Marilou has a habit of showing up early. Sports tech before it had a name. Women’s sports before it had a billion-dollar valuation. Inclusive culture before it was a business imperative.

She didn’t follow these categories, she helped build them, introducing new ideas and new possibilities to global audiences before most people knew they needed them. That’s her superpower: seeing what’s needed, naming it clearly, and bringing it to life. Products, relationships, results.

She’s done it alongside iconic brands like IBM, Nike, Comcast NBCU, and in the trenches with cutting-edge startups like GameChanger and Infinite Athlete. Large stages and early-stage companies. She shows up the same way in both rooms. The throughline is a growth mindset that never rests. The learning hasn’t stopped - it never will.

THE WORK

Before coaching leaders, she was one. Marilou has held C-suite and founding roles at iconic athlete and coach performance businesses including Mustard, StatSports, Edufii (CoachNow), SportsBoard and Vivo Girls Sports - the digital media company she founded in 2009 to support female athletes to keep playing the sports they love. She founded vivoGS before women’s sports was a movement, and built in 6 months what ESPN had been discussing for three years. They launched espnW shortly after. In 2017, she founded the non-profit organization Women in Sports Tech (WiST), transforming it into a global community of 100,000+ with over 60 corporate partners supporting the work. Under her leadership, 115 WiST Fellows received summer internship experiences and now over 80% work in the industry.

Earlier in her career, she worked in corporate marketing and advertising at CBS News and Turner Broadcasting. She has been honored with the Sports Business Journal’s All-In Recognition, and with the Order of the Golden Fleece at the University of North Carolina, the university’s highest honor.

THE PERSON

A former UNC Division 1 cross-country athlete and 7x marathoner (3:06 PR), Marilou still competes regularly in half marathons and trail races, usually with one of her daughters, Kelly and Darcy. Kelly is now an orthopedic surgery resident at Stanford; Darcy leads global football brand work at Nike and was named Forbes 30 Under 30. Marilou coached their soccer teams for 10 years when they were young, before they became UNC champion soccer players who each went on to play professionally. Marilou was volunteer president of the Mill Valley Soccer Club supporting 3,000 youth players, her first foray into non-profit leadership. Her husband Craig is a fire captain/paramedic, ski patroller and river guide and their family enjoys everything they can do together outside, especially with their dog Pearl.

CREDENTIALS

B.S. in Business Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill with a minor in Organizational Behavior. Certified Executive Coach from the Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute (BECI) at UC-Berkeley/Haas. Interpersonal Dynamics Introductory T-Group Weekend Course, Introduction to the Interpersonal Dynamics Facilitation Training Program, at Stanford Graduate School of Business.