WASHINGTON — Georgetown University professors offer their issue expertise to journalists seeking interviews on a variety of subjects related to the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.
To request to schedule an interview, please contact Georgetown’s Office of Communications at media@georgetown.edu.
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Ancient History Experts
Catherine Keesling, professor and chair of the Department of Classics
Dr. Keesling is the Chair of the Department of Classics at Georgetown University and an expert in Greek sculpture, Greek epigraphy and ancient historiography. Her research explores the study of ancient Greek history and Greek identity through the internal dynamics of the Greek polis, religion and literature. Dr. Kesling has published numerous books and articles on ancient Greece, including “Inscriptions And The Epigraphic Habit: The Epigraphic Cultures Of Greece, Rome, And Beyond”.
Relevant Expertise: ancient Greek studies, ancient historiography and Greek identity
Open to: TV, Radio and Print
Ismini A Lamb, associate teaching professor and director of the Modern Greek Studies Program
Ismini Lamb a native of Athens, Greece is the Director of the Modern Greek Studies Program and has been teaching the Greek language and culture for thirty years at Georgetown. She is also the founder and mentor of the Georgetown Hellenic Association. Her research interests include Hellenic identity and expression, national and ecumenical Hellenism and enjoys speaking on the continuity of Hellenic civilization from antiquity to the present. Professor Lamb, recently released “Gentle American: George Horton’s Odyssey And His True Account Of The Smyrna Catastrophe” which highlights his contributions to history including his work in reviving the Olympic Games and having them in Athens in 1896. She teaches all levels of the Modern Greek language, Greek culture, history and current events.
Relevant Expertise: Modern Greek studies, Greek literature and Hellenic identity
Open to: TV, Radio and Print
Business of the Olympics Experts
Allison Tucker, adjunct lecturer in sports industry management
Allison Tucker holds specific expertise in sports sponsorship sales and negotiation, leadership and team development, strategic planning, relationship building and idea generation. In her role of Vice President, Corporate Partnerships and Business Development for NFL PLAYERS, the licensing and marketing subsidiary of the NFL Players Association, she was responsible for all corporate marketing initiatives that included securing sponsorship for special events, television and other media properties. She marketed NFL athletes to companies for sponsorship/endorsement deals, promotions and player appearances.
Relevant Expertise: sports sponsorship sales and negotiation
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Chris McGrath, adjunct lecturer in sports industry management
Chris McGrath is one of the original adjunct faculty members of the Georgetown University Master’s of Professional Studies degree in Sports Industry Management. McGrath, aCertified Public Accountant (CPA) with experience in valuation, acquisitions, SEC reporting and litigation support. For the Sports Industry Management program, he focuses on the sports business marketplace, including the financial and accounting acumen necessary for executives to succeed in sports organizations, along with the sports economic behavior and concepts of economics in sports business.
Relevant Expertise: sports business and finance
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Kathy Devine, adjunct lecturer in sports industry management
Kathy Devine is a marketing and sales consultant with experience at prominent national advertising agencies, media conglomerates and presented at various sponsorship/marketing conferences. Kathy’s professional sports experience includes creating sponsorship platforms for the NHL, NBA and WNBA franchises at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. She has significant experience strategizing, negotiating and implementing successful marketing partnerships for national brands like Dunkin Donuts, MillerCoors, Walmart, Bacardi, AAA and others.
Relevant Expertise: sports sales, sponsorship and revenue development
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Scott Ganz, an affiliate visiting scholar at McDonough School of Business
Dr. Ganz’s research focuses on how organizations learn and, specifically, how organizational politics, hierarchy, and the design of decision-making institutions impact information aggregation, organizational adaptation, and organizational performance. In addition to his Georgetown appointment, he is also a research fellow in economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Dr. Ganz has utilized his expertise in quantitative research methods to study organizational performance for major sporting events to analyze the impact fans and home-court advantage have on elite athletes.
Relevant Expertise: impact of fans and the home-court advantage, relationship between fans and an athlete’s performance
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Taylor Brown, adjunct lecturer in sports industry management
Taylor Brown is an adjunct faculty member in the School of Continuing Studies’ Sports Industry Management Program. With over fifteen years of experience in the international non-profit sector, Brown specializes in sport-based youth development, human rights, peace-building, and education. Brown teaches courses on social responsibility and globalization in sports, as well as applied ethics and governance in sports.
