The Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) announced the winners of the 6th annual Future Industry Leaders Scholarship Program.
The program rewards young, hard-working individuals in the sports and fitness industry, who aspire to lead future generations of business executives in the industry. The scholars receive complimentary access to SFIA’s annual Industry Leaders Summit, where they are recognized and applauded for their dedication to the world of sports and fitness. This year, the summit will be held in Denver, CO, on September 26-27. Due to an extremely competitive applicant pool and a record number of applications received, SFIA expanded the program and selected six deserving recipients.
The 2018 Scholarship has been awarded to Jordan Buchsbaum (sports marketing manager, Under Armour), Doug Buser (senior director of marketing & business development, Volt Athletics), Ben Connery (director of specialty sports, BSN Sports), Michael Lysaught (strategic account manager, SKLZ), Karen Menez (director of communications, Asics America) and Gabe Nagelkirk (senior product manager, Xenith). While all applicants are required to be employed by an SFIA corporate member company, this year’s scholars represent the diversity of the industry, as they come from all different backgrounds, company sizes and product categories.
“We are excited to extend the opportunity of attending the Industry Leaders Summit to commendable, young professionals in our industry and allow them to experience the great networking and presentations provided by the summit,” said Tom Cove, president and CEO of SFIA. “This event attracts an elite audience of C-level executives and industry experts, creating prime networking opportunities for our scholars to learn, connect and grow as future industry leaders.”
To add to the many educational aspects of the summit, the scholarship recipients will also add a fresh, new perspective to the discussion. The focus of the Industry Leaders Summit is to address and explore the most prominent issues and trends in the industry, allowing the scholars a unique platform to provide insight from current and future generations, helping to further guide the conversation.
