These 25 women – actually 32, once you put together some of the teams we are profiling – are providing fresh perspectives to longstanding practices in team sports. With girls now making up 42 percent of sports participants at the high school level and 47 percent at the Division One level, many are recasting the opportunity around women’s sports. These remarkable women will influence the business of team sports and the lives of millions of people in 2025.

TEAM DEALERS/VENDORS

Mary Dolan, CEO and owner of Pro-Am Team Sports, began her career as an employment and domestic relations lawyer. Seeking more flexibility following the birth of her fifth child as well as a sports connection as a lifelong baseball fan and former soccer player at Notre Dame, she partnered with an experienced team salesman to launch Pro-Am Team Sports in Chicago. Within a few years, Pro-Am acquired another team uniform business in Schererville, IN, doubling its operational footprint and market reach.

The dealer specializes in in-house decoration with strong relationships across with community leagues, schools and organizations such as the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians.

Now 100 percent women owned, Pro-Am Team Sports has earned WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council) certification. “Many women bring their unique perspective and strengths to an industry that has been so male-dominated and that can create an attractive workplace environment and sense of team,” Dolan says.

Carleen Gray’s first position out of college was at Stahls as a customer service representative and trainer. She rose to as marketing director for more than 10 years before she left in 2001 to pursue a position in the automotive world, where she managed licensing programs for brands including Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler. She returned to Stahls in 2007, leading marketing and then also sales before being appointed CEO in 2018.

Under her leadership, Stahls’ has strengthened its position as a leader in heat printing and digital decorating technologies. She has spearheaded nearshore production integrations and recently she led Stahls’ expansion of POD technology into Europe and was instrumental in creating the first-ever POD Conference in February 2025.

Stahls’ longest-serving CEO outside of founder Ted Stahl, Gray serves on several industry councils, including as chairperson of the 2021-22 Suppliers and Manufacturers Council (SMC) Printing United Alliance. She recently ranked No. 20 on the Counselor Power 50 List 2024.

These two make quite a team at one of the industry’s leading team dealers.

First came Jessica Rose-Huggins, who joined Denver Athletic in 1993, only eight years after Mick Montgomery founded the business.

“I fell into it,” Rose-Huggins recalls. “It was actually a matter of being in the right place at the right time. I happened to be at Denver Athletic the day their receptionist quit, and I needed a job. I was 19-years old and started answering phones and just learned the business from the bottom up.”

In her current role as COO, Rose-Huggins oversees all aspects of the dealer’s operations. Recently, Rose-Huggins spearheaded the implementation of a new business software system and the change of processes throughout the company.

Rose-Huggins believes the industry has gotten much better at recruiting and promoting women into leadership roles. “I remember my first buying show 25 years ago. In a room of approximately 200 people, 50 dealers, I was one of only two women. I look around now and it is common to see women in all roles.”

Stacy Biggs joined the team in 2004, specifically to build its cheerleading and dance business. “Prior to then, they would do a couple T-shirt orders each year, but didn’t offer anything specific or cater to the spirit community. The road guys didn’t want to deal with cheer because they didn’t understand it, which makes total sense.”

With a more than 30-year career in sporting goods, including merchandising roles for Fruit of the Loom, Russell Athletic and Bike Athletic, Sarah Gholston has been SVP–merchandising and design for BSN Sports since 2018, where she creates consumer demand through market differentiating product assortment strategies across all channels.

A former competitive swimmer for the University of Tennessee, Gholston says the transition from athlete to a career in team sports was natural. “I was able to take the work ethic and passion I had for my sport and transition it to the business,” she explains.

Terrence Babilla, president and COO of BSN Sports, is a big supporter. “It has been a true honor and privilege to work with Sarah,” he tells Team Insight. “She’s smart, innovative and enthusiastic about everything she is doing.”

Allison Boersma and Erin Griffin bring their passion for the game of football to their work, leading teams to create innovative, protective equipment to football fields at all levels of the game.

A 16-year Riddell veteran, Boersma took over as president and CEO at the start of 2025 following the retirement of Dan Arment. After 18 years in financial roles at Kraft Food, she joined Riddell in 2009 as VP of finance and was promoted CFO and COO in 2014.

