2020speaker

Kari Krakow as been coaching track and cross country at Portage High School since 2006. During her time as a cross country coach, Portage has had three teams qualify for the state meet as well as 14 individual state qualifiers. On the track she has coached several individual state qualifiers including a three time high jump state qualifier. In 2008 Kari became an active member of the Wisconsin Track Coaches Association Committee serving various roles including high jump chair, secretary, executive committee member and most notable women4women founder and chair.

Kerrissa Heffernan is Chair of the Women’s Rugby Coaches and Referees Association. Prior to that she was the Director of Engaged Sport at Brown University, the Director of Faculty Engagement, The Royce Fellowship, and the Brown International Scholars Program and adjunct faculty in the School of Education. She is the author of The Fundamentals of Course Construction; Editor of The Practice of Change: Concepts and Models in Women’s Studies, and co- editor of Readings and Resources for Faculty.

Jen Fry runs JenFryTalks, LLC, which is a social justice education firm that uses conversation to educate and empower those within athletics through an anti-racist lens on issues of race, inclusion, intersectionality, diversity, and equity. We facilitate dialogue with small and large groups, athletic departments, athletic teams, staff, administrations, schools, affinity groups, identity groups, and much more.

Nationally recognized as a highly accomplished recruiter, Marsha Frese is a former Division-1 women’s basketball coach with more than 25-years of playing and coaching experience. Frese served as head women’s basketball at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) for five seasons, where she notched some of the biggest wins in program history, including an historic win over the University of Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse for the first road victory against KU in nearly 30 years.

Dr. Daheia Barr-Anderson is an Associate Professor in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota and the director of the Behavioral Physical Activity Lab. Her research interests focus on physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and obesity prevention in children and adolescents.

Dr. Courtney Boucher is a feminist scholar who examines hiring practices and organizational culture of college athletic departments and the impact on women in sports leadership. She received her Ph.D. in Kinesiology, specializing in Sport Sociology with a minor in Sociocultural Studies in Education in August 2022. Boucher is now the Assistant Director of Research and Programming in the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport and an instructor in the School of Kinesiology.

McKenzie Bromback (she/her) is an Athletic Counselor and Research Project Specialist at Premier Sport Psychology.

Audra Emerson is a strong believer in the value of sports and the positive impact sports can have on the lives of girls and women.  She is a passionate speaker, trainer and career coach with over 20 years of experience in recruiting and human resources.  Audra’s years of recruiting, interviewing and talent development provides an insider perspective on how to get hired.  She has helped thousands of people establish and advance their careers at top start-up and elite Fortune companies such as Target, Russell Investments, US Bank, Ameriprise, Allianz and more.