reimagining the future

College sports is at a tipping point. 

EmpwrU assembled a team of the brightest leaders inside and outside college sports to come up with a G-A-M-E plan. 

• G = Governance - the NCAA needs a new governance model that is nimble, transparent, fair and most importantly represents the needs of its more than 500,000 athletes and all the schools it serves. The way to transform any organization in crisis is to start at the top. The NCAA Board of Governors voting member composition needs to be: 1/3 schools (representative of all divisions); 1/3 athletes and; 1/3 independents (practical leaders). This will allow real transformation to take place. 
• A = Athletes - are the heart and soul of what makes college sports so special! We need more athletes playing college sports not less. This can be achieved through modernization of the model. NIL has also opened the door to new opportunities for athletes while achieving their college degree. Providing innovative NIL and life skills education, resources, and sponsorship opportunities helps to protect and empower athletes. 
• M = Modernization - of college sports is imperative. The model is broken and severely restricts both athletes and schools. Drastic changes to bylaws and policies are needed that align with the changing needs of its constituents. The new bylaws should liberate schools to benchmark strategies used by other successful sports organizations to add sports and athletes. Schools gain economies of scale by playing multiple divisions within each sport and adding profitable sports like pickleball and flag football while ensuring all paths meet Title IX requirements and ultimately grow revenues. 
• E = Employment - According to IRS and it's 3-prong test, “under common-law rules, anyone who performs services for you is your employee if you can control what will be done and how it will be done.” Creating an employee model is needed to stabilize the industry, provide transparency and guardrails, fairly compensate and incentivize all athletes to achieve a college degree, and provide new opportunities to create long-term partnerships between athletes and universities.

Kerry is a respected and empowering leader who has achieved extraordinary results. She founded KP Sports, a multimedia rights company,  acquired in 9 years by industry leader, Learfield IMG.  

As the CEO of USA Gymnastics, Kerry was hired to transform a high profile Olympic organization facing extraordinary crisis. Kerry started her career with Pitney Bowes, a Fortune 500 corporation, where she achieved exceptional results leading diverse, high performing business units .

Kerry was inducted in the Hall of Fame at the Anderson School of Management where she earned her MBA and as an Adjunct Professor taught marketing, management and leadership.  

Kerry serves on several boards including Anderson School of Management and Sports Tech HQ Indy. She's a mentor and advisor to Techstars Sports Accelerator, member of IU Angel Network, Vision Tech Partners and Venture Capital of Indiana.