Smith College Athletics

2024 SPEAKERS

Debbie Antonelli - Hall of Famer Debbie Antonelli is a men’s and women’s college basketball analyst for ESPN and ACC Network and one of the most influential voices in the women’s game as a standout player, marketing executive and broadcaster for nearly four decades. Among her many philanthropic endeavors and community involvement, Antonelli is a lifetime board member of the nonprofit Kay Yow Cancer Fund, with other board service for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, Naismith Trophy Award boards and Special Olympics South Carolina Board of Directors. Antonelli has received numerous accolades throughout her pioneering career, including two Emmy Awards and a Gracie Award. Antonelli was inducted in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2022 and the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2021. The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) awarded her the 2007 Mel Greenberg Award as the professional who has best displayed commitment to advancing the role of the media in promoting women’s basketball. And most recently, College Sports Communicators named her the 2023 Jake Wade Award recipient, presented annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in the media to intercollegiate athletics. She was inducted into NC State Women’s Basketball Ring of Honor in 2024.

Carol Stiff - Former vice president of programming and acquisitions at ESPN, making her responsible for the programming acquisition and scheduling for a variety of sports on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. Stiff started the Tennessee-UConn women's basketball rivalry when she was looking for a women's game to be broadcast on Martin Luther King Day in 1995. Served as president of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame's Board of Directors. In 2021 she was awarded the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. 

Arshay Cooper - Arshay is a Rower, Benjamin Franklin award-winning author, the protagonist of the critically acclaimed film “A Most Beautiful Thing,” a Golden Oar recipient for his contributions to the sport of rowing, motivational speaker, and activist, particularly around issues of accessibility for low-income families. Arshay grew up on the West Side of Chicago and in 1997 joined (and later became captain of) the country’s first all-Black high school rowing team at Manley High School, an experience that changed his life. He dedicated two years of his life to AmeriCorps, focusing on diversity and inclusion efforts and soon after that attended Le Cordon Bleu, becoming a chef for critically acclaimed restaurants and companies such as World Wrestling Entertainment, Warner Brothers, and various professional athletes.

 ALUM POWER PANEL

Lisa Black '81 majored in Economics at Smith and earned an MBA rom the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. A Certified Financial Analyst, Lisa currently heads up the Taxable Fixed Income team of Nuveen, TIAA's asset management subsidiary, overseeing $260 billion in taxable fixed-income assets. She was a four-sport athlete while at Smith and was inducted to the Athletics Hall of Fame in 2019. 

Phoebe J. Moore '93 majored in Economics and earned a JD at New England School of Law. Phoebe is currently the owner and attorney at Phoebe J. Moore in Caro, Michigan, specializing in business Law and Family Law. A standout member of the basketball and softball teams, Moore was inducted to the Smith Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014. 

Sydney Parkmond '14 majored in Environmental Science & Policy and minored in Economics at Smith before graduating Cum Laude with a JD/MBA from Quinnipiac University. Sydney is currently Corporate Counsel at Henkel Corporation for the Adhesive Technologies division and Assistant Basketball Coach at Mount Holyoke College. 

Trudi Cloyd '07 majored in Biology before going on to earn a MS in Science and Medicine of Athletics Performance from the University of Oxford and an MD from New York University School of Medicine, completing her Residency in Emergency Medicine at nYU Langone Health. Trudi is currently an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center as well as Assistant Program Director for Emergency Medicine Residency at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.