Meanwhile, Griffin joined Riddell in 2012 as SVP–marketing and communications, overseeing brand marketing, media relations and digital strategy. Griffin serves as the primary contact for Peyton Manning and Riddell’s other current/former athlete relationships.

Heidi O’Neill joined Nike in 1998 and has held a variety of roles, including leading Nike’s marketplace and four geographic operating regions, leading Nike Direct and accelerating Nike’s retail and digital-commerce business. She also led Nike’s women’s business for seven years, growing it into a multi-billion-dollar business, and guided the company’s North America apparel business as VP/GM.

In 2020, O’Neill was appointed as president of Consumer and Marketplace, where she leads the integration of global men’s, women’s and kids’ consumer teams. She is also a founding member of the Nike Global Women’s Leadership Council.

It can be argued that no other sporting goods retailer has had a greater impact on girls’ sports than Dick’s Sporting Goods and now Lauren Hobart as CEO and president of Dick’s since February 2021 is spearheading much of the effort. Following 14 years at PepsiCo, Hobart joined Dick’s in 2011 as SVP and chief marketing officer and was promoted to president in 2017. She is credited at Dick’s with revamping marketing efforts, building out its e-commerce platform and improving the omni-channel customer experience.

As one of only 52 women CEOs in the Fortune 500, Hobart has been a major advocate for women in leadership, even appearing in a commercial touting the value of team sports for girls and the need for equal opportunities for women.

Rachelle Manning wanted to be a Division I college coach as she played softball and basketball at Sacramento State University and earned her master’s at the University of Tennessee, but it didn’t work out that way. “When I didn’t get the assistant softball coaching job at the University of Tennessee two different times, I came to the conclusion I needed to explore the business side of the industry. The rest is history.”

She began in 1997 with Worth Sports as a territory manager for Northern California and north Nevada before joining Wilson Sporting Goods in 2000, first as a manager covering the same area and then as a national account manager on the West Coast with accounts including Amazon and Sport Chalet. In 2013, she joined SanMar to head up the SanMar Sports team division.  

She believes any challenges faced as a woman in the team sports space can be overcome by delivering on promises.

“One thing I learned early on is that I had to work smarter, I had to work harder and I had to be the most educated (industry) person in the room,” Manning explains. “I wanted my peers and customers to trust me. You cannot demand respect; it must be earned.”

Manning believes SanMar has benefited from having one woman on her outside team and her entire inside team being female and urges other organizations to recruit and promote women into leadership positions. “Hire women. You will not be disappointed.”

Mykayla Goodwin joined OrderMyGear (OMG) in 2019 in product marketing and has supported the OMG team in multiple roles, including marketing, product management and strategy. She led the integrations of BrightStores in 2022 and DistributorCentral in 2023 and in her current role as VP–strategy she helps OMG identify growth opportunities in an increasingly digitally-driven team dealer space.

Reaching her fifth year in the team sports space, Goodwin believes progress in establishing a better balance between men and women in leadership has been “slow,” although she’s encouraged to see more women attending trade and buying shows.

Her tips to better recruit women include highlighting stories of successful women and “telling their stories with the same frequency and enthusiasm as men.”

OMG president Matt Kaplan tells Team Insight about Goodwin: “Mykayla is a trailblazer in the sporting goods industry, combining a brilliant marketing mind with a unique understanding of technology to drive real impact. She has been instrumental in shaping OrderMyGear’s strategy to help people build communities, foster connections and create shared identities through branded apparel and products.

Since 2014, Julia Sherman has been president of Bashor’s Team Athletics, the Portland, OR-based dealer founded in 1944 and acquired by her grandfather in 1960.

“I grew up next door to my grandparents and spent every day after school with them,” Sherman explains. “As a kid in the store with my dad in the summer, and on the weekend, my grandpa was in the back office. I always dreamed of sitting in his desk and running the family business, following in both his and my dad’s steps.”

