Columbia University’s Sports Management graduate program has announced the lineup for the fall semester, which began in person earlier this month.
“I am very excited to welcome an outstanding new cohort of students to our Columbia family and to welcome back our returning cohorts. Orientation and the first month of the semester have been terrific, with our incredibly engaged students and faculty already demonstrating their considerable prowess,” said Scott Rosner, program director of the M.S. in Sports Management program and a professor of professional practice at Columbia.
In late August 2025, the program welcomed 77 new students to the campus for a week of exciting and engaging activities. The purpose of Orientation Week is twofold: to foster a sense of community among the new students and to provide them with workshops that will help them succeed both within the program and in their future endeavors. The Sports Management program has a total of 160 students from 17 different countries. The fall 2025 cohort also includes one new student from the Columbia HBCU Program, which prepares talented, high-performing graduates of Historically Black Colleges or Universities to lead, innovate, drive community impact, and advance their professional industries through program engagement at SPS.
The program hosted several workshops during Orientation Week, including a career workshop; an Excel/statistics bootcamp; and sessions on hustle, listening, self-awareness, leadership, and cultural competency. Students were also introduced to the program’s Professional Development Requirement (PDR) and Community Leadership and Service Program (CLASP), led by Scott Rosner, Mary Scott, Carolyne Savini, Hannah Salto, Joanna Levy, Tammy West-Bennet, Jennifer Dick, Michael Aufrichtig, Vince Pierson, and Jackie Bartolomeo. Orientation activities concluded with a trip to the US Open.
The program has announced both the addition of two new adjunct faculty members and the program lineup for the fall semester. New to the faculty this semester are Brian Connelly (Founder & Managing Principal, Victus Advisors), who is leading a Supervised Research Project on the PGA, and Dana Rosenberg(Former Senior Vice President, Marketing, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts), who is leading a Supervised Research Project on Serie A, the top professional football league in Italy.
The Sports Management program’s faculty and courses for the fall include:
Steven Angel (SVP, Head of Game Analytics and Strategy, NBA) (Fundamentals of Sports Analytics); Jacqueline Bartolomeo (Director, Enterprise Customer Success, Everfi) (Community Leadership and Service Project); Kelly Carroll (Founder, Lead Strategist, Kelly Carroll Communications) (Sports Business Communications and PR); Tom Cerny (Director of Strategic Partnerships, Seaport Entertainment Group); (Sports Marketing); Destinee Coles (Senior Director, Team & Labor Finance, NBA) (Sports Accounting and Finance); Brian Connolly (Founder & Managing Principal, Victus Advisors) (Supervised Research Project: PGA of America); Jared Cross (Cofounder, Steamer Projections) (Baseball Analytics); Jennifer Dick (Litigation/Discovery Analyst) (Professional Development); Kristin Connelly Dock (VP, Business Operations Game Content & Studios, Xbox) (Sports Marketing); Jennifer Duberstein (Head of Sports Business Affairs, CAA Sports) (Sports Law and Ethics), Len Elmore (Senior Lecturer, Sports Management) (Athlete Activism and Social Justice in Sports and Internship in Sports Management); Joseph Favorito (Strategic Communications, Social Media, Marketing, and Branding Consultant) (Sports Business Communication and PR and Industry Relations); Adam Fisher (Executive Director, 78 Youth Sports) (Baseball Analytics); Ishwara Glassman Chrein (Former President at Chicago Fire FC, Independent Management Consultant & Advisor) (Sports Sponsorship and Sales and Supervised Research Project: PWHL); Sam Goldberg (Head of Player Personnel, New York Red Bulls) (Soccer Analytics); Lj Holmgren (Deputy Academic Director, Sports Management, Columbia University) (Sports Marketing); Chris Lencheski (CHM & CEO, Phoenicia Sport and Entertainment) (Foundations of Sports Management and Sports General Management); Michael Parker (Executive Director of Financial Operations, New York Yankees) (Sports Accounting and Finance); Tom Richardson (SVP, Strategy and Business Development, Mercury Intermedia; Host, The CUSP Show) (Digital Sports Media and Marketing); Dana Rosenberg (Former Senior Vice President, Marketing, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts) (Supervised Research Project: Serie A); Scott Rosner (Program Director and Professor of Professional Practice, M.S. in Sports Management) (Foundations of Sports Management); Jordan Rutner (Director of Analytics, Sports Innovation Lab) (Business Intelligence in Sports); Sab Singh (Associate Professor, Sport Management, Farmingdale State College) (Foundations of Sports Management); Grant Son (Senior Lecturer, Sports Management) (Sports Entrepreneurship & Innovation in Sports, Sports Marketing, Supervised Research Project: Advanced Marketing—FC Bayern Munich); Bill Squires (Chief Venues and Operations Officer, 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup New York New Jersey Host Committee) (Sports Facilities and Events Management and Sustainability in Sports: Theory and Practice); and Carla Varriale-Barker (Shareholder, Segal McCambridge Singer & Mahoney, Ltd.; Chair of the Sports, Recreation and Entertainment Practice Group) (Sports Law and Ethics).
Columbia University’s master’s degree program in Sports Management, available part-time and full-time, trains professionals in all sectors of the sports industry by teaching specific management skills in the areas of finance, analytics, business intelligence, digital media, entrepreneurship, leadership, law, marketing, sales, communications, and facility or event management. This combination of broad-based and specific skill training is a hallmark of the program, evident in the content and sequencing of its courses.
For more information: Joe Favorito (joefavorito2 [[at]] gmail [[dot]] com)
