Americas

Felipe Llorente is the President of the River Plate Foundation. He also serves Club Atlético River Plate as 1st Vice President of Public Relations and as a representative for club members. He holds a degree in Political Science from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) and is currently pursuing master’s degrees in International Relations (Austral University) and Political Leadership (CIAS University Institute). He has received international training in the United States, the European Union, China, and India, and has worked for various public sector bodies, including ANSES, the Superintendence of Occupational Risks, and the Government of the Province of Buenos Aires.

Rishin Tandon is an ESPY Award winner, a winner of the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award as one of just three National Honorees, and the winner of the American Climate Leadership Award (Youth Category) by ecoAmerica. He is the 17-year-old founder of the patent-pending Youth Eco Sports Scorecard (YESS), a first-of-its-kind digital platform that functions like a FICO-style score for youth sports sustainability, using behavioral science, community-generated data, and youth leadership to measure, benchmark, and accelerate climate action.

Rishin was also one of six recipients of an Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program grant supporting innovative work in sport and social impact. He has delivered mainstage talks at the Green Sports Alliance Summit in Miami, became the youngest two-time global speaker at Play the Game in Tampere, Finland, and has been a guest speaker at NC State University and the University of Washington Bothell.

His work grew from original research examining sustainability across the 2018, 2022, and 2026 FIFA World Cups, including interviews with 12 global experts spanning sport, sustainability, academia, and World Cup organizing committees. He translated lessons from global mega-events to the grassroots through YESS, which turns everyday decisions from transportation and waste to extreme heat and air quality, into measurable climate actions, behavioral nudges, and data that can reveal where change is most needed.

Rishin’s work sits at the intersection of climate action, behavioral science, environmental justice, public health, and sport. His broader goal is to democratize climate leadership by giving young people the tools, data, and agency to drive systemic change through the teams and communities they already belong to.

Dr. Sasha Sutherland is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organization (RADO). In her role she manages teams in the 18 Caribbean RADO member countries to strengthen their anti-doping frameworks. She is also a lecturer at The University of the West Indies and serves as a Director of the Barbados Olympic Association Inc., where she is Chair of the Education Commission, a member of the Governance Commission and Sustainability Lead.

With a desire to increase awareness around issues of gender (in)equality, governance and doping in sport, she has published work on menstrual health, Sport for Development, sexism and sport impacts on girls and women, and gender and race in sport. She is also Chair of the Barbados Girls Cricket Club- the first of its kind in the Caribbean. Here she is committed, with her team, to provide safe spaces for girls to participate in and thrive in and through sport.

She is a former triple-discipline athlete of Lawn Tennis, Football and Hockey and enjoys Open Water Swimming who brings her knowledge of being athlete, administrator and academic together to inform the world in any way she can.

Annie Horn is Associate Vice President, Social Impact & Inclusion and Sustainability at the NBA, where she leads the league’s environmental sustainability strategy across the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League and Basketball Africa League, working across league operations, events and partners to integrate sustainability into the business of basketball, in addition to NBA’s health and wellness platform, NBA Total Health. She has guided the NBA’s climate commitments, including becoming the first professional sports league in North America to sign the United Nations Sports for Climate Action Framework, and led the league’s first carbon footprint assessment and public greenhouse gas emissions disclosure.

Her work focuses on helping the league measure, reduce and report its environmental impact while advancing practical sustainability initiatives across marquee events and year-round operations. Through collaboration with teams, venues, corporate partners and industry stakeholders her work advances scalable solutions strengthening both sustainability and fan engagement. She is passionate about harnessing the power of sport to create positive social and environmental impact.

Attorney, author of the book Compliance in Football, specialist in Compliance, Anti-Corruption Law and Public Administration Control from FDV, and in Regulatory Compliance from Penn University.

He currently serves as Compliance, Data Protection & ESG Officer at Atlético Mineiro SAF, President of the Ethics Council of the Brazilian Triathlon Confederation, and Professor in the Graduate Program in Governance, Risk Management and Compliance at FDV.