With almost 3500-square feet of production space, a 5500-square-foot warehouse, and 3000-square-foot store, Bashor’s is one of the largest dealers serving the Pacific Northwest.

“The biggest challenge was just to be taken seriously,” Sherman recalls of her early days in the team business.

A “huge baseball fan” growing up, Lindsey Naber majored in journalism at the University of Missouri with a dream of becoming a sportswriter. After college, she relocated back to St. Louis, landed an interview with Rawlings, and was “hooked immediately” upon entering the legendary baseball brand’s showroom for the first – and only – interview of her career.

In her current role as director of marketing, Naber oversees all of Rawlings’ national marketing efforts. Highlights include creating a celebratory marketing campaign for Rawlings’ 125th anniversary, assisting in the expansion of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award platform to include collegiate baseball and softball and establishing Rawlings’ inaugural NIL program for collegiate baseball.

As a women in the sports space, Naber believes she often gains an advantage over her male colleagues because she can view a solution or approach from a different perspective. “It’s hard to say if I had to work harder to earn credibility compared to the men in this industry, but I feel as once you’ve established yourself as a contributor, you’re viewed in the same way.”

Spending the first chapter of her career in the specialty steel and aerospace components industry, Michelle Pharand was well aware of the ill-fitting gear options facing women working in industrial and STEM related fields. As an avid athlete Pharand recognized even more girls were facing fit issues playing team sports. So, she jumped on the opportunity to acquire Reading, PA-based Brute Athletic Apparel in 2019 to both enter the team sports space and address the underserved girls’ athlete with the launch of Athena Brute’s Elite Fit for Women uniform line.

“When you talk to any female coach or the players, they know their only option is finding smaller versions of boys’ uniforms,” she explains. “So, we came out with the first uniform line designed for women by women. We even trademarked the phrase, “Women are not small men,” to promote the line.”

Jordan Shumate earned a marketing degree from the University of Georgia and a masters in luxury fashion marketing from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Finding that luxury fashion wasn’t for her, she heard from a family friend in the team dealer space seeking someone to head up their women’s sports division and wound up purchasing the team division to create Shuma Sports, based in Lawrenceville, GA. Her brother, Zach, soon left a corporate job in finance to join her as co-owner.

Admitting to being “completely green” on the team dealer world, Shumate credits her veteran team in helping ease the learning curve. “We relied on them heavily to show us the ropes.”

In 2025, Shuma Sports ranked in the Top 50 of the Bulldog 100, which recognizes the top 100 fastest-growing organizations owned or led by University of Georgia alumni.

Shumate believes overcoming credibility issues is a primary challenge facing women working in a traditionally male-dominated space such as team sports. “Often, the initial assumption is men may hold more expertise in sports-related decisions, which can sometimes lead to women being overlooked or undervalued,” she says. “That being said, being one of the few women in the space can allow you to stand out and build a unique network and perspective.”

A team of women at Chipply is helping to change the way dealers do business. The online team store platform that was born out of Milwaukee-based dealer Burghardt Sporting Goods didn’t plan to have a predominantly female team, according to president Lynn Burghardt, it naturally evolved that way. “We focus on two key components when building our team. First, talent, experience and expertise; second, a strong cultural fit. We’re creating something special and it’s essential that every team member recognizes the impact of our work.”

The Chipply executive team includes Burghardt, a fifth-generation owner of Burghardt Sporting Goods; Angie Hardwick, CEO; and Melissa Hardwick, director of product management and Angie’s daughter-in-law. The Hardwicks, who formerly handled web operations for Burghardt Sporting Goods, helped siblings Lynn, Carl and Brian Burghardt further develop the Chipply platform that led to its commercialization in 2018.  

Other women on Chipply’s exec team include Grace Schettler, SVP–sales, and Rhyen McFarland, marketing manager, who both arrived in 2024 from Cap America. Overall, Chipply’s employee base has expanded to 13 women.

“The team dealer industry has certainly come a long way,” Burghardt says, recalling that when she first started attending Sports Inc. shows in 2010 she was one of only a few women in the room. Today, hundreds of women attend, and the most recent show even hosted its first women’s luncheon.

