Sports, Women & Data: Reviving Your (Team) Spirit

Cristina is an intentional storyteller with a focus on action, impact, and culture. As CMO, Cristina and her team use world-class storytelling to reach new audiences, spotlighting Salesforce.org as the technology platform built to power purpose.

Cristina believes that when people and communities thrive, business thrives. Her team integrates customer advocacy, media partnerships, and influencer strategies to build lasting relationships. She pushes past traditional marketing tactics to find new opportunities to engage the Salesforce.org community—through the voices of thousands of educators, philanthropists, community leaders, bridge-builders and visionaries—in memorable, transparent, and relevant ways.

Cristina joined Salesforce in January 2018 from 20th Century Fox, where she helmed Fox’s Technology & Creative Strategy group, and held senior roles in the areas of marketing, technology and franchise distribution. At Fox, she focused on user behavior research to explore how technology can be leveraged to build authentic relationships and deeper connections between audiences and storytellers.

In 2020, Cristina was named to the Ebony Power 100, and as one of 60 women featured in the World Woman Foundation's #WorldWomanHour #ShesMyHero campaign highlighting women fighting against stereotypes to promote ideas that change the world.

Kristene Kelly joined Vanderbilt in 2020 as deputy athletic director for internal affairs and serves on the department’s executive team.

Kelly serves as sport administrator for the women’s basketball, bowling, soccer and women’s tennis programs. She provides supervision of the department’s internal affairs units, including: sport performance, student services, compliance, psychological services, nutrition, strength and conditioning, athletic training, human resources and student-athlete development.

Kelly’s oversight responsibilities include various student-athlete resource areas, such as health and wellness, student services, and the David Williams II Recreation and Wellness Center. Kelly serves as a liaison to several campus offices, including the Title IX Office and the Dean of Students.

Kelly has worked within each of the NCAA’s three divisions and boasts one of the most diverse resumes of any college administrator as one of the few – even perhaps the only – to hold throughout her career the titles of sports information director, associate athletic director, senior associate athletic director, executive associate athletic director, faculty athletics representative, senior woman administrator and athletic director.

Kelly began her career in collegiate athletics as an academic counselor and graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee in 2001. She began working toward her master’s degree at Tennessee in human performance and sport studies, completing her degree the following year while starting a job at her alma mater as the sports information director, a post she held for over six years.

Only the second female to be named the CIAA John Holley Sports Information Director of the Year in 2005, Kelly earned her doctoral degree of education in sport management from the United States Sports Academy in 2014.

Kelly is a very active committee member within the NCAA, with service on the NCAA Woman of the Year Committee and the NCAA Division II Track and Field Committee. She served as a member of the CIAA Management Council and as a committee member for numerous CIAA championships.

Kelly has completed multiple leadership development institutes, including the NCAA Leadership Institute for Ethnic Minority Women (2007) and the NCAA/NACWAA Executive Institute for Administrative Advancement (2010). A frequent guest speaker on a variety of topics centered around college athletics that include, “Best Practices for Improving Graduation Rates,” “Title IX” and “Work Life Balance,” Kelly has also been a presenter for the Black Women in Sport Foundation’s Next Step Women of Color Mini-Forum.

A 2000 graduate of Johnson C. Smith with bachelor’s degrees in physical education (sport management) and communication arts (public relations), Kelly earned all-rookie honors on the softball team before captaining the squad as a senior. In addition to serving as a sports information intern all four years, she was also a student trainer for the football team.

Kelly is an active member of the National Association for Collegiate Directors of Athletics, Women Leaders in College Sports, Minority Opportunities in Athletics Administration and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is a board member of the Sexual Assault Center.

Caroline Silby, Ph.D holds a Doctorate and master’s degree of Sports Psychology from the University of Virginia. She is a nationally recognized expert on the development of elite athletes, author of, Games Girls Play: Understanding and Guiding Young Female Athletes (St. Martin’s Press, 2000, 2001), contributing author to, A Smart Girls Guide: Sports and Fitness: How to Use Your Body and Mind To Play and Feel Your Best (American Girl Company, February, 2018), Sport Science of Figure Skating (Routledge, 2018), The Young Female Athlete (Boston Children’s Hospital Harvard & Springer Publishing, May 2016), Sports Secrets and Spirit Stuff (American Girl). She served for twelve years as adjunct faculty at American University and has worked on an individual basis with three Olympic Gold Medalists, over 20 Olympians, two Paralympian Gold Medalists and pro athletes, as well as hundreds of National Team members and Division I student- athletes, teams, and their coaches. She has worked individually with athletes from a wide variety of sports including football, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, tennis, swimming, gymnastics, muay thai, taekwondo, ice and field hockey, fencing, ski & snowboard, e-sports.

She is currently the head of sport psychology and lead consultant for the US Figure Skating National Team amongst many other sport organizations and most recently served as sport psych consultant for US Figure Skating at the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang. As an elite athlete, Dr. Silby was a member of the National and International Figure Skating Teams. She later served on the U.S. Figure Skating Association Board of Directors, Athlete Advisory Council and Sports Medicine Committee. Dr. Silby was appointed to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Athlete Advisory Council, Collegiate Sports Council and Finance Committees.

Currently, she serves on the Sports Medicine Committees for the United States Figure Skating Association, is a member of the Medical Advisory Board for American Ballet Theatre, Board of Directors for GirlsUP and most recently a consultant to “Stronger Than You Think” a 3-day Mental Health National Livestream with 60 celebrities and athletes in participation. Previously, she served as President of the Board of the Southwest Women’s Law Center, Education Committee for the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Advisory Board of FabLab, a Fox television series aimed at encouraging girls to become involved in STEM, served as a curriculum creator for Winning Play$, a financial literacy program, and has been a featured speaker for the US Department of State, Sports United program.

In 2019, she was awarded Sport Science Coach Award by the Professional Skater’s Association and recognition of appreciation for service to Olympic Teams in 1996, 2014, 2016 and 2018. Dr. Silby is sought after expert and has appeared on numerous radio and television programs including the Oprah Winfery Show, CNN, Tru-Television, ABC-Wide World of Sports, Oxygen Television, NPR, and the Mitch Albom Show. She resides in Potomac, Maryland where she has an active national practice.

Kendall Tyson is Vice President of Strategy and Business Intelligence for the Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena. She is responsible for driving revenue growth through data management and advanced analytics. Her team leverages data to create personalized guest experiences and facilitate business efficiency with automated operational and financial reporting.

Prior to joining the Kraken, Kendall lead corporate development at Topgolf, where she evaluated mobile apps, entertainment venues and golf technology for M&A or partnership. Earlier in her career, she advised state and local government agencies on business transformations as a Management Consultant at Accenture.

Kendall holds a B.A. degree from Emory University, a B.S. degree from Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. from Yale School of Management. She currently resides in Seattle, WA with her husband and daughter.