The Drake Group Names New Officers and Board Of Directors, Led by New President Kassandra Ramsey
The Drake Gorup has announced a new slate of officers and board members, which follow below:
President (2026-2028)
KASSANDRA RAMSEY, Esq., is the founder of The Law Office of Kassandra Ramsey, P.L.L.C., assisting entrepreneurs, athletes, entertainers, and social media influencers with creating, operating, and protecting their businesses. Ramsey is the Sports Law Chair for the District of Columbia Bar’s Arts, Media, Entertainment, and Sports Law Community and an advocate for college athletes’ rights. She has written extensively on the name, image, and likeness (NIL) issue in college sports and has authored two e-books to assist current and prospective college athletes to advance their emerging NIL opportunities. She is passionate about educating athletes and their families on the ways college athletes may use these new opportunities to advance themselves for life after sports. Ramsey served as the Compliance Assistant for the University of Maryland, College Park Athletics Department. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Virginia State University and her J.D. from Howard University School of Law. She is currently on The Drake Group Board of Directors and standing for reelection.
President-Elect (2026-2028)
KEITH ADAMS, Ed.D., President and Founder of the CKA SAVE Project, Dr. Keith G. Adams, Ed.D., CMAA, is the Founder and President of the CKA SAVE Project, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the academic and professional development of student-athletes. With over 30 years of experience as an educator, coach, and administrator, Dr. Adams is committed to closing the “Resume Gap” through evidence-based mentorship and systemic advocacy. He is the host and executive producer of the Odd Coaches Podcast, where he amplifies essential conversations regarding athletic policy and student success. Central to his work is the “100/100 Standard,” a philosophy asserting that academic excellence and athletic performance are a unified mandate. Dr. Adams is a passionate proponent of Project-Based Learning, focusing his current research on academic and athletic motivation, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) impacts, the Transfer Portal, and the potential of athlete unionization. A frequent national speaker, he recently presented at the 2026 Black Student-Athlete Summit on empowering student-athletes to thrive beyond graduation. Dr. Adams is the 2026 recipient of the Allen Sack National Symposium Exceptional Service Award and continues to lead the CKA Virtual Internship Program (VIP) program, helping student-athletes translate their athletic discipline into sustainable, lifelong professional success.
Our New Members-At-Large (2026-2028)
BRIAN DiNAPOLI, is the founder of NIL Insight, a web-based resource that helps high school and college athletes and their families navigate NIL opportunities and connect to resources on mental health, academics, financial literacy, player safety, substance abuse prevention, and life decisions that can shape their futures. He is also a lifelong public servant who has dedicated his career to helping people rebuild their lives, find stability, and believe in second chances. He works in reentry housing with individuals returning from jail and prison and is deeply involved in recovery, homelessness prevention, and youth substance abuse prevention efforts throughout Georgia. A former high school athlete and current community football coach, DiNapoli understands that athletes carry far more than what is visible on game day. They balance academics, family, mental health, financial stress, peer expectations, and the hope that sports can create opportunities for a better future. That lived experience fuels his passion for protecting student-athletes and ensuring their education, health, and long-term well-being come first.
MARIAN MELCHER HANSON, is a global sports marketing/media veteran with executive experience at The Equitable, Subaru of America, the Travelers, and ESPN. Overseeing sponsorship programs in the 80’s and 90’s she invested in women’s sports at the US Open (tennis), the US Ski and Snowboard teams (which became a Harvard Business School case study), The NFL, the Masters, and America’s Cup sailing, among others. At ESPN, she oversaw the rehaul of their special events organization and then was tasked with bringing new audiences to the network as the VP of Content Strategy. Her strategies paid off as ESPN Original Entertainment delivered more female viewers than Lifetime Network in identical time slots. In 2010 she founded Bardolf, a brand, marketing, and business development consultancy. Her love of sport has been a throughline in her life and career. A three-season athlete in HS and college tennis player she still competes in 18+ USTA leagues and USTF tri’s in addition to skiing, and hiking.
