Powerful Speakers, Education Sessions Highlight “Winning Together” at NSGA 2025 Leadership Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Marty Maciaszek, NSGA Director of Communications
mmaciaszek@nsga.org
(847) 296-NSGA (6742), ext. 1260

DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS (March 11, 2025) – Dr. Mary Kelly and Ben Zobrist have vastly different backgrounds but exemplify the theme of “Winning Together: The Power of Relationships in Sports & Business” for the NSGA 2025 Leadership Conference.

Kelly, a retired Commander in the U.S. Navy, will provide the opening keynote and Zobrist, the 2016 World Series MVP with the Chicago Cubs, will close the NSGA 2025 Leadership Conference that will be held May 18-20 at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. There will also be education sessions on sales, how retailers and dealers can maximize business through Shopify and an interactive session on building industry relationships.

“Mary Kelly and Ben Zobrist are winners who have great stories that Leadership Conference attendees will find insightful and inspiring,” said Matt Carlson, NSGA President & CEO. “They fit perfectly with our overall program goal of enhancing relationship-building through the Leadership Conference.

“Our attendees were pleased with last year’s expanded Speed Networking as part of the networking opportunities that make the Leadership Conference unique in the sporting goods industry. We’re also looking forward to another great finish to the event with the three Class of 2025 inductees into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame.”

Kelly will get the program started Monday morning with her keynote, “Leading Your Sporting Goods Business Through Challenges and Changes,” and follow up with another session, “Winning in Retail.” After Kelly graduated from the Naval Academy, she spent most of her 21 years of active duty in the Navy as an intelligence officer in Asia. She is regarded as one of the world’s most influential economists and business strategists and is a member of the Speakers’ Hall of Fame.

Zobrist will provide Tuesday afternoon’s closing keynote, “Turning Your Greatest Pains into Your Greatest Gains.” Zobrist became known as a “Super Utility Player” during his 14-year Major League Baseball career where he was the MVP as the Chicago Cubs ended a 108-year World Series championship drought in 2016 and helped the Kansas City Royals win the World Series in 2015. Zobrist is a big advocate for mental and emotional health and addressing those challenges in the sports world through Champion Forward, an organization he founded.

Also on Monday morning will be “Increasing Sales: Relating to the Changing Consumer,” with Joel Bines, an internationally recognized consumer and retail expert who is the Managing Partner of Spruce Advisory, a firm serving ambitious consumer-facing companies and their investors. Bines’ retail experience includes authoring the 2022 best-selling retail strategy book, “The Metail Economy – 6 Strategies for Transforming Your Business to Thrive in the Me-Centric Consumer Revolution.”

Tuesday morning’s program will start with “Everyone Wins: Cultivating Stronger Industry Relationships,” where attendees will have a chance to discuss how to grow more fruitful relationships among the retailers, dealers, manufacturers and brands serving our industry. “Shopify: A Unified Commerce Conversation,” will feature a panel discussion with NSGA members sharing their success stories and strategies for using Shopify.

The popularity of Monday afternoon’s Speed Networking continues to grow since it began in 2017. Speed Networking was expanded last year to give retailers and dealers additional scheduled meetings for their discussions with manufacturers and brands about products and other issues.

The event concludes Tuesday evening with the induction of three industry icons into the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame. This year’s induction ceremony will recognize the Class of 2025 of John Cardinal (Cardinal’s Sport Center), Chris Considine (Wilson Sporting Goods) and E.J. “Ned” Hamilton (Peter Glenn Ski & Sports).

About NSGA

The National Sporting Goods Association has served as the leading voice for the sporting goods industry since 1929. NSGA is devoted to providing a competitive edge to sporting goods retailers and team dealers through industry leading research, networking, advocacy and unmatched customer support. For more information about membership or NSGA’s products and services, please visit nsga.org.

About the NSGA Leadership Conference

The NSGA Leadership Conference started in 1965 and is the longest-running and most successful leadership event in the sporting goods industry. Top executives and decision-makers from sporting goods retailers, team dealers, manufacturers, sales agencies and industry supporting vendor companies gather for education, best-in-class networking, dynamic speakers and industry recognition at the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame induction. For more information or to register for this year’s event visit https://nsga.org/conference2025/.