A person who introduces new methods, ideas or products.
Look up “innovator” and you’ll find that definition, or something like it. Then ask a friend: “Who is an innovator?” You may hear “Steve Jobs,” “Thomas Edison”, “Leonardo da Vinci”. No wrong answers there. Now ask the same friend, “How did they innovate?” and the response will likely not be so simple. Eventually your friend may tell you what they invented — the iPhone, the lightbulb, the flying machine. But don’t be shocked if you hear nothing about how they innovated; about the process they used to get to the point of invention. It’s the innovative process many ignore once they see and consume the invention itself.
Perhaps that’s their trick. Perhaps the process is too difficult to define. Regardless, we at SportTechie are committed to doing our part to recognize and examine the innovative process in real-time. So starting this year, and continuing annually in conjunction with the SportTechie Awards, we’ll share with you our SportTechie 20 Innovators: 20 individuals who are using new technologies, methods, ideas and products to push the boundaries of the sports industry.
Here are the SportTechie 20 Innovators for 2017:
Kyle Boddy – President and Founder, Driveline Baseball
Boddy’s Seattle-area facility is unlike any of the other independent coaching gurus proliferating pro sports. Equipped with comprehensive technology — Edgertronic high-speed video, TrackMan radars, Pitch F/X optical tracking system and Rapsodo, a radar-triggered camera system — Driveline boasts a data-driven approach to hitting and pitching programs. Best known for his work with pitchers such as the Cleveland Indians’ Trevor Bauer, Boddy, who consults for several MLB clubs, spearheads a talented team preaching the use of weighted balls and research-based ballistic training to improve velocity and design new pitches. Many of their findings (and the scientific method used to reach those conclusions) are detailed on its website.
Kevin Brilliant – Business Strategy and Analytics Senior Manager, Chicago Bulls
Why do sports fans make the buying decisions they make, and how can teams better engage with them? Brilliant is in a unique role where he applies behavioral science and economic principles to answer these questions for the Bulls. He looks at economic patterns in fan decisions such as “choice architecture,” “default bias” and other decision-making forces that he feels could change how the sports world does business.
Ashley Crowder – CEO and Co-Founder, VNTANA
Imagine pitching a new product, demoing a new retail item, or helping fans interact with their favorite players via a lifelike hologram. Crowder is leading the charge for this emerging technology in the sports space through VNTANA’s augmented reality computing platform that produces convincing holograms and measures user engagement.
Don Faul – CEO, Athos
Faul oversaw the rebrand of a company that now focuses on elite athletes and coaches that can use sensor-filled compression gear to better understand training loads. Taking feedback, Faul saw that they wanted more out of Athos to unlock insights. The vision is to have these competitive, performance-driven athletes help improve the products, which could ultimately change the way consumers think about fitness.
Grégoire Gentil – Founder, In/Out
Gentil figured out a way to create a portable line-calling system for tennis players that provides video and stats analysis, offering it all for $199. When the ball is in, the system blinks a green light. When the ball is out, it blinks a red light. Making such a system affordable and easy to use isn’t so easy, but Gentil aced it.
Diego Gigliani – SVP Media and Innovation, City Football Group
Gigliani has led City Football Group through many digital firsts for the club itself and for any Premier League and MLS teams. Recently, Manchester City launched the first Amazon Fire TV App for a Premier League team, held its second hackathon to explore digital fan engagement opportunities, launched a dedicated CityVR app, and was the first Premier League club to launch a Facebook Messenger app. NYCFC welcomed the first esports player into the MLS.
CJ Handron – CEO and Co-Founder, Diamond Kinetics
Under Handron’s leadership, Diamond Kinetics continues to innovate beyond its flagship bat-sensor product. Among the rollouts are a smart wooden bat (a Marucci maple embedded with the SwingTracker), a partnership with Axon Sports for an integration of its training platform and, due for release on Jan. 1, a tracker for the throwing motion.
Rana June – CEO, Lightwave
June is the CEO of Lightwave, a company that uses biofeedback data such as heart rates, skin temperature and facial coding to create art installations. This year she orchestrated an experience called “The Art of Doing” at the Dew Tour skateboarding event in Long Beach, Calif. that turned biometric data from pro-skaters into morphing pieces of art.
Jeff Kahn – CEO and Co-Founder, Rise Science
While many wearables purport to track sleep, Rise provides a sleep-coaching service that not only records time spent asleep but also connects athletes with an expert who can offer additional guidance and advice into crafting a sleep program. Adopted by elite teams such as the football programs at Alabama and Clemson as well as the Chicago Bulls, Rise logs slumber without the need for an invasive device, instead using the scientific field of ballistocardiography to detect heart-rate variability through an under-mattress, sensor-laden ribbon; this provides additional insight into an athlete’s recovery levels.
