NCYS Leadership

Wayne was appointed as Executive Director on July 1, 2018. He served as Senior Director, Sports, Fitness & Recreation for Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) for 15 years, and joined BGCA as Director, Program Planning in June 2003. He was responsible for program planning and assessment efforts. Wayne previously served as the director for the Cleveland (Ohio) and DeKalb County Georgia Recreation Divisions. He also has front office experience with the Detroit Lions and the Baltimore Orioles. 

Wayne served as Chairman of the United States Olympic Committee’s Multi-Sport Organization Council. He holds a Master’s in Sports Administration & Facility Management from Ohio University and a Bachelor’s in Journalism from Howard University. He is married to Phillippa Moss and they have one son, Na’im.

Adam is the CEO of USA Artistic Swimming (USAAS). Formerly known as U.S. Synchronized Swimming, it is the United States national governing body for the sport. Adam has more than a decade of experience with National Governing Bodies (NGBs) and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). He previously served as Member Services Director at USA Field Hockey and Manager of Community Partnerships at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Born in Hawk Run, Pennsylvania, Adam played collegiate football and received his bachelor’s degree in sports administration from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. He earned a master’s degree in education with a focus in sport management from Old Dominion University.

Jack is the Founder and Chairman, CoachSafely Foundation. Its mission is to limit youth sports-related injuries through research, advocacy and education of coaches, parents, physical educators and other influential figures in young athletes’ lives. Jack is a legendary college football coach. He was most recently the head coach at Jacksonville State University with stops at Auburn, Arkansas, Clemson, Baylor, Livingston and North Alabama. He formed the CoachSafely Foundation, which has grown from consultancy to policy-lobbying non-profit to 501(c)(3) research and education organization designed to set a higher standard for youth sports safety policy, education, research and community outreach.

Gil is a Sport Management Professor and Departmental Chair at the University of West Florida. He has some 30 years of experience in the sports sector. Gil is a specialist in sport law, finance and facility management, which are topics he teaches. He has written more than 12 books on sport risk management, facility management, esports and sport finance and published more than 300 articles. Gil is the editor of Sports Facilities & the Law newsletter. He has served as general and outside counsel for various sports organizations, such as Dixie Baseball/Softball and the Sportsplex Operators and Developers Association (SODA). He is well known in sport risk management, focusing on protecting participants and fans at sporting events/facilities. He has been an expert witness in the industry’s most important cases over the past 30 years.

Trish is Co-founder of the National Center for Safety Initiatives (NCSI). For nearly two decades, NCSI has been on the forefront of helping to protect athletes, families and organizations through market-leading safety and security programs. Passionate about child safety and well-being, Trish serves as a speaker and national thought leader on the importance of a holistic approach to safety in youth sports. Prior to NCSI, Trish was a corporate executive in the private sector. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from Ursuline College, holds SPHR certification and was awarded her Master of Science in Positive Organization Development (MScPOD) degree with honors from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, Ohio. Trish resides in Ohio with her family.

Dr. Barry Boden is an orthopaedic sports medicine physician at The Orthopaedic Center, a division of CAO in Rockville, Maryland. For more than 25 years, he has studied the causes of sports injuries and has developed preventative strategies. Dr. Boden chairs the STOP Sports Injuries Committee for the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM). He received the prestigious Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (OREF) Clinical Research Award for research related to sports injury prevention. He is the team physician for Montgomery College and has served on the medical staff for U.S. Soccer. Dr. Boden is a consultant at the NIH and a Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He completed his sports medicine fellowship at Duke University, received his MD from Temple School of Medicine and undergraduate degree from Haverford College.

