Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Year: 2022

Katrina Adams

Tennis

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Global

With an outstanding track record in leading, innovating and collaborating Katrina Adams is a woman of many firsts. The first African American to lead the United States Tennis Association (USTA), the first two term Chairman and President of said organization and the first former player to hold that honor.

As the youngest person to hold the responsibility of $300 million+ revenue while representing excellence in sport, Adams has showcased her ability to impact, influence and make sound business decisions while navigating a plethora of moving parts and 700,000+ members.

Under her tutelage the USTA achieved a number of major milestones, including the opening of the 100 court USTA National Campus in Orlando, the strategic transformation of the $600 million USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. and an unprecedented outreach effort into underserved communities in an effort to share the sport of tennis with more people.

Having attended Northwestern University and led her team to a Big Ten Championship in 1986 and partnered with Diane Donnelly to win the 1987 NCAA Doubles Championship, Adams learned early on, the importance of teamwork. A familiar face in sports commentary, as a professional player Adams competed for 12 years on the WTA Tour, winning 20 career doubles titles and reaching the quarterfinals or better in doubles at all four Grand Slam events. By operating at the highest level in sport and business she has been able to lead successive boards in setting clearly defined strategies to further the organizations’ missions and ensure that management are afforded the tools needed to execute and excel.

Adams sheer determination and hard work in Tennis, leadership and philanthropy has earned her many accolades including: being named on Adweek magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Sports” list twice (2016 and 2017), Forbes magazine’s “Most Powerful Women in Sports” list in 2017 and Ebony magazine’s “Power 100” list.

As vice president of the prestigious International Tennis Federation, Chairman of the Billie Jean King Cup Committee, Chairman of the Gender Equality in Tennis Committee and the Executive Director of the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program, Adams believes this is just the beginning. She has branched into the private sector as Board Members of Pivotal Acquisition Corp III and GSE Worldwide. She also serves on multiple Advisory Boards; Athletes Unlimited, Highlight Pro Skydiving, Full Court Tennis and Racquet Magazine. Adams served an unprecedented two consecutive terms as USTA Chairman and President, and served the board 2005-2020.

Billie Jean King

Tennis

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Global

Named one of the “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” by Life magazine and a 2009 recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Billie Jean King is the founder of the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, founder of the Women’s Tennis Association and the Women’s Sports Foundation and part of the ownership group of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Angel City FC and the Philadelphia Freedoms. In her legendary tennis career, King captured 39 Grand Slam singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles, including a record 20 Wimbledon championships. Her historic win over Bobby Riggs in the 1973 Battle of the Sexes, is one of the greatest moments in sports history. In September 2020, King became the first woman to have an annual global team sports event named in her honor when Fed Cup, the women’s world cup of tennis, was rebranded as the Billie Jean King Cup. The National Tennis Center, home of the US Open, was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in 2006 in honor of her accomplishments on and off the court. In 2017, Fox Searchlight released the critically acclaimed film, Battle of the Sexes, which depicts the cultural and social impact of the groundbreaking match. In 2018 King received a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, in 2019 King’s deep Southern California roots were recognized with the opening of the Billie Jean King Main Library in her hometown of Long Beach, California, in 2020 King was honored with the release of the Billie Jean King Barbie doll, part of Mattel’s Inspiring Women Series and in 2021 she received the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award and the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. King serves on the board of the Women’s Sports Foundation, is an adidas Global Ambassador and is a past member of the board of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and a past member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. Her memoir, ALL IN: An Autobiography, was published by Knopf in August 2021.

Cathy Bennett

Swimming

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Belarus

Cathy Bennett has maintained a longstanding relationship with Phelps Family. She taught Michael Phelps how to swim and now acts as Director of Programming at the Michael Phelps Foundation and Director of Michael Phelps Swimming. In 1994, Cathy helped found the North Baltimore Swim School, which eventually transformed into the Michael Phelps Swimming in 2009. In 2003, Cathy was a featured speaker at the American Swimming Coaches Association World Clinic, and, in 2006, Cathy was recognized at the British Swimming Coaches and Teaching Association Conference. Cathy holds a master’s degree from Towson University in Early Childhood Education. She served as an educator in the school system before becoming a full-time swimming instructor. She also sits on multiple community boards.

Marissa Fortier

Marissa Fortier

Swimming

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Belarus

Marissa Fortier is the Managing Director at the Michael Phelps Foundation and has been working alongside Michael Phelps since 2003. She has been with the Foundation since it was founded in 2008 and helped developed the Foundation’s signature IM Program curriculum in 2009 and piloted the program in 2010. Marissa lives in Maine with her husband, two daughters, and a dog.

