Staff & Board | Helping Athlete Causes & Sports Philanthropy

Join us for our annual Play for Good Gala on December 7!


Board of Directors

Mark Levinstein, Board Chair

Williams & Connolly LLP

Mark serves as Chair of the Athletes for Hope Board and is a Partner with Williams & Connolly LLP. He is an antitrust and business trial attorney with many sports-related clients.  He has represented professional and Olympic athletes, team owners, teams, leagues, players associations, agents, sports management companies, national governing bodies, universities, sponsors, licensees, sports organizations, and other businesses in the sports industry for more than thirty years.  Since 1996 he has served as the Outside Counsel and Acting Executive Director of the US National Soccer Team Players Association.  Mark has also taught antitrust and sports law as an adjunct law professor at various law schools since 1985, most recently Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Virginia School of Law, and is a co-author of a leading sports law casebook.

Frank Marshall

The Kennedy/Marshall Company

Frank is one of the leading producers and directors of American film. Frank has produced or directed more than seventy feature films, including such major films as the Indiana Jones series, E.T., Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Gremlins, The Goonies, The Color Purple, The Indian in the Cupboard, Poltergeist, The Sixth Sense, the Back to the Future trilogy, The Bourne Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum, the Jurassic Park trilogy, Signs, Seabiscuit and Eight Below. In addition, Frank has produced films about professional and amateur sports (e.g., Olympic Glory). He is a former Vice President and public sector director of the United States Olympic Committee and a recipient of the prestigious Olympic Shield, awarded in 2005 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the Olympic Movement in the United States.

Julie Foudy

ABC/ESPN

Julie is an analyst for ABC/ESPN and the NBC Olympics, director of her Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academies and a motivational speaker. She is also a retired professional soccer player who spent 17 years as a member of the US Women’s National Team, 13 of them as a captain. She is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, Olympic Silver Medalist, and two-time Women’s World Cup Champion. Julie finished her National Team career with 45 goals, 59 assists and 272 international appearances (caps) for the USA. Her 272 caps rank third in the world all-time, male or female. She was inducted in the US National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007. Most important to Julie, she has made a difference off the field as well. In 1997, the world governing body of soccer, FIFA, awarded her the FIFA Fair Play Award, the first woman and American to receive the award, for her work against child labor in the stitching of soccer balls. Julie was the President of the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) from 2000-2002, served on the WSF Board of Directors for 7 years and was a WSF advocacy consultant for two years, with a focus on Title IX, childhood obesity, and athletes’ rights issues. She also served as a member for the Commission on Title IX, appointed by President Bush and Secretary Paige and has been honored numerous times for her work on behalf of Title IX.

Benita Fitzgerald Mosley

Olympian & Business Executive

Benita Fitzgerald Mosley brings tremendous perspective to Athletes for Hope as both an Olympic gold medal winner and a top business executive.

Benita was a star athlete in high school and at the University of Tennessee, where she earned a B.S. in Industrial Engineering. As a Tennessee Volunteer, Benita was a 15-time All-American and won four (4) NCAA titles, including three (3) 100-meter outdoor hurdles championships.  Benita was selected to represent the United States at the 1980 Olympic Summer Games in Moscow, became the first American woman to win gold in the 100-meter hurdles at the 1984 Olympic Games, and also won a Gold Medal at the Pan-American Games. At the 1996 Centennial Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta, Benita was one of the eight athletes selected to carry the Olympic flag into the stadium during the opening ceremonies.

Since turning her focus to sports marketing and administration in the 1990s, Benita served in leadership roles at the Special Olympics, Olympic Games, Women’s Sports Foundation, Women in Cable and Telecommunications, USA Track and Field and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee.  In 2016, Benita left the USOC and became the CEO of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation USA, where she was responsible for advancing the Laureus mission to change the lives of youth and strengthen communities through the power of sport. She currently serves as the CEO of Multiplying Good, a national nonprofit focused on elevating public service as the means to empower individuals

Benita was named “Sportswoman of the Century” by The Potomac News, and “Top Female Sports Figure of the Century from Virginia” by Sports Illustrated. She is an inductee into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, Virginia High School Hall of Fame, Penn Relays Hall of Fame and a charter member of the University of Tennessee Vols Hall of Fame. Benita was named “Hurdler of the Decade” of the 1980s by Track and Field News. She now resides in Haymarket, VA, with her husband, Ron, and their two children.

Allen Furst

Agency21Consulting

Allen is the Treasurer of Alonzo Mourning Charities, Inc and the President of Agency21Consulting. Allen has served as a financial advisor to professional athletes for the past twenty years.

