The program is led by director Tom Farrey, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and author of the ESPN book, Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children. Farrey’s work over the years has explored the connections between sports and key themes in society -- education, globalization, technology, race, religion, poverty and ethics, among others.

Farrey created the vision for and has directed the Sports & Society Program since its launch in 2011. As a journalist, Farrey has reported for ESPN's Outside the Lines, SportsCenter and E:60, ABC's World News Tonight and Good Morning America, and in print for the Seattle Times, Business Week, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. He is a contributing writer for ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. A University of Florida graduate, he has lectured at many universities, moderated panels at gatherings such as the Aspen Ideas Festival, and in 2004 and '06 served as Master of Ceremonies at the National Youth Sports Awards hosted by the Positive Coaching Alliance. He was one of seven media members selected in 2007 among the "100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America" by the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island. Two of his television stories have won Emmy awards, and his written work has earned top national honors from such organizations as the Women's Sports Foundation and Asian American Journalists Association. Game On, a journalistic survey of the culture of modern youth sports, is a required text in courses at universities across the country. He can be followed on Twitter @TomFarrey.

Andrea Cernich joined the Sports & Society Program in December 2012 to help build out an upcoming initiative focused on children and sports, with special focus on a 2013 multi-day summit in Aspen, Colo. Andrea most recently served as Vice President for Sponsorship and Marketing for the Women's Sports Foundation, founded by Billie Jean King. Previously, she worked in the Obama Administration as Director of Strategic Partnerships for the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, where she cultivated relationships across sports, physical education and community-based organizations to fulfill Administration programmatic and outreach goals. Prior to the President's Council, Andrea managed outreach and growth for sports-based youth development programs for a national coalition. Before that, she was Director of Communications for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association where she engaged mass market, specialty and retail brands on industry issues including product safety and increasing sports participation. She can be reached via email at Andrea.Cernich@aspeninst.org.

The Sports & Society Advisory Board includes the following members:

William Mayer, Co-Founder, Park Avenue Equity Partners, L.P., and Chairman Emeritus of the Aspen Institute; former Congressman Tom McMillen, Chair of the National Foundation on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition; Beth Brooke, Global Vice Chair of Public Policy, Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, Ernst & Young; Craig Robinson, Head Men's Basketball Coach, Oregon State University; Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Senior Director of Advocacy, Women's Sports Foundation, and Olympic champion swimmer; Robin Schepper, Senior Advisor to the Bipartisan Policy Center's Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative and former Executive Director of the First Lady's Let's Move! initiative; Mara Smith, EdD, Co-Founder and Director of the Lake Placid Sport Forum, and a sport psychology educational consultant; Jim Spiegelman, Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs, The Aspen Institute; and Charlie Firestone, Executive Director, Communications & Society Program, The Aspen Institute; and Carolyn Tisch Sussman, marketing executive with PepsiCo.