Together on Stage for One Night Only at the Harvard Club of Boston!
Five of the most accomplished athletes to ever wear the Crimson jersey have established themselves as the most powerful and influential figures in Boston sports. For one night only and together on stage, you will hear from prominent Harvard athletes – Don Sweeney ’88 (Boston Bruins), Allison Feaster ’98 (Boston Celtics), Ben Crockett ’02 (Boston Red Sox), and Jessica Gelman ’97, gb ’02 (Kraft Analytics Group/Patriots) – who will be led in conversation by the Dean of New England Sportscasters Mike Lynch ’77 (WCVB-TV). From the playing field to the front office, each has their own unique story which they will share exclusively with our members.
The event is being held in partnership between the Harvard Club of Boston and the Harvard Varsity Club. The price to attend is $25 and will include light appetizers, a cash bar and an evening of unforgettable stories and insight. Purchase your ticket below!
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2023
5:30 PM – ARRIVALS & RECEPTION
6:30PM – FAB 5 IN CONVERSATION
8:00 PM – POST-EVENT RECEPTION
HARVARD CLUB OF BOSTON | HARVARD HALL
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Ben Crockett ‘02
Ben Crockett has risen to the highest ranks in the Boston Red Sox organization where is currently serving his 17th season in the organization, his second as Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations. In this role, he assists in all areas of baseball operations, with a focus on Sport Performance and Major League Operations and Development. After joining the Red Sox in 2007 as an intern in baseball operations, Crockett served as Advance Scouting Coordinator from 2008-09. For the next 11 years he held the titles of Assistant Director, Player Development (2010-11), Director, Player Development (2012-16), and Vice President, Player Development (2017-20). Crockett captained the 2002 Harvard University baseball team and helped the Crimson to Ivy League Championships in 1999 and 2002. He was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year, and earned multiple All-America and All-Ivy League selections. Crockett was selected by the Red Sox in the 10th round of the 2001 June Draft out of Harvard University, but he did not sign. He was drafted the following year in the third round by the Colorado Rockies and spent parts of five professional seasons (2002-06) as a pitcher. In 2017, Crockett was elected into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
Allison Feaster ‘98
Allison Feaster ’98, is regarded as one of the great student-athletes in the history of Harvard women’s basketball. Feaster, a three-time Ivy League Player of the Year and four-time first-team All-Ivy selection, led the Crimson to three straight Ivy League titles between 1996 and 1998 and an upset over top-seeded Stanford in the 1998 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament. Feaster holds numerous records at Harvard, including career points (2,312), rebounds (1,157), offensive rebounds (440), steals (290), field goals made (771) and free throws made (475). She was the 1998 recipient of the Radcliffe Prize, given to the most outstanding female student-athlete at Harvard. Feaster was the fifth overall pick in the 1998 WNBA draft, going to the Los Angeles Sparks. Named to the WNBA All-Star Team in 2004, she played professionally with the Sparks, Charlotte Sting and Indiana Fever and overseas with teams in Portugal, Italy, Spain and France. Feaster was inducted into Harvard’s Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2016, she was selected to participate in the NBA’s Basketball Operations Associate Program as one of two women in the program. She joined the Boston Celtics in September 2019 where she is currently the Vice President of Player Development and Organizational Growth. Feaster also co-leads the Boston Celtics United for Social Justice initiative which focuses on addressing social and racial inequities in Greater Boston.
Jessica Gelman ’97, gb ‘02
Jessica Gelman is one of the most prominent business executive and innovator in the sports industry, recognized for her role driving the sports analytics movement. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR), a technology, analytics, and strategic services company that helps sports & entertainment organizations optimize their operations and fan engagement through data-driven, customer-centric analytics. KAGR’s clients span all major professional US sports leagues, colleges, and industry leaders. In addition to her leadership at KAGR, Gelman co-founded in 2006 and continues to co-chair the highly regarded MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (SSAC), the world’s first and largest analytically focused sports conference that has grown to over 3,000 attendees and regularly sells out. Gelman is a minority partner in the Utah Royals of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), and serves as an alternate governor on the league’s board. Previously, Gelman led business operations, marketing, & strategy for Kraft Sports & Entertainment (New England Patriots, Gillette Stadium, and New England Revolution) and played professional basketball in Israel. Jessica’s contributions to the sports industry have earned her numerous accolades and awards, including the 2014 Sports Business Journal “Forty under 40,” which recognizes the most promising young executives in sports business under the age of 40. She was also honored as one of the women who are leading and innovating in sports business in the 2012 Sports Business Journal’s “Game Changers” list. Jessica holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA, cum laude, from Harvard College, where she was chosen as the Harvard Female Athlete of the Year. She was also recognized as an Ivy League Legend of Basketball in 2018 and currently serves as the Treasurer of the Harvard Varsity Club.
Don Sweeney ‘88
Don Sweeney is one the most powerful figures in the National Hockey League (NHL) and is currently in his ninth season as the Bruins General Manager where he oversees all aspects of the team’s hockey operations, and he also serves the club as an Alternate Governor on the NHL’s Board of Governors. He is the eighth man to hold that position, is the fourth who also played for the team (joining Hap Emms, Milt Schmidt and Mike O’Connell) and is the first former Bruins draft pick to rise to that post. The team’s eight-year record with Sweeney at the helm is 378-174-66 for a .665 win percentage which ranks first in the NHL over that span. He was voted by his peers as the NHL’s General Manager of the Year in 2018-19 as the club advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, and the club won the President’s Trophy with the league’s best record in both 2019-20 and 2022-23, including setting the best marks in NHL history with 65 wins and 135 points last season. Sweeney played four seasons of college hockey at Harvard University. He earned both NCAA East All-American and ECAC First Team All-Star honors with the Crimson and played in the 1986 NCAA Finals before graduating with a degree in Economics. Sweeney’s ascension to the head of the club’s hockey operations began as the club’s eighth pick, 166th overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft and he moved through the organization as a player for 15 seasons and in various front office capacities for nine years prior to assuming his current position.
Mike Lynch ‘77
Mike Lynch is considered the “dean” of sportscasting after serving as the longtime weeknight sports anchor for WCVB’s award-winning sports department for more than three decades. Inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2023, Lynch – in 1985 – initiated “High Five,” a weekly NewsCenter 5 report highlighting the achievements of high school student athletes. For more than 30 years, these unique segments have been lauded by critics and received numerous honors for a continuing commitment to covering high school athletics. Lynch was also instrumental in the annual production of “High 5 Salutes Thanksgiving Heroes,” WCVB’s half-hour wrap-up program of all the traditional high school football rivalries across the Bay State. Lynch was voted the Massachusetts “Sportscaster of the Year” by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association a total of 16 times, the most honors of anyone in the history of the award. He was also part of the SportsCenter 5 team that won the United Press International Award for Best Sports Reporting in the country in 1987. At Harvard, Lynch was on both the football and baseball teams. In the fall of our senior year in college (1975) Lynch kicked the winning field goal with 33 seconds remaining to beat Yale 10–7 in New Haven, clinching the Ivy League title outright before 66,846 fans. It was the first outright Ivy League championship since the circuit was formalized in 1954.
