Speaker Profile

Co-Founder, Sports Leadership Institute Tom Penn is Co-Founder of the Sports Leadership Institute , an organization that creates private meetings and programs for sports team owners, sports executives, college ADs and retired athletes. Penn is also an NBA Analyst on ESPN where he regularly appears on SportsCenter and other ESPN programs. Prior to joining ESPN, Penn spent four seasons as VP of basketball operations and assistant GM of the Portland Trail Blazers, and seven seasons as assistant GM/legal counsel of the Memphis Grizzlies. He is widely known as a top expert on the NBA salary cap and collective bargaining agreement. Prior to joining the Grizzlies he helped broker the purchase of the Grizzlies franchise. Penn is a longtime Board member of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis and of the Children's Cancer Association in Portland. He graduated with honors from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Illinois College of Law.