Panelists

Michael Forde

Performance Director, Chelsea Football Club

Mike Forde has been the Performance Director for Chelsea Football Club in London, England since July 2007. Mike, 33 years old, oversees all aspects of Performance relating to the Senior squad with a particular emphasis on Player recruitment and the use of analytics to drive roster selection. A graduate of Liverpool John Moores University (BSc Sport Science) and San Diego State University (MSc Psychology & Sport), Mike has been a leading sports executive in the EPL for the past 10 years with both Chelsea FC and Bolton Wanderers FC.

Kris Homsi

Science Director, SPARQ

As Science Director for SPARQ, Kris Homsi is responsible for the Ratings architecture and testing services that have helped thousands of coaches and young athletes worldwide identify, classify and develop their talent through dynamic athletic training.  Last year alone more than 70,000 athletes were rated on their overall athleticism, indexed in terms of their individual capacities to meet the physical demands of American football, global football (soccer), basketball, baseball, fastpitch softball, volleyball and other field sports.

Since joining SPARQ in 2006, Homsi has directed the company’s efforts to integrate quantitative methods, sport science and digital applications in the service of high school-age athletes, their coaches and trainers.  SPARQ develops tools and programs to assess talent, guide training and inspire athletes determined to reach the next level in their sporting careers.  SPARQ Testing has been featured in Sports Illustrated for Kids, The Wall Street Journal, and on ESPN’s 3rd-season premiere of ‘The Contender’, the boxing reality series.

Prior to SPARQ, Homsi worked for various technology companies in process research, technology development and product management roles.  He has managed two of the most widely used assessments in consumer health and K-12 educational services, shepherding them from white-board concepts to revenue-generating online applications.

Homsi holds degrees in Chemical Engineering and Management Science from Princeton and M.I.T.  He grew up in Natick, Mass. playing football and throwing jav.  His sporting pursuits over the last decade include cricket, snowboarding, bike commuting and street hockey in Portland, Oregon, where he resides with his wife and two daughters.

Phil de Picciotto

President of Athletes & Personalities, Octagon

Octagon President Phil de Picciotto has been at the forefront of the sports and entertainment event marketing industry for more than 25 years. In that time, he has guided Octagon into a position of global prominence in a multi-billion dollar industry and has earned the respect of his peers for his global vision and human approach. de Picciotto’s steady leadership and forward-thinking mindset has guided Octagon’s success and growth over the years which was officially recognized when the agency was named the inaugural winner of the Sports Agency of the Year by the Sports Business Journal.
 
Other accolades de Picciotto has regularly collected include Advertising Age: "The Marketing 100", as one of the world's top marketing professionals; The Sporting News: "Top 100 Most Powerful People in Sports;" and Sports Business Journal: "20 Most Influential People: Sports Agents." Phil was also the co-founder of Octagon's predecessor, Advantage International. He is a frequent guest panelist at the industry's leading shows and regularly offers his in-depth knowledge and perspective for news media outlets including CBS, CNBC, Fox Business, The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post among others.

Aaron Schatz

Founder, Football Outsiders

Aaron Schatz is the creator and editor-in-chief of FootballOutsiders.com and the lead writer of the Pro Football Prospectus book series. His innovative statistical methods and analysis of NFL play-by-play led the New York Times Magazine to call him "the Bill James of football." He is a regular contributor to NFL coverage on ESPN.com as well as in ESPN the Magazine, and has written in the past for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The New Republic Online, and Slate.com. He has also done custom research for a number of NFL teams.

Before creating FootballOutsiders.com, Schatz was a radio disc jockey and spent three years tracking search trends online as the writer and producer of the Internet column "The Lycos 50." He has a BA in Economics from Brown University and lives in Framingham, Massachusetts with his wife Kathryn and daughter Mirinae.

Jack Mula

General Counsel, ScoutAdvisor

Jack Mula assists pro teams with scouting advancements and organizational development.  Mula served as General Counsel of the New England Patriots starting in 1999 and served eight seasons with the team. He was a major contributor to the most prosperous period in the organization’s history. In the last decade, the franchise has celebrated three Super Bowl championships and has become universally recognized as a model professional sports organization. During that time, Mula  served as the primary negotiator for the player contracts of each of the team’s draft choices and has worked in concert with Vice President of Player Personnel Scott Pioli on veteran and free agent contracts. In addition, Mula was the club’s legal and business liaison to the NFL Management Council and league office.  Mula now assists pro teams with advancements in scouting techniques and with organizational development.

Mula served as legal and administrative counsel to the player personnel department and assisted in legal matters throughout the organization. His responsibilities involved him in the negotiations and reviews of business contracts for the Patriots, Gillette Stadium and the New England Revolution, including sponsorships, promotions, hospitality, naming rights, stadium operations, real estate acquisition, concerts and special events. He was instrumental in the planning and development of Gillette Stadium, working directly with local and state government and the business and residential communities in planning for site access and game day operations.

Prior to joining the Kraft organization, Mula was a successful sports attorney and player agent whose clients included marquee National Football League players. He resurrected the professional career of Doug Flutie, bringing the former Heisman winner back from the Canadian Football League to the NFL, where Flutie flourished and earned Pro Bowl honors with the Buffalo Bills, playing seven NFL seasons in Buffalo and San Diego before returning home when he signed with the Patriots in 2005. Mula’s client list also included Boston College Hall of Famer and five-time NFL All-Pro Fred Smerlas, NFL Rookie of the Year Troy Stradford, Outland Trophy winner and former Patriot draft choice Mike Ruth, All-American and former Super Bowl winner Steve DeOssie, the famous brother tandem of Raghib “Rocket” and Qadry “Missle” Ismail, and current NFL running back Priest Holmes. Mula also negotiated player contracts for Detroit Lions President Matt Millen and former New Orleans Saints Head Coach and current St. Louis Rams Offensive Coordinator Jim Haslett.

Mula was raised in Waltham, Mass., where he was a teammate with Smerlas on the celebrated 1975 Waltham High football team that sent 10 players into Division I college football, still a state record. He also played football and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1980, where he co-founded the university’s chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He later earned a Juris Doctorate from the New England School of Law.

Mula is a member of the Sports Lawyers Association and a former co-chair of the Boston Bar Association’s Sports and Entertainment Law Committee. He is a former city attorney in Waltham, where he still resides. He remains active in the local sports community and is a frequent guest speaker at local community service organizations and various academic institutions. He and his wife, Pam, have three sons, Ryan, Christian and Evan.

Moderator

Kate Fagan

Reporter, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Kate Fagan is currently an NBA beat writer covering the Philadelphia 76ers for the Philadelphia Inquirer. As newspapers attempt to reinvent themselves in a shifting media culture, Fagan has expanded her coverage outside the print edition to include real-time blogging, live chats, photos, and video. Fagan's writing has won numerous awards in the features, columns, and projects categorories from places including the New York State Press Association, Suburban Newspapers of America, and the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE). Fagan attended the University of Colorado on a basketball scholarship. During her time at CU, the Buffaloes advanced to four straight NCAA Tournaments and the Elite Eight.