Dian Christensen

Dian Christensen

Swimming

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Belarus

Dian Christensen Hillis will be instrumental in expanding the im program in the United States through our partnership with Special Olympics. Dian has been instructing and coaching aquatics for Special Olympics for over 20 years. She started a local program to provide a Special Olympics sports opportunity for her daughter. The competitive program started with eight athletes and has grown to over 35 swimmers who train year-round. Her Learn-To-Swim program has reached nearly 175 athletes. In 2006, 2010, and 2014, Dian served as the Nebraska Head Aquatics Coach for the Special Olympics National Games. She was named the Assistant Coach for the 2007 Special Olympic World Games and Head Coach for the 2011 and 2015 Special Olympics World Games. Dian has been successfully using the im Program since 2010 not only with her local program athletes but also with athletes she is training and coaching for the national and world stages.

Sarah Berardo

Sarah Berardo

Running

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Fiji

Sarah grew up participating in various youth sports- those experiences shaped her love of athleticism and were an underlying thread throughout her life and early career. She capitalized on her athletic career to study at Ursinus College while playing softball and working in the Sports Medicine Clinic as the Head Athletic Training Aide. After graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science in Health and Exercise Physiology and concentrations in Coaching and Wellness education, she pursued her passion of youth development as a Student Success Coach in Memphis, Tennessee with the AmeriCorps organization – City Year Memphis.

In Memphis, she worked in a 7th grade math classroom providing academic, attendance and social-emotional learning support through a Positive Youth Development lens. She also led the Afterschool program focused on additional academic support and diverse enrichment activities. During her time with City Year Memphis, she also coached the school’s first softball team in 10 years. After her service year, Sarah joined Peace Corps Ukraine as a Community Youth Development Volunteer.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine, Sarah worked with a local youth sports NGO coaching soccer trainings and tournaments in local underserved communities and at a local school for youth with mental disabilities. She also facilitated Adult English clubs focused on Emotional Intelligence and Youth Clubs focused on Youth Empowerment and Community Involvement. These experiences in Sport-based Youth Development and Positive Youth Development helped form the base of her “Whole Child” youth development approach she now utilizes in Washington, DC.

Currently, Sarah is the Associate Program Manager at Teens Run DC. Teens Run DC is a community organization focused on empowering youth to envision and work towards the achievement of personal goals through distance running, mentoring and social emotional learning programs in underserved areas of Washington, DC. Sarah manages the coaches in the partnered schools as they provide lunch time programs, after school run clubs and Saturday community wide programing.
When Youth Sports are combined with Positive Youth Development, the affect on the youth involved is exponential and life altering. Programs such as Teens Run DC help provide youth with the social support they need to continue on a positive life path and strive for the fulfilling future at the height of their potential.

Charlie Coiner

American Football

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Brazil

Charlie Coiner is a former NFL and NCAA football coach of 30 years and current founder and CEO of FirstDown PlayBook. FirstDown PlayBook is a football playbook software company created for football coaches. The mission is to help coaches at all levels spend more time
developing football players and less time consumed with designing plays. FirstDown PlayBook accomplishes this by providing coaches with over 35,000 editable football plays in a digital format.

Certainly, nine years in the NFL and another 20 in the NCAA doesn’t happen by accident. A career like this happens when a coach knows how to develop talent—and knows how to win. In 1983, with no coaching experience, Waynesboro, Virginia native Charlie Coiner had big dreams and made a bold move by approaching a new, now national, coaching figure. His timing was perfect.

In 1983, Charlie Coiner served as a graduate assistant at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. Mack Brown, now Head Coach at the University of North Carolina, had just begun his first head-coaching job. Coiner recalls, “I wanted to get into coaching, but I had
little to no experience. So, I walked into Coach Brown’s office and asked if I could coach. He told me he couldn’t pay me, and I kind of thought that was a fair deal since I didn’t know very much.”
Coiner stayed for five years—and proved his worth.

Thereafter, Coiner rode the coaching carousel. After Appalachian, Coiner worked on offense, defense, recruiting, and special teams for Minnesota, Austin Peay, Vanderbilt, Texas Southern, Louisville, UT Chattanooga, LSU, Tennessee, North Carolina and again at Texas Southern.

Coiner coached for the NFL’s Chicago Bears under Dick Jauron (QB’s &QC 2001-2003) and was then retained by new coach Lovie Smith to assist with the special teams (2004-2005). He then moved on to coach for the Buffalo Bills in 2006 (Tight Ends, 2006-09). During this tenure
with the Bills, he helped lead a young group of tight ends to career numbers while they also contributed as blockers for a rushing attack that ranked fifth in the AFC.As the 2010 New Year rolled in, the Bills dismissed their entire coaching staff. After only a short time without a gig, and given an unexpected vacancy, North Carolina coach Butch Davis grabbed Coiner as an assistant coach for defense. “Coiner’s smart. He’s got good communication skills. He’s a good teacher,” Coach Davis says.

In 2011, Coiner moved to Austin, Texas, and took a break from coaching. He then began using the unusual time he had away from the game, as Coiner says, “to become a better coach.”

Coiner began digitally converting dozens of playbooks in order to find plays more quickly once he returned to coaching. “When friends looked at all the football plays I had drawn up from the NFL and colleges, they
said, ‘You’ve got an app there’.” Today, FirstDown PlayBook™ focuses on helping coaches find plays with speed and efficiency as well as allows coaches to draw their own plays using the best football drawing tool in the world.