Relevant Expertise: social responsibility, globalization of sports, applied ethics in sports
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Global Sports Operations Experts
Bobby Goldwater, faculty director and adjunct lecturer for global sports operations & strategy
As one of the most respected and innovative executives in the sports, entertainment and venue management industry, Mr. Goldwater has had a distinguished career managing world-renowned venues such asMadison Square Garden in New York City and the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Mr. Goldwater holds unparalleled industry experience in managing arenas for major league NBA, NHL and Area Football League teams along with bringing in such events as the Grammy Awards and the 2000 Democratic National Convention; inaugural season concerts by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band and the Eagles; and the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, NHL All-Star Weekend and PAC-10 Men’s Basketball Tournament for 2002.
Most previously known for his work in Washington D.C. as the President and Executive Director of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission with the primary responsibility of leading the District of Columbia’s efforts to bring Major League Baseball back to the Nation’s Capital, a project that was successfully completed with the announcement in September 2004 of the relocation of the Montreal Expos, now the Washington Nationals.
Related Experience: sports management & leadership, global sports operations and sporting facility management & operations
Open To: Print, TV and Radio
Joanne Pasternack, adjunct professor in social responsibility & globalization in sports
Joanne Pasternack is a dynamic philanthropic impact strategist who, over the past two decades, has galvanized community engagement with internationally recognized brands including the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers, ServiceNow, City of Mountain View, and Special Olympics. She co-founded and serves as the President & CEO of Athletes’ Voices, launched in collaboration with Harvard University and co-facilitated by The Doug Williams Center and a consortium of the athletic conferences comprising 45 HBCUs. Joanne spent 12 seasons leading philanthropic efforts for professional sports franchises in the NBA and NFL, most recently serving as the Vice President of Community Relations for the Golden State Warriors and the Executive Director of the Warriors Community Foundation. Previously, Joanne was the Vice President and Executive Director of Community Relations and 49ers Foundation for the San Francisco 49ers. She also served as the Executive Director of the Golden Heart Fund, providing a lifeline to 49ers alumni in need of financial, medical, physiological or emotional support.
Relevant Expertise: social responsibility & globalization in sports
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Martin Conway, adjunct instructor of sports business & global games
Marty Conway has an extensive background in sports, media, and technology sectors of business. This includes leadership experiences in professional sports organizations, media, and academia. Conway has had leadership roles in high profile organizations, including, Major League Baseball, the Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, America Online (AOL) and more. Currently an industry consultant and adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University as well as the Josoor Institute in Doha, Qatar, Conway has led programs in sports marketing, media and global sports business for more than 10 years. His areas of focus are global sports business, marketing, sponsorships and media. This includes teaching at the Josoor Institute in Doha in the Professional Diploma programs, preparing professionals for the hosting of the World Cup in 2022.
In addition, Conway has represented the United States Department of State, working with the Ukrainian Ministry of Youth and Sport on the further development of sport and a culture of health and fitness, sports federations and NGOs in Ukraine.
Relevant Expertise: economic development and political implications of global sporting events
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Legal Experts
Brad Snyder, St. Thomas More Professor in Law and History and an Anne Fleming Research Professor
Professor Snyder teaches constitutional law, sports law, and American legal history. His latest book, “You Can’t Kill a Man Because of the Books He Reads: Angelo Herndon’s Fight for Free Speech” (W.W. Norton 2025), tells the story of a Black Communist Party organizer charged with attempting to incite insurrection and the people who rallied to his cause during his five-year quest for freedom. Prior to law teaching, he worked as an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP and wrote two critically acclaimed books about baseball, including “A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood’s Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports” (Viking/Penguin, 2006).
Relevant Expertise: sports law
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Christy Lopez, professor from practice at Georgetown Law
Christy E. Lopez joined the Georgetown Law faculty as a Distinguished Visitor from Practice in 2017 and was made Professor from Practice in 2020. From 2010 to 2017, Professor Lopez served as a Deputy Chief in the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Professor Lopez led the Section’s group conducting pattern-or-practice investigations of police departments and other law enforcement agencies, including litigating and negotiating settlement agreements to resolve investigative findings.