ATHLETES

What more needs to be said about Caitlin Clark and the impact she has had on women’s sports, particularly collegiate and professional basketball. She took American sports by storm in 2024, first as a star at the University of Iowa before almost unanimously winning WNBA’s rookie of the year for the Indiana Fever. Asked last year at the LPGA’s Women’s Leadership Summit about her ability to inspire youth, Clark was candid: “The young girls that are at our games screaming and having the time of their lives, and you go up to them and they start crying. It’s cute, but also I was just in their shoes. It’s the amount of joy that you can bring people and the young girls.”

NIL is here to stay and even made its way into high school sports when last October, Kaleena Smith, a sophomore at California’s Ontario Christian High School, became the first girls’ high-school basketball athlete signed by Adidas to a NIL (name, image and likeness) deal. Candace Parker, the WNBA legend and president of Adidas women’s basketball, called the signing “a pivotal moment for [Adidas] as we lead in championing women’s sports.”

Smith joins a growing number of female high school athletes joining their male counterparts in scoring NIL deals. Nike last year signed 13-year-old McKenna “Mac” Whitham, the youngest player in NWSL history, to mark its youngest athlete in any sport to sign an NIL deal. Smaller brands, including New York City-based women’s basketball sneaker brand Moolah Kicks, Oregon-based lifestyle bag maker Portland Gear, and Shoot-A-Way, the Ohio-based basketball training device maker, are also signing teenagers.

The transgender debate in women’s sports is not going away and at the top of any discussion are Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete swimming for the University of Pennsylvania, and University of Kentucky’s Riley Gaines. The two tied for fifth at the 2022 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, helping ignite a debate over whether transgender women and girls competing in female sports. The incident drew more attention after Thomas in the same match won the 500-yard freestyle race, making history as the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship.

Becoming a outspoken activist, Gaines joined 15 others women college athletes filing a lawsuit against the NCAA as transgender women competing in women’s sports became a key campaign issue in November’s election. The issue was stoked by widespread media coverage last year of a suspected transgender player on San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball team that led to opponents boycotting matches. In early February, the NCAA changed its participation policy for transgender athletes, limiting competition in women’s sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth.

ASSOCIATIONS/LEAGUES/INFLUENCERS

In 2018, Niehoff became the first female CEO of the NFHS and only the sixth full-time CEO in the organization’s 106-year history. Neihoff’s accomplishments include helping schools recover from the pandemic to reach record high school sports participation levels over the 2023-2024 year and now the NFHS is developing the first national high school playing rules for flag football.

Recently honored as Sports Illustrated’s 2024 Innovator of the Year, Jessica Berman was appointed commissioner of the NWSL in 2022. Under her leadership, the league has seen skyrocketing franchise valuations and sales, partnership gains and signing the largest-ever media rights deal for a women’s sports league.

Cindy Parlow Cone in 2020 became the first female president of the 112-year history of the United States Soccer Federation. A former World Cup winner on the iconic 1999 U.S. team and the second female inductee into the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Cone has earned most credit for settling a lawsuit in 2022 filed against the federation by the national women’s soccer team.

Jamie Riley in December 2014 joined USA Football as the director of marketing, leading a comprehensive rebranding strategy for the governing body of American football. Within two years, she was promoted to managing director of brand experience, to chief of staff in 2018 and to chief operating officer in December 2023.

In June 2022, Jackie Paquette joined NWCA as deputy director and chief of staff, becoming the first female executive at the organization.

Haley Rosen founded JWS in 2020 to change the game for women’s sports coverage. JWS now earns more than 75 million impressions a month.

In May 2024, the NFL hired Stephanie Kwok as VP, head of flag football, a new executive position as the sport gets set for its debut at the 2028 Olympics. Kwok also co-founded Pickup Football, which ran competitive flag tournaments for adults across the tri-state area.

Missy Park was among the first generation of women after Title IX had passed in 1972. The 1989 launch of Title Nine as a catalog offered “athletic gear specifically built for women.” Title Nine now rates as the largest independently-owned and operated retailer of women’s activewear.