Matt Grant

GSix Consulting

Matt Grant is a seasoned marketing and sales executive with 16+ years of experience.  He is the Founder and CEO of GSix Consulting.

He previously managed Client Services at 160over90, helping craft and execute brand partnership strategy for various established and prospective clients including Visa, Palo Alto Networks and more.

Prior to 160over90, Matt served as Director of Business Development at DraftKings, the leader in online sports betting and daily fantasy sports. At DraftKings, Matt was responsible for establishing and executing strategic partnerships with leagues, teams, and colleges, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, UFC and various other global properties across the sports and entertainment world.

Prior to DraftKings, Matt served as Head of Sports Marketing and Director of Sales at The Clorox Company in Oakland, CA. Throughout his time with Clorox, Matt led sports marketing activations across multiple brands within the Clorox portfolio including Kingsford, Glad, Brita, Hidden Valley Ranch, Burt’s Bees and the namesake, Clorox cleaning brands. Having brokered and managed Clorox’s NBA & WNBA League and team sponsorship deals, Matt was instrumental in helping lead the sports world back from the pandemic with the NBA bubble in Orlando. 

Matt graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, competed on the varsity football team, and is currently an active member of the Coaching Corps’ Youth Sports, Racial Equity and Social Justice Taskforce serving the city of Oakland.

Dan Levy

Wasserman Media Group

Dan is Sr. Vice President of Olympics & Women for the Wasserman Media Group (WMG) and has been a pioneer in women’s sports marketing, creating some of the most unique marketing opportunities and deals in his field. Prior to joining WMG, he helped propel Octagon and Bober Associates into the largest agencies devoted solely to the marketing of women’s sports athletes, and assisted in the formation of the Mia Hamm Foundation. Joining WMG in 2006, Levy currently manages some of the world’s most accomplished female athletes, including Sue Bird, Mia Hamm, and Maya Moore.

Lori J. Bertman

Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Foundation

Lori J. Bertman is President and CEO of the Baton Rouge based Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Foundation, Louisiana’s largest private family foundation. The foundation gives grants annually throughout Southern Louisiana and nationally.

In addition to her role at the Pennington Family Foundation, Ms. Bertman is a noted national expert in disaster philanthropy and serves as a strategic consultant to both local and national organizations. She is also a Co-Founder of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, based in Washington D.C., and now serves as Chair Emerita. Outside of her disaster philanthropy work, she is a Co-Founder City Year Louisiana, serves on the advisory board for the Children’s Health Fund in New York City and founded and operates Bertman + Associates, a philanthropy advising and fund development consulting firm.

As a coach’s daughter, Ms. Bertman has been surrounded by sports her entire life. She has worked with Athletes for Hope University and is currently developing programs related to athletes and mental health with multiple partners. Ms. Bertman has a passion for hockey and a strong relationship with the NHL and their Hockey is for Everyone programming. She is the first “fan” to serve on a Hockey Hall of Fame board committee (Fundraising Strategy Committee). Ms. Bertman has also assisted the museum in both their diversity and COVID exhibits and programming. As an avid female collector, she has been profiled in sports magazines such as Upper Deck and Beckett Hockey.

Ms. Bertman holds a bachelor’s degree from University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a master’s degree from Louisiana State University.

Kathleen Purtill

Deloitte Consulting LLP

Kathleen is a Principal in Deloitte’s Government & Public Services practice, leading the Civil Government Sector. She is a former US Navy officer with more than 20 years of experience in government consulting focusing on delivering enterprise transformation primarily to government clients.

Kathleen leads Deloitte’s civil government sector, which encompasses a wide range of clients including the Department of Treasury, Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation, Department of State, Department of Energy, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Agriculture, Department of Social Security, and Department of Education as well as the US Postal Service and US Agency for International Development. Kathleen is also very engaged in Deloitte’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, in part by serving on its newly formed Allyship Counsel and partnering with HBCUs. She has also served on the Deloitte Board’s Nominating Committee and currently serves on the Girl Scout NCR Women’s Advisory Board.

Outside of the office, Kathleen has a strong passion for well-being and enjoys spending time with her husband and three kids coaching their soccer teams, running, and being active.  When not spending her free time with her family, Kathleen is passionate about mentoring veterans transitioning out of the military – something close to her heart as veteran herself.

Doug Ulman

Pelotonia

Doug is the President & Chief Executive Officer of Pelotonia, a Columbus-based non-profit organization that was established in 2008 with the objective to fund lifesaving cancer research. Since inception, Pelotonia has raised more than $157MM for cancer research at The Ohio State University.

