Beyond the Game

Paid For and Reimbursable:

Don Davis, Program Director

Dr. Don Davis is the Senior Director of Player Affairs and Senior Advisor to the Executive Director for the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), the union that governs the professional players of the NFL. In this role, Davis serves as the union’s direct point of contact and lead player rights advocate for all 1900 active players within the NFL. An in-demand speaker, Davis has been instrumental in transforming the union’s player affairs operations and establishing detailed metrics for success.

A life-long learner, Don earned a doctoral degree in human and organizational leadership from George Washington Graduate University School of Education, a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University, and a bachelor of arts in human development from the University Kansas.

Sonny Garg, Academic Director

Sonny Garg has spent more than 25 years as a senior executive or board member across many organizations in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, he launched the Energy division at Uptake Technologies, and prior to that, he was a member of the Executive Committee and the Chief Information & Innovation Officer at the Fortune 100 company, Exelon Corporation. Garg also served in the administrations of Mayor Richard M. Daley and President William J. Clinton, and he is currently a Distinguished Executive in Residence at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Adam L. Wright

Adam L. Wright serves as Chief Executive Officer of Pilot Company. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pilot Company is majority-owned by Berkshire Hathaway and employs 30,000 team members. Adam Wright has over two decades of experience as a leader in the energy sector and brings expertise in strategic planning and operational excellence. Adam earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2002. Adam was an All-American running back for University of Nebraska at Omaha football from 1997-2000 and was a fullback on the New York Giants roster for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

Francis Idehen

Francis Idehen is a Partner at Goldman Sachs and the Head of Alternatives Multi-Strategy Solution, Americas. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Francis was the chief operating officer for GCM Grosvenor, one of the world’s largest independent alternative asset management firms with over $55 billion in assets under management. Idehen holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Yale University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Chris Williams

Chris Williams is Chairman of the Board of Directors and equity owner of Shank Williams Cisneros & Co., LLC and Principal of Siebert Williams Shank & Co., LLC (SWS). Williams began his career at Lehman Brothers in 1984, advancing to senior management responsibilities in debt capital markets, derivatives, and fixed income trading. He later formed a derivatives division of Jefferies & Company, before founding The Williams Capital Group, L. P. in 1994. Mr. Williams is a member of the board of directors of several public companies including Ameriprise Financial, the Clorox Company and Union Pacific Corporation. Christopher J. Williams holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Howard University and a Master of Business Administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Sudhir Venkatesh

Sudhir Venkatesh is the William B Ransford Professor at Columbia University, where he teaches courses on organizational design, technology, and human behavior. He is the author of five books, including the NY Times bestseller, Gang Leader for a Day, and has held senior leadership positions at the Department of Justice, Ivy League Universities, Facebook, and Twitter. He has been teaching professional athletes for over a decade and designed several life-transition initiatives to support their growth.

Doug Guthrie

Professor Doug Guthrie is a dynamic speaker, respected thinker, world-renowned advisor, teacher, and executive coach in the areas of China-US business leadership, geopolitics, and executive coaching and leadership development in complex organizations across the United States and globally. Guthrie has held faculty positions at NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he served as Professor of Management and Director of Custom Executive Education, George Washington University’s School of Business (GWSB), where he served as Dean and Professor of Leadership, and currently as Professor of Global Leadership at The Thunderbird School of Global Management. While at GWSB, Guthrie led an initiative with the NFL Player’s Association (NFLPA) to create a new Executive MBA program that focused on current and former NFL players, STAR EMBA. In addition to his time in academia, Guthrie has also served in the private sector as an Apple University Faculty Member, as the Co-Founder and CEO the leadership education organization On Global Leadership and as a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches Organization.

Dr. John Wihbey

Dr. John Wihbey is an associate professor in the College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University and a faculty researcher at Northeastern’s Ethics Institute. An expert in media innovation and advocacy, his writings and research have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and he comments regularly for outlets such as CNN, CBC, and Associated Press. He is the author of The Social Fact: News and Knowledge in a Networked World (MIT Press, 2019).