A Proven Leader and Partner in a Competitive Industry
Marilou McFarlane brings 25 years of leadership experience to drive winning performance in businesses at the forefront of industry evolution. With unsurpassed experience and passion as an accomplished leader in the sports tech industry, Marilou now specializes in best practices for inclusive work cultures that improve retention rates along with board development and corporate strategy.
A trailblazer in the sports business and former D1 athlete, Marilou is the founder of Women in Sports Tech (WiST) and has served in a variety of C-suite leadership roles with Mustard, Edufii (CoachNow), STATSports, and SportsBoard. As a lifelong competitive athlete, she has led innovation, business modeling and revenue generation in athlete and coach performance technologies. She also has deep experience in youth and women’s sports, now a $1B business, having founded and led the first digital media property to inspire young women to keep playing sports: Vivo Girls Sports. Founded in 2009, vivoGS inspired the launch of espnW and other women’s sports businesses that are exploding in growth today. She provides strategic guidance for business leaders on the importance of work culture and integrating best practices for inclusion into business DNA. She is proud to have been the president of the Mill Valley Soccer Club non-profit organization serving over 3,000 kids and managing hundreds of volunteers.
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Marilou has led the work that is diversifying the sports tech industry, by partnering with iconic brands, businesses and startups. Having led numerous venture-backed sports tech startups to success, she is a passionate advocate, advisor and mentor to sports tech leaders, founders, students and women eager to enter the industry. She has been honored by the Sports Business Journal's All-In Recognition for DEI efforts that improve recruitment and retention in the sports tech ecosystem.
As the CEO+founder of Women in Sports Tech (WiST), the non-profit organization driving transformative growth opportunities for women and employers in the $42B sports tech industry, she led development of the programs that have provided over 114 summer internship experiences to college, grad and PhD students through their flagship WiST Fellowship program. Marilou has built an active, passionate global community and connected network of executives and students in the exploding sports tech industry.
Prior to her work in sports tech, she worked in marketing, advertising and media sponsorship partnerships for CBS News and Turner Broadcasting. A former University of North Carolina Division 1 cross-country athlete and 3:06 marathon runner, she has been honored with the Order of the Golden Fleece at UNC, the highest honor bestowed upon UNC students and alumni. Marilou is the proud mother of two daughters who were UNC soccer captains and played professionally in the NWSL and in Europe. Kelly is now an orthopedic surgery resident and Darcy is a lead for global football at Nike and was recently honored with Forbes 30 Under 30. Marilou lives with her fire captain paramedic husband and sweet dog Pearl in Mill Valley, California.