Doug is a three-time cancer survivor and globally recognized cancer advocate. After overcoming chondrosarcoma during his sophomore year of college and malignant melanoma twice since, Doug and his family founded the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults to ensure that all young adults impacted by cancer have a voice and the necessary resources to thrive. Doug later went on to join the LIVESTRONG Foundation in 2001 as Director of Survivorship, and later served as President & Chief Executive Officer, establishing the organization as the global leader in cancer survivorship.

Doug’s personal story and his leadership accomplishments have been featured on major media outlets including The New York TimesWall Street JournalUSA TodayForbes, Sports Illustrated, NBC News, ABC News and MSNBC, among many others. Doug has been honored with many accolades including twice being named on the Non-Profit Times’ Power and Influence Top 50 Non-Profit Executives list, an honor bestowed on the top non-profit leaders in the United States. Doug was also named CEO of the Year: Large Non-Profit by Columbus CEO Magazine in 2017.

Alan Meltzer

NFP | The Meltzer Group

Alan founded the Meltzer Group in 1982 and grew the company to a point where it is consistently recognized as the largest insurance consultant in the greater Washington.D.C. area as well as one of the most philanthropic companies in the region. Alan has earned MassMutual’s highest honor, Agent of the Year, an unprecedented 18 times in his career, and he was inducted into the Washington Business Hall of Fame in 2011. Alan has served on the Board of Directors for numerous organizations, including JDRF, Wolf Trap Foundation, Junior Achievement, and the Washington Hospital Center. Alan attended American University as an undergrad where he was a three-time captain of the wrestling team and a member of the Alpha Tau Omega.

Gabe Feldman

Tulane University

Gabe is the Director of the Tulane Sports Law Program and the Associate Provost for NCAA Compliance at Tulane University. He specializes in legal issues related to professional and Olympic sports and was formerly an attorney at Williams & Connolly, LLP where he represented athletes, the US National Soccer Team Players Association, and others in the sports industry. Gabe is regularly quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and other newspapers throughout the country, and he has made numerous appearances on national television and radio. Most recently, Gabe served as the on-air legal analyst for the NFL Network during the NFL lockout. He currently serves as the editor of The Sports Lawyers Journal, a law journal devoted to the study of sports law, and The Sports Lawyer, a monthly on-line sports law newsletter, and is a regular contributor to the Sports Law Blog. Gabe attended Duke University and the Duke University School of Law, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology, a Masters degree in social psychology, and a Juris Doctor.

Michael Lynch

Sports & Entertainment Marketing Consultant

Michael Lynch’s more-than-25-year tenure in the sports industry includes leading sports and entertainment divisions with category leading organizations. During his nearly 17 years with Visa, Lynch led the company’s global sponsorship marketing/management strategy and execution including activations with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, FIFA World Cup, NFL, Disney and numerous other Properties. He and the organizations he led, have received numerous industry awards and recognition including, tabbed by The Sporting News magazine as one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Sports”, “Sports Sponsor of the Year” by the Sports Business Journal, and “The 25 Best Sponsors in America” by Event Marketer Magazine. Lynch has a BBA from the University of Notre Dame, an MBA in Marketing from Cornell University and is also a CPA.

Rachel Godino

Former Chair of The US Olympic Athletes Advisory Council

Rachel is a Senior Environmental Planner with ICF, an international consulting company. Prior to joining ICF, Rachel worked at Florida Power & Light (FPL, a subsidiary of Next Era Energy) as an Environmental Project Manager where she permitted and/or managed environmental construction compliance for more than 5,550 MW of new efficient electric generation.

Rachel competed in the 1992 Olympics in Ice Dancing. She was elected by her peers as the Chair of the US Olympic Committee (USOC) Athletes’ Advisory Council in 2000. She also served on the USOC Executive Committee, USOC Board of Directors and Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee Board of Trustees. In 2003, Rachel testified in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce regarding the state of the Olympic movement and governance.

Rachel currently serves on the Sports Advisory Board for the Palm Beach North Athletic Foundation, a non-profit with a mission to construct and operate a world-class recreation facility in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida .

She is a graduate of Stanford University, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She lives in south Florida with her husband and their three children.

Gunlek Ruder

S. Martinelli & Company

Gun is the Vice President and CEO of S. Martinelli & Company. He was formerly the Regional Director for the West/Southwest region of Canyon Agassi and the President of Agassi Graf Holdings which provides business management services for Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf. In that role, he was responsible for direct investments, real estate development and financial management for the overall business including oversight of the Andre Agassi College Prep Academy as the Andre Agassi Foundation Finance Committee Chair. Prior to AGH, Gun worked for MBNA as a senior member of its internal strategy group developing financial products for consumers and small businesses. Before joining MBNA, Gun was a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company in the financial services and private equity industries in New York City and worked in Tokyo, Japan for Nippon Steel managing large infrastructure development projects globally. Gun holds an MBA from Stanford University, and is a cum laude graduate of Georgetown University.

