Speaker Series Luncheons

Lesley Visser is the most decorated female in sports broadcasting - she is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the only female to have presented the Lombardi Trophy and the only female sportscaster to have carried the Olympic torch among dozens of other accolades. Lesley will join us in Jacksonville on April 25th along with a panel of prominent female leaders in sports business for our April JAXSPORTS Speaker Series Luncheon!

Kentucky Wildcats Head Coach Mark Stoops and Georgia Tech Jackets Coach Paul Johnson joined a packed house at Veteran's Memorial Arena for their first bowl event after teams were announced for the December 31st contest. Both teams finished the season strong with wins over their in-state rivals to close out the season and hope to take that momentum into the TaxSlayer Bowl and then into next season.

Sunil Gulati has been the President of U.S. Soccer since 2006, Under his leadership, the US Soccer Men's National Team has played in the World Cup three times, advancing past the group stage in both 2010 and 2014. The Women's National Team competed in the World Cup three times under Gulati, winning the World Cup Final in 2015. He continues to push the sport of soccer forward in domestic leagues and through the national team programs as soccer becomes more and more popular on the professional level.

Peter Jacobsen boasts 7 PGA Tour Victories over his decorated golf career including Ryder Cup appreances in 1985 and 1995. He has won two major events on the Senior Tour in 2004 and 2005 and now is well known as a broadcaster for both NBC and Golf Channel.

Susan Packard is the co-founder and former CEO of HGTV who has recently published a book entitled "New Rules of the Game: Strategies for Women in the Workplace" highlighting her insight into cracking the glass ceiling of corporate America and empowering today's female leaders.

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Bryan McClendon and Penn State head coach James Franklin visited Jacksonville to formally accept their invitations to the January 2nd TaxSlayer Bowl game and aimed to prepare their teams for a final test against a blue-blood college football program. Each team boasts NFL talent galore on both sides of the ball, primed for a matchup that will go right down to the last snap.

Newly named SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey visited Jacksonville to talk football, the Florida-Georgia game and the opportunity to bring future SEC Championships to the First Coast. Since his visit, Jacksonville has been named the host of the SEC Women's Basketball Championship and SEC Gymnastics Championship with future events in the works.

As a celebration of March Madness, three "Legends of March" joined us to relive some of the moments that make the NCAA Tournament special. Jacksonville University legend Artis Gilmore led the Dolphins all the way to the tournament championship game in one of the Cindarella moments in tourney history. Christian Laettner hit one of the most memorable shots in tournament history for the Duke Blue Devils. Chris Richard played an integral role on Billy Donovan's back-to-back National Championship Florida Gator teams.

Michael Kelly was once the President of the Jacksonville Super Bowl Host Committee which brought the US's biggest sporting event to the River City in 2005. Now he is tasked as the COO of the newly formed College Football Playoff, replacing the BCS system and giving college football fans a long awaited playoff system to crown a national champion.

The inaugural JAXSPORTS Speaker Series Luncheon featured one of the biggest names in sports broadcasting, ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit. Herbstreit entertained the crowd with stories from the road, gave predictions looking ahead to the college football season and razzed some fans of local teams in an interactive Q&A with a huge crowd of luncheon guests.