He previously served as President of the Compliance Committee of the Brazilian Bar Association – Espírito Santo Section, and as Undersecretary of Internal Control and Audit for the Municipality of Vitória/ES. Named one of the most admired compliance professionals in Brazilian companies by the Compliance On Top Awards.

As NASCAR’s Head of Sustainability, Riley Nelson develops, directs and champions the motorsports league’s first comprehensive environmental sustainability strategy, including oversight of 15 racetracks, seven office locations, 1200+ employees, and 20+ events that draw millions of attendees annually. She was a leading voice behind the sport’s first public-facing sustainability goal – net zero operating emissions by 2035 – and the formation of NASCAR IMPACT. Additionally, she helped secure the company’s first NASCAR IMPACT partnership in global electrification leader ABB; published the sport’s first IMPACT report; launched composting, reuse and expanded recycling programs across events; and built the renewable energy strategy for 60K+ MWh of electricity per year. She was named to Sports Business Journal’s 2024 class of New Voices Under 30 and was included on SBJ’s Ones to Watch in Sustainability list in 2023. Based in Denver and originally from Boston, Nelson received her MBA in Sustainable Innovation from the University of Vermont and BA in Sport Management from the University of Michigan.

Julia Vergueiro is a Brazilian entrepreneur and sports industry leader dedicated to advancing opportunities for girls and women through sports. She is the co-founder of Nossa Arena, Latin America’s first women-dedicated sports complex, and co-founder of the Instituto Nossa Arena, a nonprofit organization that uses sports as a tool for empowerment, health, and social inclusion in underserved communities. For over a decade, she has led initiatives that combine sports, education, and community development, creating pathways for thousands of girls and women to access opportunities both on and off the field.

Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist who studies how climate change impacts us and how we can effectively respond. She is globally recognized as a United Nations Champion of the Earth and an Oxfam Sister of the Planet, and has been named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers, and FORTUNE’s World’s Greatest Leaders.

Katharine is known for her ability to translate complex climate issues into accessible public discourse. She publishes a weekly Talking Climate newsletter, hosted the PBS Digital Series, Global Weirding, and writes for broad range of outlets, from TIME to Good Housekeeping. Her TED talk, “The most important thing you can do to fight climate change: talk about it” has more than 4 million views and her most recent book is “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.”

Currently, she is the Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy and holds the positions of Horn Distinguished Professor and the Political Science Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law at Texas Tech University. Katharine earned her B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Toronto and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science from the University of Illinois. She is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, and the American Scientific Affiliation, and serves on advisory boards for organizations such as Netflix, UBS, and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. In recognition of her contributions to science communication and engagement, she has received a number of awards and four honorary doctorates.

Zach Ruiz is the Sustainability Manager for the Miami HEAT and Kaseya Center, where he leads organization wide environmental strategy. His leadership has earned recognition across waste reduction, energy efficiency, water efficiency, ESG strategy, and community engagement.

Since joining the HEAT, the arena has increased its annual waste diversion rate from ~6% to more than 50%. Initiatives include expanded recycling and compost programs, reduced fan-facing single-plastic and back-of-house sorting.

In addition to waste reduction, Zach champions community impact and resiliency through new regional environmental initiatives. This past season the Miami HEAT and Kaseya Center have supported local community partners that work with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, coral reef restoration, green space restoration, sea turtle conservation and food waste education.

Danielle Doza is the Vice President of Sustainability and Environmental Services for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Rock Entertainment Group, the first dedicated senior level sustainability position in the NBA. At the Cavs, Danielle works across the company on sustainable operations, procurement, and reporting, supporting the marketing and communications teams, and integrating sustainability into partnership development. Danielle was previously recognized by Sports Business Journal as “One to Watch” for women in sports and sustainability and as a “Notable Leader in Sustainability” by Cleveland Crain’s Business.

Prior to joining the Cavs, Danielle was a corporate sustainability consultant as the co-founder of a small firm, where she helped manufacturing and consumer product companies with sustainability strategy development, reporting, and project-based challenges.

Danielle is a graduate of The Ohio State University and Cleveland State University College of Law. She received an executive certificate from the University of Pennsylvania Center for Social Impact Strategy.