Women in Sports Business Symposium
"Get Your Head in the Game: Connect with Peers, Meet a Mentor, Leave a Legacy”

Women in Sports Business Woman of the Year Award

We are happy to announce that this year, Donna A. Lopiano, Ph.D., former Chief Executive Officer of the Women's Sports Foundation, will be honored as the WSBS Woman of the Year.

Dr. Lopiano joins a distinguished group of past award recipients, including Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of World Team Tennis (WTT), Ilana Kloss, former President of the WNBA and current President of USA Basketball, Val Ackerman, and former VP of Marketing at ESPN, Lee Ann Daly.

Lee Ann Daly
2006 WSBS Woman of the Year Award Recipient
Former Executive Vice President Marketing, ESPN
Current Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Reuters

In January of 2007, Lee Ann Daly joined Reuters, the global leader in news, images and financial data, as Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer. She had been Executive Vice President, marketing at ESPN where since 1998 she was responsible for the development, direction and implementation of all branding, creative services and marketing for ESPN’s growing media businesses, encompassing television, print, radio, broadband and the Internet. She was also responsible for the company’s synergy efforts, including marketing project management for ESPN-branded business activities supported by The Walt Disney Company, including the ESPN Zones and “ESPN the Weekend” at Walt Disney World. Daly had served previously as ESPN’s Senior Vice President, Marketing, beginning in May 1999. She joined the company in 1997 as Vice President, Advertising and Program Marketing. She was a member of ESPN’s President’s executive committee from 2000 to 2005.

Daly and her team developed over 50 marketing campaigns annually, including “This is SportsCenter” and most recently, “Without Sports,” which celebrates the central role of sports in society. Daly and her team provided the brand and marketing leadership for the launch and growth of many successful ESPN brand extensions including ESPN the Magazine, ESPNZone, ESPN Classic, and ESPNU to name a few. Daly also played an active role in the development of ESPN’s Original Entertainment programming division.

Prior to her time at ESPN, Daly was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global New Communications, a division of Interpublic’s Ammirati Puris Lintas (1996-97) where she was responsible for developing creative and management resources for this brand new division. Global New Communications employed methods outside traditional advertising media to make distinctive brand statements using techniques such as architecture, design and theater-arts. Her association with Ammirati & Puris began in 1987 as an account executive, and later as a senior vice president until 1992. At Ammirati, clients included: United Parcel Service, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Grolsch Beer, Nikon and Aetna Life and Casualty.

In 1992, Daly and a partner founded the comedy-based radio agency “Are These My Shoes?” In her role as GM and Executive Producer, Daly and her partners created award-winning radio advertising campaigns for agencies and clients, including ESPN, Nickelodeon, Ogilvy and BBDO.

She began her career in 1984 in account management on the P&G business at Grey Advertising in New York.

Honors:

American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) Hall of Achievement for executives under 40.
WISE Women of the Year (Women in Sports and Events) in 2001 and 2003.
PROMAX & BDA Award for Brand Building (2004)
Brandweek’s “Marketers of the Next Generation”
Ad Age’s “Women to Watch”
Sports Business Journal’s “40 under 40”
Sports Business Journal’s “Female Sports Executives of the Year” (2003, 2004)
Sports Business Journal’s “20 Most Influential Advertisers” (2004)
Sports Business Journal’s “20 Most Influential Women in Sports Business." (2005)
The Sporting News listed Daly as one of their “Power 100 in sports” in 2004
Multichannel News’ “Wonder Women.” (2004)

Daly is also a member of the Academy of Alumni Fellows of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Under Daly’s watch, the Promotional Marketing Association named ESPN “Promotional Marketer of the Year” In 2000. Daly’s work has earned recognition from the Art Director’s Club of New York and has received numerous awards including the Cannes Lion, Effie, British D&AD, One Show, Radio Mercury and Clio Awards.

She is a past President of the board of directors of the American Marketing Association (New York) and was a member of Mayor Bloomberg’s New York City Sports Commission.

She is a native of Indianapolis, and earned a B.A. degree in Journalism from Indiana University’s School of Journalism with a minor in Business from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. She is also a graduate of The French Culinary Institute in New York.