Reelected Members-At-Large (2026-2028)
DAVID RIDPATH, Ed.D., Professor of Sports Business, Ohio University, College of Business. Dr. Ridpath has several years of practical experience in the sports industry and teaches classes with a focus on governance, ethics, leadership and intercollegiate athletics. His primary research areas include intercollegiate athletics administration, governance, and rules compliance with an emphasis on college athlete academic achievement and graduation rates. His work includes the ethics and components of the NCAA legislative, enforcement, and governance process and the intersection of educationally-based sport development and delivery in the US with other developmental programs throughout the world. Dr. Ridpath is the author of Tainted Glory: Marshall University, the NCAA, and One Man’s Fight for Justice and Alternative Models of Sport Development in America: Solutions to a Crisis in Education and Public Health and soon to be released, Reclaiming American Sport Development: New Strategies for Educational and Elite Sport Pathways. An accomplished scholar, he has made over 70 national and international refereed presentations and authored 30 peer reviewed and edited academic articles. Ridpath received the B.A. in Speech Communication from Colorado State University, M.S.A in Sports Administration and Facility Management from Ohio University, and Ed.D. from West Virginia University. He is a past president of The Drake Group.
BRUCE SMITH, Ph.D., is Director of Empowerment Strategies and CEO of the ACES Group. He has worked in K-12, higher education and intercollegiate athletics for more than two decades as a teacher, professor, administrator, and coach. As a higher education administrator, his work focused on student life, athletics, and equity and justice at both small private liberal arts colleges and flagship state institutions in California, Arizona, Colorado, and Oregon. Smith specializes in managing comprehensive student support, mentoring and supervising staff, creating connections between curriculum and co-curriculum, and developing equity and justice institutional strategies. As a professor, his work focuses on African American life and culture; the sociology of education, sport studies, and American studies with an emphasis on developing engaging, student-centered, identity-conscious pedagogy. He earned his BA in American Civilization from Brown University, M.S. in Education from the University of Southern California, and Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley. Smith also serves as Secretary and Board member for The Drake Group Education Fund.
Returning Members of Our Board (2025-2027)
Drake Secretary, WENDY PIERPONT, Ed.D., is a Learning Specialist at University of Oregon’s Services for Student Athletes. Her professional focus is on academically underprepared students across all sports, working most intensely with freshmen who take courses in composition, education, and social sciences. Pierpont also serves as the Access Specialist in the unit and supports athletes who need accommodations and testing to get connected with accessible education on campus. She has served on University-wide and athletic department committees on diversity and inclusion and is part of the Behavioral Management Health Team, an athletic department group that works to support the mental health and psycho-social development of athletes. Pierpont received an MA in Education (Intersection of Sport and Education) and a teaching credential from U.C. Berkeley, has taught middle school Special Education and Language Arts, and coached cross country for three years before returning to Berkeley for her doctorate. Pierpont attended Boston University on a swimming scholarship and graduated with a BA in History.
Drake Treasurer, CONNEE ZOTOS, Ph.D., is a Senior Associate at the consulting firm Sports Management Resources. Most recently, she served as the Associate Dean of Academic and Faculty Affairs and Clinical Associate Professor of Sports Management in the School of Professional Studies at New York University. Zotos is the former Director of Athletics at Drew University, where she was responsible for the administration of 18 varsity sports programs during her 14-year tenure. Before serving at Drew, Dr. Zotos was the Women’s Athletics Director at William Smith College and Philadelphia University and a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin. She was a head college coach for 12 seasons and a three-time Conference Coach of the Year. She is a prolific writer and speaker in the areas of coaches’ employment and compensation systems, creating tiered athletic program models, coach evaluation, and Title IX. She is a recipient of a NACWAA regional and national Athletic Administrator of the Year award and a Women Leaders in College Sports Nike Lifetime Achievement Award. She received a Bachelor’s degree from Glassboro State College, a Master’s from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the Univ. of Texas at Austin.
Drake Executive Committee Member, SANFORD THATCHER. After graduating from Princeton in 1965 (summa cum laude in philosophy), Sandy Thatcher attended graduate school for two years and then embarked on a career in scholarly publishing for the next 50 years, mostly at two university presses, Princeton for 22 years and Penn State for 20 years as its director. For the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) he served two three-year terms on its board and then as president in 2007-08. He received the AAUP’s highest service award in 1999. He is the author of 100 articles and the History of Princeton Swimming and Diving, a book that grew out of his work as secretary of the Friends of Princeton Swimming and Diving from 1970 to 1989. He earned his varsity letter as a swimmer at Princeton and since 1972 has been a member of US Masters Swimming, competing in over 200 meets. His current team, Lone Star Masters, won the national championship in 2022.
