Get to know The IX Advisory Board

We are grateful for these trailblazers, stepping forward and recognizing the critical work requires us to all come together and lift every voice. We’re going to turn the tide of a landscape that relegates women’s stories, and we’re going to do it together.

Anya (Battaglino) Packer

Anya Packer is the Executive Director of the National Women’s Hockey League. In her role with the NWHLPA, she is responsible for the negotiation of the Standard Player Agreements for NWHL Athletes, and further driving constant growth and development within Women’s Hockey. She currently represents a group of over 125 Athletes, and further has negotiated the first ever 50/50 Revenue share to drive mutual growth between the NWHL Head Office and the members of the NWHLPA. 

Anya was a recruited walk-on at Boston University, and finished with a degree in Marine Biology from the Boston University Marine Program, she also received a minor in Deaf Studies. After her collegiate career, she went on to play for the Boston Blades in the CWHL, and at her time with the Blades she was a member of the team that raised the Clarkson Cup. In 2015, she was a member of the inaugural season of the National Women’s Hockey League, playing defense and wearing number four for the Connecticut Whale where she played 3 seasons. Throughout this time, she remained a strong willed and consistent voice for change and empowerment of female athletes. 

In the years since her retirement in June 2018, she has driven real and impactful change within women’s sports. Throughout her work, she has created visibility within the NWHLPA, and has partnered directly with the Commissioner Dani Rylan and Deputy Commissioner Shelly Picard to advance the interests and well being of NWHL Players. In 2020, she was recognized by Sportsnet as one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Hockey. She has appeared as the Color Commentator for the 2019-2020 Riveters home games broadcasted on Twitch, becoming the first NWHL player hired as an analyst in the NWHL. She is focused on unifying women’s sports leagues to build a collective power and voice within women’s sports, and has successfully implemented cross league initiatives. 

Anya Packer recently completed a Crossover Into Business course at Harvard University amongst top male and female athletes to deepen her knowledge in sports as a business. She has created partnerships with programs like this and beyond to give athletes in the NWHLPA opportunities to prepare for life beyond the ice. Anya regularly delivers a firey Podcast interview, loves to joke around, and can always be stoked for a debate within womens sports!

Anya lives in Connecticut with her wife Madison Packer (of the Metropolitan Riveters) and is expecting her son in early September 2020. 

Megan Bradley Rose

Senior Director, USTA Competitive Pathway

Megan Rose is the Senior Director of the USTA Competitive Pathway. In this role, Megan is responsible for setting the strategic direction and for all operational facets of the USTA’s Competitive Pathway department, which serves as the pathway from juniors to professional tennis for American players and includes 130+ professional tennis tournaments that comprise the USTA Pro Circuit, 200+ Junior National events, and ITF Junior events held in the US. During her tenure, she has spearheaded an organizational restructure to merge Junior Competition and Pro Circuit departments, completely redesigned the professional tennis calendar in order to add 15% more tournaments to the pro circuit calendar, and overhauled the tournament prize money subsidy program to provide financial stability and viability of events on the pathway.

In 2019, Megan became one of five ATP Challenger Tournament Directors in the US when she served as the Tournament Director of the 2019 Orlando Open, an ATP 80 Challenger. Megan is also the Team Leader for the US Olympic Tennis team.

Megan’s life in tennis started at the age of six. She was a national champion junior tennis player and represented the US in international junior competitions, including Junior Fed Cup, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. She started her collegiate career at UCLA, where she was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Shortly thereafter, she transferred to the University of Miami for her sophomore year, where she received a B.S. in Sport Administration in 2005. During her career at Miami, she was a 5-time NCAA All-American, ITA Player of the Year, and ITA National Indoor Champion. In recognition of her illustrious career as a student athlete, she was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 2016. Megan then competed on the WTA Tour before retiring to pursue her Master’s Degree in Journalism and Media Studies at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.

After her playing career, Megan served as the Head Coach of Women’s Tennis at Princeton University, where she led the team to an Ivy League Championships and a Top 50 ITA Ranking in 2009. Following her time at Princeton, she coached professional player, Mallory Burdette, to Top 100 in the WTA rankings and the third round of the US Open in one year.

Prior to joining the USTA, Megan was the Senior Manager of Member Relations at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) with a focus on tournament operations and player relations. In this role, she successfully handled the RFP process for new events, including WTA International events in Prague & Mallorca, and the 2014-2018 WTA Finals in Singapore. Megan was the Tournament Director for the 2015 WTA Rising Stars Invitational held in conjunction with the WTA Finals, where she introduced innovative scoring formats and fan engagement activities and oversaw the execution of an online vote which garnered 2 million votes. Megan also managed integration of WTA Networks and content creation, collection and distribution with all 55 WTA tournaments. Additionally, she developed and implemented the WTA Coach Program, which was designed to professionalize, standardize, and recognize the important role of coaching on the WTA Tour.

