Top industry execs at NYC forum
August 25, 2016
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — The top officials from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) will speak to hundreds of industry executives at the ninth annual TIA Tennis Forum, which will be held Monday, Aug. 29, from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at the Grand Hyatt New York City, right before play begins at the 2016 US Open.
American David Haggerty, who was elected president of the ITF last September, will update the tennis industry on global plans and initiatives to help grow the sport. Haggerty is a former USTA president and former president of the TIA.
Adams, whose two-year term as USTA president, CEO and chairman of the board ends at the end of this year, will share plans and insights about tennis in the U.S., renovations at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (including the new retractable stadium roof), and the new, 102-court USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
Both Haggerty and Adams will sign the CEO Pledge for Physical Activity, which will be presented to them by Dr. Jack Groppel, the global spokesperson for the CEO Pledge and the cofounder of the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute. The CEO Pledge is a national campaign promoted by the National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity (NCPPA) to encourage every CEO in the U.S. and internationally to recognize physical activity as an important driver of employee health and business performance. In April, tennis became the first sports industry to sign the CEO Pledge and to endorse the new National Physical Activity Plan at a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Before the TIA Tennis Forum begins on Monday morning, the ITF and Special Olympics will sign an agreement for long-term strategic, cooperative support that will ensure that tennis has a positive impact on the lives of children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
The Tennis Forum, which is presented by the Tennis Industry Association (TIA), is free to attend, but space is limited so attendees should register at TennisIndustry.org/forum.
Also on the agenda are TIA President Jeff Williams, managing director of The Tennis Media Co.; TIA Executive Director Jolyn de Boer; Kurt Kamperman, USTA chief executive of Community Tennis and USTA National Campus; and Craig Morris, USTA general manager of Community Tennis and Youth Tennis.
The Forum will include the latest on tennis participation and new consumer research, equipment sales data, grow-the-game efforts, updates from the TIA and USTA, and more. Presentations also will outline pathways to increasing the number of “core” tennis players, ways to better define and boost the economic growth and impact of the tennis industry, and effective ways to distribute clear, consistent messaging of health, fitness and the reasons to play tennis. Registered attendees will receive a copy of the 20-page “2016 TIA State of the Industry” report, which will include a four-page Global Tennis Marketplace summary.
The Forum will conclude by honoring the 2016 Tennis Industry Hall of Fame inductees: Eve Kraft and Gene Scott. Kraft, who passed away in 1999, was a visionary when it came to bringing tennis into local communities. She will be honored by longtime friends and colleagues Kirk Anderson and Anne Humes. Scott, who died in 2006, was the incisive founder, publisher and editor of Tennis Week magazine. He will be celebrated by longtime friend Jim Baugh, a tennis and sports industry veteran who is himself an inductee into the industry HoF. Kraft and Scott become the 11th and 12th inductees into the Tennis Industry Hall of Fame.
Visit TennisIndustry.org/forum for more information.
About the TIA
The Tennis Industry Association, the not-for-profit trade association for tennis, is THE unifying force in the tennis industry whose mission is to promote the growth and economic vitality of the business of tennis by working closely with its industry partners and in support of the USTA in their development of initiatives to increase tennis participation. Core TIA activities include producing more than 70 U.S. and global research reports annually on participation and consumer/trade research, managing the largest relational database, along with hosting annual TIA Tennis Forum, Leadership meetings and the T.O.M. Conference at major tournaments and events. Visit TennisIndustry.org or call 866-686-3036.