Speaker Profile

Kathy Carter has blazed trails during her 30-year career in sports, leading successful organizations, developing and implementing commercial strategies and challenging the status quo across the sports industry. Named CEO of LA28 in September 2021, Kathy oversees Games delivery, impact and operations reporting to LA28 Chairperson Casey Wasserman. Prior to being named CEO, Kathy led the commercial efforts for Team USA and the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games including sponsorship sales, consumer products, brand marketing, hospitality, ticketing and events. She joined the organization in October 2018 and is only the third woman in the history of the Games to lead an Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee.

Prior to LA28, Carter served as president of Soccer United Marketing (SUM), Major League Soccer's (MLS) commercial subsidiary and was in charge of managing and growing the business operations for premier soccer organizations and events in the United States, including MLS, U.S. Soccer, the Mexican National Team, Copa América and multiple CONCACAF properties. Carter held a number of positions with SUM since she joined in 2003, including Executive Vice President and Vice President of Corporate Marketing.

Her career in the sports industry began before the 1994 FIFA World Cup, when she worked for the World Cup Organizing Committee. After the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Carter was a founding member of MLS and was instrumental in building the league from the ground up.

In addition to her roles as a soccer executive, Carter has been involved in developing women’s soccer at the international level in her prior capacity as the U.S. representative on FIFA’s Committee for Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Additionally, Carter worked in tennis with the Tennis Masters Series.

Carter has been recognized as the WISE Woman of the Year, a two-time winner of the Sports Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 award, named to the New York Crain’s 40 Under 40 list, and included on Forbes’ list of The Most Powerful Women in Sports.