Relevant Expertise: presence of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Winter Olympics
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Security Experts
Bruce Hoffman, professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service
Dr. Bruce Hoffman is a tenured professor in Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, serving in previous roles as Director of both the Center for Security Studies and the Security Studies Program. He previously held the Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency at the RAND Corporation and was also Director of RAND’s Washington, D.C. Office. In addition, he was appointed by the U.S. Congress to serve as a commissioner on the Independent Commission to Review the FBI’s Post-9/11 Response to Terrorism and Radicalization, Professor Hoffman was a lead author of the commission’s final report. Hoffman has conducted fieldwork on terrorism and insurgency in Afghanistan, Argentina, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Iraq, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, the Philippines, Palestine, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.
Relevant Expertise: terrorism, insurgency and counterterrorism
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Daniel Byman, professor in the School of Foreign Service, Department of Government and the director of the Security Studies Program
Dr. Byman is a leading expert on terrorism, insurgency, intelligence, social media, artificial intelligence, and the Middle East. From 2002 to 2004 he served as a Professional Staff Member with the 9/11 Commission and with the Joint 9/11 Inquiry Staff of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Before joining the Inquiry Staff he was the Research Director of the Center for Middle East Public Policy at the RAND Corporation. Previously, he worked as an analyst in the Middle East for the U.S. government. Dr. Byman is also a senior fellow in the Transnational Threats Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Dr. Byman has also written extensively on a range of topics related to terrorism, international security, civil and ethnic conflict, and the Middle East. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, as well as journals including World Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, International Security, and Journal of Strategic Studies.
Relevant Expertise: international security, terrorism threats and international security concerns surrounding the Olympic Games Paris 2024
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Sports Activism Experts
Marissa Gatson, adjunct lecturer in sports industry management
Marissa Gatson, is an adjunct faculty member in the School of Continuing Studies’ Sports Industry Management Program with a concentration in sports activism and social justice. In her role at Georgetown, she teaches on the social significance of sports and theoretical perspectives to understand matters of conflict, control and power in and around the institutions of sport in order to better understand the complex and somewhat contradictory relationship between sport and society.
Relevant Expertise: sports activism and social justice
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Sports Marketing and Communications Experts
Keith Scully, adjunct lecturer of sports industry management
Mr. Keith Scully is a seasoned professional in sports marketing, analytics, and management. He has held executive positions at global organizations such as NIKE, FILA International, Reebok, and Burberry. His expertise spans strategic marketing, business development and analytics, event promotion and sponsorships, merchandising, e-commerce, sales, and customer engagement through communication, advertising and public relations, digital media, and licensing.
He currently serves as the CEO-Managing Director for Strategic-Noise Group, an international sports branding and merchandising consultant firm.
Relevant Expertise: sports marketing, analytics and management
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Kurt Kehl, adjunct lecturer in sports communications and public relations
Kurt Kehl has over a decade of experience as the Associate Director of Athletics for Public Affairs at Princeton University’s Department of Athletics. He also served as the Vice President and Chief Communications Officer for the Washington Capitals, and later led corporate and executive communications when Ted Leonsis established Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Kehl’s professional expertise involves working closely with ownership to manage strategic communications. This includes overseeing brand messaging, media relations, public relations, issues management, radio broadcasting, and coordinating relationships with the regional sports television network to ensure alignment across all brands.
Relevant Expertise: sports communications and public relations
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
Lisa Stokes, adjunct lecturer in sports communications and public relations
Lisa Stokes has been in the sports and entertainment world for over 17 years in the area of Athlete Casting, Talent Booking, and Athlete Marketing. With over 13 years at ESPN, two years in non-profit public relations and, and two years at OneTeam Partners, she has extensive experience within all areas of television and film, talent procurement, celebrity and athlete booking as well as influencer castings. Lisa currently serves as the Vice President and Head of Athlete Relations for OneTeam Partners, an organization that works with professional athletes to enhance their name, image, and likeness across multiple verticals. In her time at Georgetown, she teaches on the role of sports media and communications at all levels of sports (amateur, collegiate, professional), the role of sports in American society, and how publicists, agents and sports marketers perform their jobs.
Relevant Expertise: sports communications and public relations
Open to: Print, TV and Radio
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