Ann is the Vice President of Lacrosse Operations for US Lacrosse which is the sport’s national governing body. Ann is responsible for managing a staff of 20 people at the NGB’s national headquarters in Sparks, MD. She provides strategic leadership and oversight of the Men’s and Women’s Game governance structures, the organization’s national sport development strategies, grassroots and granting initiatives, inclusion programming, health and safety efforts and the National Team program. Ann also serves as the US Lacrosse delegate to World Lacrosse and serves on the board as the technical director for the Pan American Lacrosse Association (PALA). Before joining US Lacrosse, Ann served as Director for Public Policy and Constituency Affairs for the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. Born in Long Island, NY, she a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo where she played, coached and officiated women’s lacrosse.

Joe is the Director of the Sports Safety Program at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. HSS is the world’s leading academic medical center focused on musculoskeletal health. He has 27 years of experience as a sports medicine clinician and serves on several committees with the National Athletic Trainer’s Association, the American Physical Therapy Association, the American Public Health Association, and the Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine Society. Joe also serves as an advisor to the Aspen Institute’s Project Play 2024 initiative. In addition to delivering education and research presentations nationally and internationally, Joe is currently completing a doctoral degree in Public Health.

Stan is the Chief Technology Officer for the YMCA of Metro Atlanta. Prior to that, Stan served as Chief Information Officer for Boys & Girls Clubs of America, held global IT leadership roles at Kimberly-Clark Corp., Plexus Corp and ABB, and was a Sr. Manager at Arthur Andersen Consulting. He has experience designing, delivering and operating customer-focused solutions, and with cybersecurity and data privacy policies which are central to protecting youth sports members, donors, and volunteer information.

Mark M. O’Brien serves as the president, CEO and a Board Director for LakePoint Sports, the premier travel and youth sports destination in the country. Before LakePoint Sports, O’Brien served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mizuno USA Inc., and Chairman and Officer of Mizuno Canada, Ltd. O’Brien has two decades of leadership with some of the most recognizable brands in the world, including, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, The Original HoneyBaked Ham Company, Johnsonville Sausage and Miller Brewing Company. O’Brien held front office roles with the Houston Rockets and multiple teams in the Texas-Louisiana Professional Baseball League. O’Brien earned a Master’s in Sports Management at Georgia Southern University and a Bachelor’s in Communication from St. Norbert College. Mark, his bride Michelle and their four daughters reside in Atlanta.

Shannon Shy, Senior Counsel (Land Use), U.S. Department of the Navy, served from 2007 to 2018 as the American Youth Football (AYF) National Membership Director. He co-founded the Northern Virginia Youth Athletic Association (NVYAA) in 2003. A retired Marine Corps Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, Shannon has authored three books on overcoming OCD, including his latest, Turning Points: Peer: Peer Support and a Strategy to Help Those with OCD, and a book about his daughter, Dad, I Love You All the Way to God and Back. In 2018, Shannon deployed to Afghanistan for a two-year tour as a civilian advisor to the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense. He earned a J.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School and a B.S in Broadcast Management from Missouri State University, where he lettered in wrestling.

Chris Snyder, Vice President of Operations, i9 Sports. Chris oversees the franchise system operations for the largest youth sport franchise system in the US. He previously led the Coaching Education Department at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and was a founding member and leader in the Aspen Institute’s Project Play. Chris spearheaded the USOPC’s joint effort with Nike to create the national How to Coach Kids program, as well as lead the national governing body leadership which created the American Development Model (ADM). Before USOPC, Chris served as the Manager, Coaching Education and Training with USA Lacrosse. He earned a Masters in Sports Management at Millersville University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s in Communications at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.

Sally proudly served as the first NCYS Executive Director from January 1997-July 2018. Possessing extensive experience in business, leadership and organization management issues, Sally’s passion for working in the field of non-profit associations began as a community volunteer at the age of fourteen. She continued her work as an untiring and passionate advocate for youth issues particularly for the health, safety and welfare of children. Sally dedicated her career to maintaining respectable ethical and behavioral standards in youth sports organizations as well as society to make a positive difference for children of all backgrounds, genders, and economic diversities. Sally’s leadership achievements were honored with numerous prestigious national and international recognitions.