“I’m excited about this football product. We’re giving a coach a chance to do something that’s never been done before—save time by finding football plays, defenses and special teams schemes in mere seconds.
Time is not a coach’s friend. With FirstDown PlayBook, coaches can quickly search for and edit plays that give them a competitive edge in the next game while still fitting the plays within their football philosophy. Coaches will appreciate how quickly they can find plays and schemes and organize that information so that they can spend more time actually coaching.”

Johnny Collins

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2018  –  Philippines
  • 2018  –  Vietnam
  • 2019  –  Burma
  • 2019  –  Ethiopia
  • 2019  –  Kuwait
  • 2022  –  Kyrgyzstan

Johnny Collins is an “A” licensed soccer coach who has been coaching all over the world for the past 25 years. He has coached at all levels but prefers working in youth development. An orphan himself, he loves working with underprivileged kids and he has an 18 year old daughter so empowering young women is also a passion of his.

Ibtihaj Muhammad

Fencing

Served as envoy

  • 2013  –  United Kingdom
  • 2013  –  Russia
  • 2021  –  Global
  • 2022  –  Morocco

Ibtihaj Muhammad is an entrepreneur, activist, speaker and Olympic medalist in fencing. A 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, 5-time Senior World medalist and World Champion, in 2016, Ibtihaj became the first American woman to compete in the Olympics in hijab. Ibtihaj was a 3-time All American at Duke University where she graduated with a dual major in International Relations and African Studies. In 2014, Ibtihaj launched her own clothing company, Louella, which aims to bring modest, fashionable and affordable clothing to the United States market. In 2017, Mattel announced their first hijabi Barbie, modeled in Ibtihaj’s likeness, as part of Barbie’s “Shero” line of dolls. The Barbie became available for purchase in July 2018. Ibtihaj released her debut memoir in July 2018, PROUD: My Fight for an Unlikely American Dream. Ibtihaj released her third book, children’s picture book, The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab & Family, that became a New York Times’ Best-Seller.

Ibtihaj is a sports ambassador with the U.S. Department of State’s Empowering Women and Girls through Sport Initiative, and works closely with organizations like Athletes for Impact and the Special Olympics. Named to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential list, Ibtihaj is an important figure in a larger global discussion on equality and the importance of sport. Her voice continues to unite both the sports and non-sports world.

Sam Perkins

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2005  –  Algeria
  • 2008  –  Kyrgyzstan
  • 2008  –  Kazakhstan
  • 2009  –  Qatar
  • 2010  –  Indonesia
  • 2011  –  South Sudan
  • 2012  –  United Kingdom
  • 2022  –  Albania

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Perkins attended Samuel J. Tilden High School. He later attended and graduated from Shaker High School in Latham, New York. He was named large-school player of the year (high school) by the New York State Sportswriters Association in 1980 and was also named to the 35 Greatest Boys McDonald’s All Americans team.

Perkins attended college at the University of North Carolina and played basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels from 1980 to 1984. He was named ACC Rookie of the Year in 1981 and starred alongside future NBA Hall of Famers James Worthy and Michael Jordan on the Tar Heels’ 1982 NCAA championship team. A three-time All-American, Perkins was the 1984 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year. Perkins finished his collegiate basketball career as the Tar Heels’ all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots and as the second-highest scorer in team history. He graduated from UNC in 1984.

Perkins was a co-captain of the gold-medal-winning 1984 U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team.

Chosen by the Dallas Mavericks as the fourth overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft, Perkins went on to play as a power forward and center in the NBA from 1984 to 2001. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1985. Perkins played for the Dallas Mavericks, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Seattle SuperSonics, and the Indiana Pacers, respectively. He scored a career-high 45 points on April 12, 1990. Perkins tied an NBA record on January 15, 1997 by making eight three-pointers without a miss. He appeared in three NBA Finals: The 1991 NBA Finals (with the Lakers), the 1996 NBA Finals (with the SuperSonics), and the 2000 NBA Finals (with the Pacers). In Game One of the 1991 NBA Finals, Perkins made a game-winning three-point shot to defeat the Chicago Bulls. He was known by the nicknames “Sleepy Sam”, “Big Smooth”, and “The Big Easy”.

Since his retirement in 2001, Perkins has been actively involved in a variety of charitable endeavors, including Special Olympics, Nothing But Nets in conjunction with the United Nations, Boys and Girls Clubs, Big Brothers, Carolina for Kibera, NBA Cares, Basketball Without Borders and Habitat for Humanity.

In 2002, Perkins was named to the ACC 50th Anniversary men’s basketball team as one of the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

In 2008, Perkins was named vice president of player relations for the Indiana Pacers. That September, he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.

In October 2011, Perkins traveled to South Sudan as a SportsUnited Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State, where he worked with Hall of Fame NBA center Dikembe Mutombo to lead a series of basketball clinics and team building exercises with youths, the South Sudanese Wheelchair Basketball Team, and 36 coaches.

Perkins was named to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.