The New Athletics Enterprise: Leadership, Risk, and Institutional Strategy Certificate

Meet The Presenters

Karen Weaver

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Penn GSE
Karen Weaver, Ed.D., serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Penn GSE and Academic Director of The New Athletics Enterprise: Leadership, Risk, and Institutional Strategy certificate program. With more than 40 years of experience as a Division I and Division III coach, athletics administrator, and scholar, her work focuses on the governance, finance, public policy, and leadership issues shaping Division I, Division II, and Division III athletics. Dr. Weaver is the host of Trustees and Presidents: A Podcast for University Leaders on College Athletics and frequently contributes to national discussions on the evolving landscape of higher education and intercollegiate sports. Purchase her new book, Understanding College Athletics: What Campus Leaders Need to Know About College Sports.

Program Schedule

Day 1: Friday, October 9

3:00 PM — Welcome and Introduction: Penn GSE Dean Katharine O. Strunk

3:15–4:00 PM — The Legal Reckoning Ahead: What Happens If Congress Doesn't Take Any Action

Presenters: Makan Delrahim, Former Assistant Attorney General, United States of America; Chief Legal officer, Paramount Skydance and Karen Weaver, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Penn GSE 

What They Will Cover

This session provides a rigorous legal and policy briefing on the absence of a federal antitrust exemption for the NCAA and Division I institutions, situating current governance debates within the wider study of higher education law and administration. Attendees will gain a precise understanding of where institutional exposure is greatest — in financial liability, governance authority, and the capacity to enforce uniform rules — should Congress fail to act.

Delrahim and Weaver will examine how the House settlement reshapes the legal battleground and higher education’s negotiating position with lawmakers, while identifying some of the current NCAA rules and practices most likely to draw the next lawsuit. Participants will develop a sharpened sense of the narrowing window for legislative action and its practical implications for campus decision-making as case law and state-level regulations continue to grow.

4:00–4:15 PM — Break

4:15–5:15 PM — Betting the House: Addressing the Rise of Gambling on Campus and Building Mental Health Support for Athletes and Non-Athletes Alike

Presenter: Lindsey Mortenson, M.D., M.S., Chief Mental Health Officer, Clinical Asst. Professor and Physician, University of Michigan

What They Will Cover

Drawing on her work at a major Division I institution, Mortensen offers attendees an evidence-based examination of how the rapid expansion of sports betting, fantasy platforms, and online wagering is reshaping student life and campus culture. The session situates gambling-related harm within the broader study of student mental health, tracing documented connections to anxiety, depression, academic difficulty, and shifting team dynamics among athletes and non-athletes alike.

Participants will gain practical, research-grounded frameworks for recognizing warning signs frequently overlooked by campus leaders, understanding the distinct risks NIL activity and prop betting introduce to collegiate competition, and coordinating policy, education, and confidential support across the institution. Attendees will leave equipped to treat sports-wagering exposure as both a behavioral health concern and a matter of institutional governance.

5:15–5:30 PM — Logistics and Next Day Schedule

5:45–7:45 PM — Cocktail Hour & Networking

Day 2: Saturday, October 10

8:45 AM — Morning Kickoff: Karen Weaver

9:00–9:45 AM — Breakout Session I (select one)

Morning Session A: Small Private College Athletics: Making It Work in an Era of the Enrollment Cliff

Presenter: James Troha, President, Juniata College; Member, NCAA Board of Governors

What They Will Cover

Juniata College President James Troha offers attendees a case study in using athletics as a strategic instrument of institutional resilience amid the demographic enrollment cliff confronting small colleges nationally. Participants will examine how mission-aligned program expansion — five new varsity teams and a $4 million athletic complex — has strengthened Juniata’s position within a crowded Division III recruiting market, and how curricular innovation and philanthropic investment, including a $129 million comprehensive campaign, have reinforced the institution’s academic and athletic value proposition.

The session further explores how national leadership roles, including chair of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council and vice chair of the NCAA Board of Governors, translate campus-level experience into influence over governance, transfer policy, and championships investment at the national level. Attendees will leave with a transferable framework for aligning athletics strategy with institutional mission, enrollment goals, and long-term financial sustainability.

Morning Session B: Risk Mitigation in Athlete Healthcare: Protecting Athletes and the Institution

Presenter: Angie Beisner, Former Head Athletic Trainer, The Ohio State University; Managing Director, U.S. Council for Athlete Health

What They Will Cover

Drawing on more than twenty-five years of clinical practice in college athletics, including two decades at Ohio State and five years as Head Athletic Trainer, Beisner brings attendees a rare synthesis of frontline medical expertise and national policy perspective. As Managing Director at the U.S. Council for Athletes’ Health, she guides campuses in designing health, safety, and medical-oversight models that reduce institutional exposure, satisfy NCAA attestation requirements, and deploy resources efficiently rather than reactively.

Participants will gain a deeper understanding of athlete healthcare as a nexus of financial, legal, and reputational risk rather than a purely clinical concern, and will leave with practical strategies for integrating medical oversight into the broader governance responsibilities of presidents, chief financial officers, and athletics leadership.

