Meredith McPherron is DRIVE’s CEO & Managing Partner, overseeing all investments, portfolio construction, and operations. She has 25+ years of investing, operating and executive experience driving early and growth stage ventures to scale and exit. Prior to joining DRIVE, McPherron served as a Venture Partner with Glasswing Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing in the next generation of AI, cybersecurity and intelligent enterprise startups. She also served as a mentor for the MIT DesignX accelerator, an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Harvard Innovation Lab, an Innovation Fellow at the Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, and was a board member and close strategic advisor for BFY Brands, which sold to PepsiCo in February.
Angela Ruggiero
CEO, Sports Innovation Lab
Angela Ruggiero is a global sports leader, advocate, entrepreneur, author, brand ambassador, investor, motivational speaker, podcaster, and advisor whose work has been featured in top global and national media publications.
Angela is a four-time Olympian and gold medalist in ice hockey for Team USA and was the first female non-goalie to play in a men’s professional hockey league. She has been named the Best Player in the World by The Hockey News and is a member of the 2015 US Olympic Hall of Fame, 2017 IIHF Hall of Fame, and 2015 Hockey Hall of Fame (4th woman).
As the visionary Co-Founder & CEO of Sports Innovation Lab, a technology-powered market research firm, Angela and her team empower industry-leading sports brands to identify the trends, products, and services that will fuel the future of sport. Angela spearheaded groundbreaking research which defined and coined the term "Fluid Fan" for the industry, and leads clients, including the NFL, NHL, FIFA, Coca-Cola, DraftKings, and CLEAR, to develop innovative strategies for connecting with these evolved fans.
Scott Soshnick
Editor-in-Chief, Sportico
Scott Soshnick joined Sportico in April of 2020 as its Editor-In-Chief and head of content, bringing decades of editorial experience to Penske Media’s sports business platform.
Prior to joining Sportico, Scott spent 27 years at Bloomberg News, spearheading the global news service’s sports business coverage across a variety of platforms. Scott also founded and co-hosted Bloomberg’s Business of Sports podcast, while creating and hosting a variety of live events with leading industry executives.
Scott graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in broadcast journalism. He resides in Glen Ridge, NJ, with his wife and son, who aspires to be an NHL goaltender. As such, Scott spends an inordinate amount of time in hockey rinks.
About
Uniting the sports business community with a series focused on leadership, innovation and action, where no questions are off the table and all questions are in bounds.
Sportico and Sports Innovation Lab are thrilled to combine our content, expertise and leadership. We’ll co-produce a monthly series of conversations with the impact players and visionaries that lead the industry, while charting the course for the future of leagues, teams and related businesses.
Co-hosted by Sportico Editor-In-Chief, Scott Soshnick, and Sports Innovation Lab’s President and Co-Founder, Josh Walker, each conversation will focus on leadership, innovation and action. No questions will be off the table.