DePaul University Athletics
10/27/2026 12:28:00 PM | ATHLETICS, EXTERNAL OUTREACH
CHICAGO—GSV Sports is bringing its inaugural summit, The Future of College & Youth Sports, to Chicago, and DePaul University and DePaul Athletics are proud to support and sponsor the event in the city they call home. The summit will bring together leaders from across the industry on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at the Obama Presidential Center, and DePaul will welcome attendees the night before at Wintrust Arena.
GSV is the organization behind the ASU+GSV Summit, known across higher education as the "Davos of Education," and GSV Sports brings that same convening power to athletics. Its mission is simple — all people deserve equal access to the future, and sport is one of the most powerful ways to open that door. That belief aligns squarely with DePaul's Catholic and Vincentian mission.
The Future of College & Youth Sports is an invitation-only event for executive leaders. The room will include university presidents and chancellors, athletic directors, conference commissioners, leaders of national governing bodies and the NCAA, professional team owners, investors, foundation leaders, policymakers, journalists and athletes. Through keynote conversations and working sessions, the group will focus on building solutions for the next era of college and youth sports under GSV Sports' banner of "Rebooting the American Dream through Sport."
DePaul's role spans both days as the university opens the week on Tuesday, Oct. 27, hosting the official welcome reception at Wintrust Arena, home of DePaul basketball. DePaul President Robert L. Manuel and Senior Vice President and Director of Athletics DeWayne Peevy will deliver opening remarks.
"Every athletics department in the country is working through the questions on the table this week, and there is no better place to have that conversation than Chicago," said Peevy. "I'm grateful to GSV and the Obama Foundation for bringing it here, and proud that DePaul gets to open the week by welcoming these leaders to Wintrust Arena. Developing people has always been what sports do best, and that is exactly what I want to talk about on Wednesday."
On Wednesday, Peevy will take the stage at the Obama Presidential Center as a featured panelist for "Leadership + Human Capital Transformation: Building the Next Generation of Sports Leaders," a Lunch & Learn Q&A moderated by Joe Kennedy, director of athletics and sports leadership at the Obama Foundation. He will be joined by Greg Finkelstein of Tyton Partners and Andrea Williams, director of intercollegiate athletics at the University of Illinois Chicago.
The session starts from a belief DePaul shares: sports have long been one of the most powerful platforms for developing leaders, building communities and expanding opportunity. That belief is central to the Obama Foundation's vision for Home Court, making sports more accessible and empowering the next generation of leaders. At the same time, organizations at every level of sport are navigating their own transformation, from artificial intelligence and new commercial models to new definitions of success. The panel will explore how leaders rethink talent pipelines, athlete support and organizational culture to keep pace, and how to transform the organizations that run sports while developing the people whose lives sports can transform.
ABOUT DEPAUL ATHLETICS
DePaul's 15 intercollegiate athletic teams compete in the NCAA Division I, BIG EAST Conference. DePaul University began sponsoring athletics teams in the early 1900's, with intercollegiate athletics coming to fruition in the 1920's. Legendary coach Ray Meyer helped put DePaul on the map in the 1970s as the men's basketball program elevated the university to national prominence. Through a bold new vision for the future, DePaul Athletics aims to become the premier program in the BIG EAST Conference by winning championships with integrity, building champion students through education and intentional development, and serving as a visible ambassador for DePaul University and the Chicago community. DePaul Athletics has a storied tradition and is uniquely positioned to support the university's mission and commitment to academic excellence, real-world experience, community engagement, and systemic change. Further, the department is steadfast in its commitment to grow the university's national exposure and enrollment through athletics. Visit DePaulBlueDemons.com to learn more.
ABOUT GSV SPORTS
GSV Sports convenes leaders across college and youth athletics around a single conviction: all people deserve equal access to the future. Co-founded by Michael Cohn, Michael Moe and Deborah Quazzo, GSV Sports builds on GSV's 17-year partnership with Arizona State University on the ASU+GSV Summit, widely known as the "Davos of Education." The Future of College & Youth Sports brings that model to sport, gathering university presidents, athletic directors, commissioners, investors, foundation leaders, policymakers and athletes to design the systems change the moment demands. Visit GSVSports.com to learn more.