Morning Session C: The New Playbook: How Conference-Wide Streaming Partnerships Are Reshaping Media Exposure and NIL

Presenters: Katie Boldvich, Commissioner of Landmark Conference and John Turner, VP & GM of FloCollege, FloSports

What They Will Cover

Commissioner Katie Boldvich and FloCollege Vice President John Turner examine the Landmark Conference’s seven-figure, conference-wide media rights agreement — the first of its kind in Division III — as a model for how mid-sized conferences can reshape their visibility and revenue. Attendees will study the collaborative design of subscription models and pricing structures that balance fan access, institutional revenue, and production standards through 2032.

As other conferences follow Landmark’s lead, participants will gain a practical understanding of how streaming rights are rewriting the Division III media landscape, and what that evolution means for institutional revenue strategy, strengthening NIL opportunities for your athletes, and campus visibility going forward.

9:45–10:00 AM — Break 

10:00–10:45 AM — Breakout Session II (select one)

Morning Session D: College Athletics and the Revenue-Share Era: Redefining Equity

Presenter: Arthur Bryant, Lawyer and Founder, Arthur Bryant Law, P.C.; Former Chairman and Executive Director, Public Justice

What They Will Cover

Arthur Bryant brings four decades of Title IX advocacy to bear on the emerging era of NIL, direct athlete pay, and revenue sharing, offering presidents, general counsels, and athletics directors a rigorous grounding in the gender-equity implications of these structural changes. Attendees will examine landmark cases requiring the reinstatement of women’s teams, the Title IX challenges raised against the proposed House v. NCAA settlement, and the broader legal architecture connecting NIL and financial aid to equity obligations.

Participants will leave with a sharpened ability to identify blind spots and vulnerabilities in their own institutions’ compliance posture, positioning their campuses to avoid costly litigation while advancing meaningful equity for student-athletes.

Morning Session E: NIL Opportunities Expand to High School Athletes-How Can Your Program Better Support Them?

Presenter: Karen Weaver

What They Will Cover

Five years in, name, image and likeness (NIL) is here to stay. The partnership between athletes and companies continues to mature and break new ground. Learn more about how your student athletes can leverage their opportunities in the marketplace, no matter whether they are a high school or college athlete. 

10:45–11:00 AM — Break

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM — $22M and Counting: What House V. NCAA Means for Revenue Share and Roster Caps and Why Athletic Expansion Doesn't Guarantee Enrollment Growth

Presenter: Cheryl A. McConnell, President, Saint Joseph’s University

What They Will Cover

President Cheryl A. McConnell examines how Saint Joseph’s University has approached mid-major Division I athletics as a strategic institutional asset amid the fiscal and competitive pressures introduced by House v. NCAA. McConnell will help attendees understand the right questions to ask in navigating a very complex financial and reputational relationship with Division I college athletics.

The session offers a candid, evidence-based look at revenue sharing, roster caps, and the assumptions around using athletic expansion as an enrollment strategy, equipping presidents and trustees with a framework for evaluating athletics investment within a competitive urban higher education market.

12:15–1:00 PM — Lunch: Complimentary Buffet On-Site

1:00–2:30 PM — Is Your Board Game-Day Ready?

Presenter: Peter Eckel, Senior Fellow, Penn GSE

What They Will Cover

Drawing on deep and broad experience in college and university board rooms, this session addresses governing the business of athletics. It will help participants understand the roles that boards should (and should not) be playing and how to determine your board’s capacity for effective athletic governance. It provides concrete advice to establish and advance the right governing board cultures, structures and leadership.

Penn GSE’s Peter Eckel, among the field’s leading scholars of trusteeship and board governance, brings his research, consulting and experience as a trustee to the college athletics conversation. He has consulted with boards and campus leaders on value-added governance across a spectrum of institutions from well-recognized Big Ten and SEC universities to small Division I colleges.

2:30–2:45 PM — Break 

2:45–3:45 PM — Saint Francis University moves from DI to DIII—A Case Study

Presenter: Fr. Malachi Van Tassell, President, Saint Francis University

What They Will Cover

Saint Francis University President Fr. Malachi Van Tassell offers attendees a candid, behind-the-scenes case study of the governance deliberations that accompanied his institution’s historic move from Division I to Division III competition. Participants will examine the core questions trustees and presidents confronted — long-term financial sustainability of athletics, trade-offs between athletic scholarships and institutional aid, alignment with academic mission and student experience, conference affiliation, and the reputational risks of appearing to scale back.

Structured as a working case study, the session invites presidents, trustees, and athletics directors to test their own institutional assumptions against Saint Francis’s experience and to surface the questions they should be asking on their own campuses about the future shape of their athletics programs.

3:45–4:30 PM — Bargaining for Equity: Collective Negotiation as a Tool for Fairness in Athletics

Presenters: Makan Delrahim and Arthur Bryant

What They Will Cover

Co-facilitators Makan Delrahim and Arthur Bryant guide attendees through the legal and strategic architecture of a revenue-sharing model that is simultaneously antitrust-aware, collective-bargaining-ready, and grounded in Title IX. Participants will explore whether institutions are designing revenue sharing as a series of one-off deals or as an integrated governance framework and will examine how gender-equitable base payments might coexist with performance- or market-driven compensation within a capped, sport-by-sport structure.

The session examines the civil-rights implications of athlete-representative agreements that favor football and men’s basketball, preparing presidents, trustees, and athletics directors to anticipate regulatory and legal scrutiny as collective bargaining becomes a more prominent feature of the college athletics landscape.

4:30–4:45 PM — Final Thoughts: Karen Weaver