Zachary Klima – CEO and Founder, WaitTime
WaitTime uses artificial intelligence to provide real-time data on fan traffic in venues, which enables fans to find the shortest line at the concessions stand or restroom. Klima has been all over the globe bringing this technology to teams and venues in the NBA, NHL and as far as the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Zach Leonsis – SVP, Strategic Initiatives, Monumental Sports & Entertainment and General Manager, Monumental Sports Network
Leonsis has been leading the charge for the technological advancement of Monumental Sports Network. Under his management Monumental launched an OTT subscription service for live games, embraced esports, provided fans with multi-angle interactive video technology to watch games, and more.
Eddie Lewis – CEO, TOCA Football
Lewis is trying to quantify data so that soccer players can improve their shot. The former U.S. men’s national team player trained throughout his career by juggling tennis balls with his feet. Now he’s using smaller-than-regulation balls and a smart dispensing system to enable players to rack up reps through a platform he created called TOCA. A companion app helps players analyze their performance data over time. He hopes to do for the sport of soccer what batting cages and smart bats have done for baseball.
Jeff Lewis – CEO and Founder, American Flag Football League
How difficult would it be to talk retired NFL players Michael Vick and Terrell Owens into playing in a flag football exhibition while also transforming the game into a tech-filled one that uses “e-flags” from SMT to instantaneously track where the ball should be spotted? Lewis had this vision and pulled it off, as the American Flag Football League drew attention on social media and a million views of the launch game on YouTube. Now Lewis is looking for this to become a professional football league attracting players to register for its US Open of Football in 2018 for the chance to compete and win cash prizes.
Jesse Lovejoy – Director, STEAM Education & San Francisco 49ers Museum
Lovejoy has a truly unique role in the sports industry. He uses football, the 49ers brand and Levi’s Stadium as a catalyst for leading STEAM education efforts for K-8 students in the Bay Area. Over 100,000 students have completed Lovejoy’s program, which continues to expand each year. The 49ers are the only professional sports team to have a STEAM Education program but more teams are gearing up to follow Jesse’s lead in using sports to get kids engaged in learning important academic skills at an early age.
Sig Mejdal – Special Assistant to the General Manager, Process Improvement, Houston Astros
The Astros went from three straight seasons of 100 losses and the sport’s worst record to a World Series title four years later under the leadership of general manager Jeff Luhnow and Mejdal, his righthand man. Mejdal, a former NASA engineer who began working in baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2005, was initially charged as the Astros’ director of decision sciences whereby he helped develop analytic tools — both with scouting and statistics — into all personnel matters. That role has since broadened to focus more on the application of that analysis throughout the organization.
Mike Rolih – CEO and Founder, GoRout
Rolih was driving a limousine to make ends meet when the former CEO of Motorola and Kodak, Jeff Fisher, hopped in one day. Rolih pitched Fisher his idea for wearable electronic displays to assist football play calling. Shortly thereafter, Fisher flew his private jet to Rochester to see Rolih’s prototype, he invested $300,000, and GoRout was born. This year, Rolih and his company were selected as one of three winners of the NFL’s 1st and Future competition, college football teams at Stanford and Kansas State signed up to use the product, and the company partnered with the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, an annual contest that features 100 of the best high school football players.
Dr. David Smith – Co-Inventor, Q-Collar; CEO, Traumatic Brain Innovations; Visiting Research Scientist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Harnessing inspiration from human yawns, woodpecker tongues and the brains of mountain-dwelling rams, Smith developed the Q-Collar, a device that lightly compresses around the neck to increase blood volume in the skull and potentially prevent traumatic brain injuries. Now for commercial sale in Canada under branding as the Bauer NeuroShield, the Q-Collar is undergoing FDA-directed clinical trials in the U.S. and has been worn by Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly. NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski is among those interested in trying the device.
Sonia Sousa – CEO and Founder, Kenzen
Sousa is building Kenzen to deliver real-time health insights through patented biosensors, sweat analysis and predictive analytics. Kenzen’s technology can help not only athletes but the average weekend warrior be more knowledgeable about their health. Kenzen counts a handful of professional sports teams among its list of clients, including the 49ers, who have invested in the company.
Simon Wheatcroft – Marathoner and Investor, WearWorks
Wheatcroft is a blind runner who made headlines in 2016 when he ran his first unassisted marathon with the help of an app developed by IBM that beeped anytime he veered off course. This spring, he contacted wearables company WearWorks to see if a haptics wearable it had been developing could guide him through the New York City Marathon. He ended up working so closely with the company on the development that he was offered an equity stake.
Don White – CEO, Satisfi Labs
The sports industry is ultimately a customer service business, and White is leading Satisfi to transform how teams communicate with and engage their fans through artificial intelligence. Highlighted by recent partnerships with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Oklahoma City Thunder, Satisfi is helping teams provide service and communication to their fans in real-time and on demand, on any device and all through natural language (not multiple choice).