Food Connected

Courtney Carter

A highly respected leader within the sports, media, and entertainment landscape, Courtney Carter has built a prodigious reputation by realizing the value within the breadth and depth of her experience across industries.  With over 20 years of proven success in the NBA/WNBA, MLS, ESPN, CAA, and her own Carter Media Group (CMG), she has helped drive over $250M in revenue and packaged, sold or produced multiple campaigns, shows and films.   Twice named a top entertainment executive by Business Insider, Courtney’s emergence as a leading intersectional architect behind some of the world’s most beloved properties and talent is a direct result of her ability to identify cultural shifting brands, platforms and partnerships.   Her nuanced understanding of social, digital and new media allows her to create new boundaries and opportunities within the existing landscape. There, she creates innovative revenue streams that complement brand identity, while producing entertaining solutions. Courtney’s innate desire to be an active part of brand, IP, and its future communities recently led her into angel investing as well as the web3 space.  She currently serves as advisor to the $200M crypto/web3 fund: SINO Global Capital and is a limited partner in over eight companies across sustainability, tech and CPG industries.  As a former D1/semi-pro soccer player she is also proud to be part of the investor/ownership group of Angel City FC - the new professional women’s soccer team in Los Angeles. Her commitment in servant leadership is paramount to her purpose; in 2020 she founded the non-profit organization Ally2Action, an organization that aids people in their pursuit and understanding of social and racial equity.  She is also honored to serve as Board Member to Friends of the Children Los Angeles, serving the greater Los Angeles’ areas at risk youth and families affected by the foster care system.

Renie Anderson

Renie Anderson was named by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell the Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Vice President, NFL Partnerships in March of 2019. As the Chief Revenue Officer and Executive Vice President, NFL Partnerships, Renie oversees the League’s partnership divisions, including sponsorship, new business, consumer products, and media sales. A few key partners include, Pepsi, Microsoft, P&G, Verizon, Bose, Nike, New Era, EA, etc. The Partner Management group identifies open categories as well as maintains the relationships and activation of the NFL’s corporate sponsors and licensees. This group works to leverage the goals and brands of the companies associated with the NFL with key initiatives including the NFL’s high- profile calendar initiatives such as Draft, Kickoff, Thanksgiving, Playoffs, Pro Bowl and Super Bowl with the country’s most avid fan base. This group also works to integrate partners in unique and authentic ways, including Surface Tablets on the sidelines of NFL games and Bose headsets worn by coaches. In addition to her duties overseeing the League’s partnership divisions, Renie also is responsible for all media sales for the League’s owned and operated media assets including NFL Network and NFL Digital Media as well as the League’s business in legalized sports betting.  Renie joined the National Football League in 2006 after nine seasons at the Arena Football League. Renie graduated from Ole Miss in 1997 with a degree in Journalism. She is a Hall of Fame honoree of the SBJ 40 under 40, 2016 WISE Woman of the Year as well as a Game Changer in sports and entertainment honored by the SBJ. She resides in Darien, CT with her husband Chris McCloskey, and her daughters Callie and Kate.

Rob Thompson

Rob has a 30+ year career in grassroots, professional and college athletics, media, and family entertainment along with several startups and a few start overs.  He returned to his alma mater in 2016 after a startup exit to lead a $20MM Athletic Fundraising Campaign for facilities and upgrade to FCS.  He's authored “Land A Dream Job If Dad Doesn't Own The Team" an Amazon Best Selling Sports Business New Book release in 2018, and published Second Edition " Sports Dream Job Playbook".  Rob is founder of GamePlanU and MyConnexSports.com, a global community connecting sports and media industry executives to SportsTech innovators, founders, and investors.

Kristen Kuliga

Kristen has worked in the sports and entertainment industry for over 20 years. She has been called the leading female sports agent in the US, having represented more than a hundred NFL players. Kristen was the first woman to negotiate a starting NFL quarterback’s contract, Doug Flutie’s $33 million contract with the Chargers. She also has extensive experience leading marketing and endorsement efforts for many NFL, NBA and MLB players. Her ability to leverage these relationships into real business opportunities for athlete and corporate clients is what brought Kristen to Vanguard to lead its Business Development division. She is a cum laude graduate of both the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Suffolk University Law School. She splits her time between the Boston, NY and Southern California.

Lowell Taub

After a 24-year career representing some of the biggest stars in sports, Taub returned to his entrepreneurial roots and launched Stoked in 2020. Taub represents a roster of Olympic, Action Sports and Iconic athletes including the best skateboarder (Nyjah Huston), snowboarder (Chloe Kim) and surfer (John John Florence) in the world. Taub focuses on creating “off-the-field” revenue opportunities for his clients including endorsement, appearance, social media, licensing, and equity/ownership partnerships. Stoked launched a talent advisory practice that advises brands on their talent ambassador procurement, including NOBULL and Hugo Boss. Taub began his career at If Management in 1996, representing sports television personalities, finishing his tenure in the role of Director of Client & Business Affairs.  Taub next spent seven years at SFX Sports Group, as Vice President of Talent Marketing, before starting his first athlete representation company, GFHF Marketing & Management, in 2005.  GFHF was acquired by CAA Sports in 2007 and Taub finished his tenure at CAA as Head of Sports Endorsements, where he generated over $297M in athlete endorsement partnership revenue managing a client roster including Shaun White, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dwyane Wade and Novak Djokovic.  In 2014, Taub was recognized by the Sports Business Journal “Forty Under 40.” Taub graduated from Cornell University and is married with two children, based in New Jersey suburbs outside NYC.