Member-at-Large DONNA C. GROVE, Ed.D., Assistant Professor of Sport Management, York College of Pennsylvania, Coordinator, Sport Industry Practicum Program. With over twenty years of experience in multiple roles including Associate Athletic Director, Senior Woman Administrator, Deputy Title IX Coordinator, and coach at two and four-year institutions, Dr. Grove offers a broad understanding of intercollegiate athletics, academic program development, and gender equity advocacy. Formerly, she served as President of the Maryland Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (MACDA), Assistant Commissioner of the Maryland JUCO Conference and has been a member of both the Education and Professional Development and Foundation Fund Committees for Women Leaders in Sport. She earned her Doctorate in Sport Management with a leadership specialization from the United States Sports Academy, focusing her dissertation on women’s career advancement in sports.
DAVID C. HUGHES, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sport and Leadership at Gordon College. In 2023, his book chapter “Black Men, STEM, and Erasing the Digital Divide: The Need for Black Male Targeted eSports Initiatives” was published in the book Diversity and Inclusion in the eSports Industry. In 2022, Dr. Hughes was named a leader in the Metaverse by U.S. Black Engineer Magazine for the work with his Give Black App. Formerly, he served as faculty member at Georgetown University and Hampton University. While at Hampton, he secured a $340,000 technology grant to start the first eSports initiative at an HBCU. David has been a pre-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, a Scientia Foundation Fellow at Rice University, and a Social Justice Memorial Foundation Fellow. He is a graduate of Morehouse College and Prairie View A&M, a member of 100 Black Men and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
JENNIFER JACKSON, J.D., Academic Advisor, University of Oregon. Over the last decade-plus, Jackson has worked with a variety of sports and currently advises football and softball Duck athletes. Jennifer’s professional interests include current legal issues around NIL, Title IX, the NCAA, and the future of college sports. Before Oregon, Jennifer attended the University of Alabama Law School and practiced law in Alabama for several years. A graduate of the University of Kansas and a member of their women’s basketball team, she remains a faithful Jayhawks fan. She is a member of The Drake Group Education Fund Working Group (TDGEF), bringing her daily firsthand experience and knowledge of the impact of the changing landscape of college athletics to this academic think tank’s consideration of critical issues in college sports. Jackson also served as a co-author of the TDGEF research report, Improving Academic Outcomes in NCAA Division I Revenue Sports and HBCU Limited Resource Athletic Programs.
AARON MILLER, Ph.D., is an educator, author, podcaster, leadership coach, and cultural consultant. He is also a Lecturer in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, East Bay, an Associate Adjunct Faculty, Department of Kinesiology, St. Mary’s College of California, and creator/host of the podcast, The Power of Sports. Miller has authored Discourses of Discipline: An Anthropology of Corporal Punishment in Japan’s Schools and Sports and Buying In: Big-time Women’s College Basketball and the Future of College Sports. He is the author of numerous op-eds, essays, and journal articles and book chapters about education, sports, culture, power, violence, and social justice. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University and a Visiting Professor at Waseda University. Miller received his B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles and M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Oxford University.
Ex-Officio Member, Chair of The Drake Group Education Fund, TAMMI GAW, Founder and Executive Director of Advantage Rule, a consulting group focused on athlete health and safety, with an emphasis on amateur athletes’ rights. As one of only a handful of professionals licensed as both an attorney and an athletic trainer, her career has included in-house counsel positions, non-profit management and board participation, and C-suite level work with integrated planning for large and medium scale sporting events. Ms. Gaw’s expertise extends to the business of college sports, including name, image, and likeness (NIL) reform, Title IX, and medical welfare for athletes of all levels. Through Advantage Rule, she combines her extensive experience in sports medicine, business, and law with her passion for advocacy. She is an international speaker on issues around sports business, law, medicine, and social justice and has been featured in a variety of news outlets, podcasts, panels, and publications. She is a published author and continues to write in both fiction and non-fiction genres. Additionally, she was privileged to address the UK Parliament in 2009.