Steve Miller

Agassi Graf Holdings

In his role of CEO of Agassi Graf Holdings, Steve is responsible for the leadership and operation of three for-profit entities (Agassi Graf Holdings, Agassi Ventures LLC, and Stefanie Graf Ventures LLC) plus one non-profit foundation (Andre Agassi Foundation for Education). Miller was formerly President & CEO of the Professional Bowlers Association in Seattle. In his five years at the PBA, he was responsible for revamping the organization, bringing membership to an all-time high, negotiating two exclusive television deals with ESPN, and increasing sponsorship from 2 sponsors in 2000 to 17 for the 2004-05 PBA Tour season. Miller is also well known in the world of sports marketing, having served as Director of Global Sports Marketing during his 10 years at Nike. Miller has been named NCAA ‘Coach of the Year’ five times and is a member of four Halls of Fame. He is a member of the Board of Directors of USA Track & Field, and the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation.

Alexander “Shooter” Starr

Brown Advisory

Shooter is a client advisor with Brown Advisory, a private, independent investment and strategic advisory firm in Washington, D.C.  He previously worked at Neuberger Berman, a private investment management firm. Prior to working as a client advisor, Shooter was an Associate Director of Development at the University of Virginia, where he helped raise the $131 million dollars needed to build UVa’s John Paul Jones basketball arena to open in 2006.

Shooter is a University of Virginia graduate, where he was a four-year letterman as a pitcher and a Team Captain for the UVa Baseball Team. Shooter went undefeated his senior year, posting a 1.29 ERA and leading the team to a 44-15 record. Shooter is also a member of the boards of the Association of Corporation Growth, the National Capital Advisory Circle, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and the Maret School (a co-ed K-12 private school in Washington, D.C.). Shooter and his wife, Sarah, live in Washington, D.C.

Stephen Whisnant

Stephen Whisnant Strategies, LLC

Stephen Whisnant, a longtime AFH consultant, has been committed to philanthropic endeavors for decades. In 1993, he founded World T.E.A.M. Sports, an international sports nonprofit with sports philanthropy programs for all levels of athletes, especially persons with disabilities. Stephen spent eleven years serving as the first Executive Director/CEO of World T.E.A.M. Sports. He also oversaw the production of four documentary films and numerous award-winning educational curricula, receiving an Emmy Award for his work as the Executive Producer of “Vietnam, Long Time Coming,” a 1998 documentary about a 16-day, 1100-mile bicycle expedition through North and South Vietnam that was organized by World T.E.A.M. Sports.

He has served as Director of Philanthropy and Advisor to the National Democratic Institute in Washington, D.C., a Managing Director for the United States Olympic Committee, the Campaign Director for the $186 million “Building for Peace Campaign” of the United States Institute of Peace, Vice President of Development and Investor Relations at Venture Philanthropy Partners, and a consultant and Senior Director of Development and Non-Profit Initiatives for Paul Allen, Jody Patton and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in Seattle, Washington.

Since early 2014, Stephen Whisnant has been providing philanthropic services to individuals, organizations, and charitable foundations nationwide through his boutique consulting firm, Stephen Whisnant Strategies, LLC. He also continues to serve as a trustee, director or advisor, for World T.E.A.M. Sports, PeacePlayers International, The Doug Coombs Foundation, Fencing in Schools, The Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, Collegiate Directions, Classroom Champions, EverWalk, and Kartemquin Films.

Shari Ciapka

Chief of Staff, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Charitable Giving, Cigna

For over 12 years, Shari has been a leader at Cigna, a global health service company, and currently serves as the chief of staff to the vice president of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Charitable Giving, and President of Cigna Foundation.  As a trusted advisor to the executive leadership team, corporate board of directors, and Cigna Foundation board members, Shari consistently strives to move the needle on corporate responsibility. She earned an Executive MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia. She is completing an Executive Certificate in Sports Philanthropy from The George Washington University School of Business.  As an adult competitive athlete, Shari strives to inspire others by demonstrating what can be possible at all ages.  She competes in multi-event fitness and physique competitions, Spartan obstacle course races, tower climbing, 5Ks, and fitness fundraisers. Shari resides in Central New Jersey with her husband Mark and has two teenage sons.