Megan is a member of Women in Sport and Events (WISE) and is a graduate of the WISE Executive Leadership Institute through the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Megan lives in Orlando with her husband, Jesse, and her two children, Lola (5) and Kane (3).

Julie Foudy

Former Captain US Women’s Soccer Team, 2x Olympic Gold Medalist, and 2x World Cup Champion. Founder, Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy.
Television Analyst and Reporter for ESPN/espnW/ABC. Foudy launched her new podcast, Laughter Permitted in March of 2019. Author of Choose to Matter: Being Fabulously and Courageously YOU. 

Julie had a sensational soccer career while playing on the USA National Team for 17 years. She is the former Captain of the US Women’s National Team. She was a captain on the National Team for 13 of her 17 years with the team. Julie participated in 4 Women’s World Cups and 3 Olympics for the USA Team. She is a two-time World Cup Champion and she is also a 1996 Olympic Gold medalist, 2000 Olympic Silver medalist and 2004 Olympic Gold medalist.

Julie finished her National Team career with 45 goals, 59 assists and 273 international appearances (caps) for the USA. Her 273 caps rank fourth in the world all-time, male or female. Julie played all 3 years as Captain with the WUSA’s San Diego Spirit. She was a 4 time All-American at Stanford University and was inducted into the Stanford Hall of Fame. In 2015, Julie was named the Pac-12 Player of the Century. While at Mission Viejo High School, Julie won three CIF Championships and three CIF Player of the Year awards. Julie was voted Los Angeles Times’ High School Player of the Decade for the 80’s.

Most important to Julie, she has made a difference off the field as well. She was accepted into Stanford University’s Medical School but decided not to pursue a career in medicine. Julie was the President of the Women’s Sports Foundation from 2000-2002. She served on the Women’s Sports Foundation Board of Directors for 7 years and was a WSF advocacy consultant for two years, with a focus on Title IX, childhood obesity, and athletes’ rights issues. Julie also served on the Board of Directors for the WUSA (the professional women’s soccer league) as the Player Representative. Julie currently sits on the board of Athletes for Hope (AFH), a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization created by successful athletes who have a deep commitment to charitable and community causes. Julie is an espnW advisory Board Member, a Positive Coaching Alliance advisory Board Member, a Steel Sports Inc advisory Board Member, and served as a global spokeswoman for Global Girl Media, a non-profit helping young women around the world find their voice through journalism. Julie also has been instrumental in a number of women’s rights and child labor issues around the world. The world governing body of soccer, FIFA, awarded her the FIFA Fair Play Award, the first woman and American to receive the award, for her work against child labor in the stitching of soccer balls.

Julie served as a member for the Commission on Title IX, appointed by President Bush and Secretary Paige. She has been honored numerous times for her work on behalf of Title IX. She received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Smith College in 2005 and was honored by the National Women’s Law Center.

Julie was named as one of the “100 Most Influential NCAA Student-Athletes.” The NCAA defines the 100 Most Influential Student-Athletes as those who have made a significant impact or major contributions to society. In 2018, Julie also received the prestigious NCAA Silver Anniversary award in recognition of her collegiate and professional achievements. 

Julie was inducted in the US National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007, alongside longtime teammate and friend, Mia Hamm. Julie and Mia were only the 6th and 7th women ever to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and the first and only ALL FEMALE induction class.

Julie founded the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy (JFSLA) in 2006, along with her husband Ian Sawyers. The JFSLA is a unique residential camp experience that uses sports as a vehicle to teach leadership skills for life. In 2006, Julie also founded the Julie Foudy Leadership Foundation (JFLF), a non-profit, 510(c)3 public charity. The mission of the Julie Foudy Leadership Foundation is: Building on a foundation of sports and fitness, we empower young women from all socioeconomic backgrounds to become leaders who positively impact their communities.

In 2013, Julie produced and narrated a documentary for ESPN Films called ‘The 99ers’. Using footage shot by Foudy during the US team’s journey to win the Women’s World Cup in 1999, ‘The 99ers’ is a behind the scenes glimpse at that historical event. Most recently, Julie wrote a book for teenage girls and young women on leadership, titled Choose to Matter: Being Courageously and Fabulously YOU. The book is being published by Disney and espnW and was released in May of 2017.

Julie is an Edward R. Murrow award winning reporter and analyst for ESPN/ABC, contributor and writer for espnW. Foudy launched her ESPN podcast “Laughter Permitted with Julie Foudy” in March of 2019. It is the top ranked podcast focusing on women in Sports on Apple Podcasts. Laughter Permitted is a fun, thoughtful, candid conversation with trailblazers in sports about the joy/chaos of life and sports. Laughter — and donuts — permitted.

Julie is also director of her Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academies and Julie Foudy Leadership Foundation, a motivational speaker, proud mother of two children, Izzy and Declan, and the best chocolate-chip pancake maker in the entire universe (source: Izzy and Dec).