridgestone Americas
Cassandra leads all sports partnerships with major U.S. sports leagues and teams, such as the NFL, PGA tour, Tennessee Titans, and the Nashville Predators. As a member of the company’s global team, she leads the company’s Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partnerships across North and South American markets. From 2017-2018, she spent a year on an international assignment based in the head office of Bridgestone Corporation in Tokyo, Japan as General Manager of Brand Strategy and Events where she supported the activation of the Olympic Games PyeongChang 2018 and preparing for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
Tom Vernon, Founder & CEO, Right To Dream
Tom set up Right to Dream to provide young, talented Africans with the opportunity to fulfil their potential and capacity to claim a better future for their communities and country. RTD has graduated over 40 students that used their footballing talent to secure scholarships in the US and have 30 graduates playing professionally across US and European leagues. In 2015, Tom also bought the Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjaelland.
Liseli Sitali, Founder & Brand Purpose Consultant, In Her Corner
Liseli is the Head of Brand & Campaign Marketing of VAHA, an emerging fitness and sports tech brand that exists to help people lead fitter and healthier lifestyles. Over the last ten years, Liseli has been working in the sports and media industries where she’s gained a wealth of experience in planning and managing marketing campaigns, athlete and brand partnerships for an array of world-renowned businesses such as Ferrari, The Wall Street Journal, Lucozade Sport, Under Armour and DAZN working across the UK, North and South America, Asia and Africa. In 2020 Liseli found In Her Corner, a podcast dedicated to celebrating and empowering women working at every level of sport on and off the field. Its mission is to make the sports industry more accessible and appealing by shining a spotlight on women making waves across all levels of sport.
Tanya Joseph, MD Corporate Affairs + Advisory, Hill+Knowlton Strategies
A former journalist, Tanya served as Press Secretary to a Cabinet Minister before moving to No 10 to work for the Prime Minister for over four years. Since leaving the civil service she has moved between the agency world and in-house working at the highest levels with a range of organisations including Unilever, Fujitsu, Mars, Sport England and Nationwide Building Society, Tesco, Lloyds Banking Group and the BBC. Tanya writes and speaks extensively about D&I issues and is chair of the Fawcett Society advisory board overseeing research into pay and progression for women of colour. She was the architect of the multi-award-winning This Girl Can campaign which in its first year inspired 2.8 million women to get active.