Marisa McGilliard

“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations to meet their own needs.“

- United Nations definition of Sustainability

A lawyer and passionate leader in sustainable development, Marisa McGilliard has spent her lifetime deeply entrenched in the sports for social change movement. Marisa brings a breadth of experience and knowledge on the intersection of peace through sports and sports as a catalyst for promulgating a shift in culture. She has been involved in the sporting industry for over 14 years, beginning as a student-athlete at the University of Michigan where she co-founded Project REAL (Real Education About Life), a photo-documentary and social advocacy campaign pairing professionals with collegiate athletes, and culminating in positions with Nike and the Nike Foundation after graduating from law school.

Currently, Marisa serves as the Executive Director of the Council for Responsible Sport (CRS), a nonprofit organization of inspired innovation and unprecedented collaboration to create a sustainable future for sport. Based out of Portland, Oregon, the Council’s mission is to establish new standards of environmental and social responsibility in sports. From marathons to football games, lacrosse to cycling, athletes to directors, CRS strives to build momentum by forging cooperative solutions that perpetuate systemic change throughout the industry. Marisa is committed to providing the leadership and guidance to empower individuals and organizations to adopt sustainable practices in re-defining “play”.

In addition to her work with the Council, Marisa is the co-founder of “Starting with Sports”, an organization with taking an interactive global look at the empowerment of girls through sport. While working at the Nike Foundation, Marisa had the opportunity to be a part of the Girl Effect launch, a grassroots movement that has reiterated the importance of investing in adolescent girls. The result of the Girl Effect has been to incite new initiatives, programs, and philanthropic opportunities whereby it becomes increasingly important to ensure these actions are not only well-intentioned, but are also effective and sustainable. “Starting with Sports” provides the conduit for defining what that success looks like from a programming perspective, building upon the Girl Report released by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), but in a sports-centric lens.

With her consulting endeavors, Marisa has collaborated with countless partners in building sustainability plans around multi-stakeholder engagement for sports. She has initiated partnerships with Minor League Baseball, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Players for the Planet, Athletes for a Fit Planet, Nike, George Washington University School of Business, US Lacrosse and myriad organizations committed to incorporating tenets of environmental and social responsibility within their industry. Marisa embodies the principle that to affect policy, to create positive and lasting transformation, requires a strong alliance of organizations all working towards the common goal of effectuating change for the betterment of humanity.

Marisa holds a J.D. from the School of Law at the University of Oregon. Her studies focused on the confluence of human rights, policy and law with her Thesis paper titled “Sports and Peace in Northern Ireland – Can Football Bridge the Gap”. Marisa received her BA in Sports Management and Communications from the University of Michigan, is a 2000 graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School, and 2005 graduate of the Positive Coaching Alliance. She currently serves on the Advisory Council for Search for the Ultimate Athlete’s Sustainability and Philanthropic Initiative, Designs for a Sustainable World Collective, ADDea, Mercy Corps Sports Programming, and World Peace through Law Committee. Marisa has contributed to WEND magazine’s Greenery Section, The Washington Post, Greenopolis, YouthNoise, and The International Platform on Sport and Development. Marisa recently spent a summer at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China as a Visiting Professor of Law.

Marisa is a world traveler, backpacker, writer, lifelong athlete, and avid photographer.