About

The first WISE Woman of the Year Award Luncheon inaugurates a tradition of recognizing outstanding women in the business of sports. Sara Levinson, head of NFL Properties, is the first honoree. Approximately 185 people attend the event at Madison Square Garden. Since its inception, the luncheon has been hosted annually in New York City. About the Award »

The first WISE chapter is founded in Washington DC.

WISE Words, a print newsletter, is mailed to membership.

WISE chapters in Boston and the SF Bay Area make their debuts; the two chapters are later relaunched under new leadership.

The WISE logo gets a makeover, with blue and red replacing the original colors of purple and white. It later wins an award and the colors are further refined to what it is today (pictured).

The WISE Women of the Year Awards Luncheon moves to the New York Marriott Marquis, where it remains through 2017. Approximately 400 people attend.

WISE Cleveland is founded.

WISE Los Angeles is founded.

WISE Pittsburgh is founded.

WISE relaunches WISEworks.org with a renewed focus on career resources and to offer an improved platform for member engagement.

WISE announces its partnership with the NFL, the organization’s first-ever national partner. Over the next several years, the NFL is joined by Coca-Cola, the NBA, ESPN, MLB, FOX Sports, the NHL and AEG in supporting a variety of WISE’s professional development initiatives.

WISE augments its mentoring initiatives with the launch of Speed Mentoring Roundtables, an annual WISE Within national signature event.

WISE debuts WISE/R Symposium, the first event of its kind to focus solely on the personal and professional development of women in the business of sports. The annual all-day event takes a 360-degree view of working in sports and features high-profile leaders from across the industry.

WISE celebrates its 20th luncheon by recognizing four WISE Women of Distinction: Val Ackerman, commissioner of the Big East Conference; Christine Driessen, executive vice president and chief financial officer at ESPN; Barbara Paddock, senior vice president at JPMorgan Chase; and Judy Sweet, co-founder and board president of Alliance of Women Coaches.

Coca-Cola joins WISE to establish the Rodin Scholarship for the professional development of female small-business owners. Recipients earn a partial scholarship to attend the WISE Executive Leadership Institute.

The WISE Executive Leadership Institute in partnership with Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth is created. The benchmark five-day program brings together senior female executives for high-level training in effective leadership.

WISE Houston is founded.

WISE celebrates 25th anniversary!

WISE Arizona, Tampa Bay and Toronto are founded.

The WISE Women of the Year Awards Luncheon relocates to the landmark Ziegfeld Ballroom.

WISE unveils a new look and online experience. The brand refresh, done by the design agency Infinite Scale, aims to capture the passion, professionalism and energy of the WISE identity and the women the organization serves. Like before, the primary logo features the WISE acronym. Overlapping shapes in the "W" convey a sense of connection — the shared community among members and networking occurring across the industry — while breaks in the letter hint at Title IX. The new marks and pumped-up color palette are among the features members encounter on the revamped WISEworks.org, which was designed to elevate community building and support increased learning opportunities.

For more than 25 years, WISE has helped women in sports business excel in their careers. Looking ahead, we plan to provide even more — tools, resources and training for women to not only succeed in the industry, but to lead it. Our five-year action plan to ground, grow, produce and sustain is guided by our strong desire to ensure all female sports business professionals have the opportunity and support to reach their full potential.

The inaugural WISE Multiplier Summit launches. In partnership with the Wasserman Foundation and the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (SSAC), this first-of-its-kind initiative is designed to level the playing field in the sports industry through the adoption of analytics.