The Sports Institute at UW Medicine Announces New Advisory Board Members
Today, February 4, 2021, The Sports Institute at UW Medicine announced the appointments of new members to its strategic committee of trusted advisors. This Advisory Board includes distinguished leaders in sports, medicine, business and philanthropy whose focus is to shape and guide the strategy and growth of The Sports Institute, along with the leadership team.
Erin Burchfield, global director of strategic partnerships for Microsoft Philanthropies, and Ken Denman, insightful investor and serial entrepreneur, will join current members of the advisory board who are volunteers and have a diversity of backgrounds.
“This is a key moment for The Sports Institute,” said Dr. Samuel Browd, director of The Sports Institute. “Ensuring that this advisory board reflects our growth, cross-sector collaboration and ambition was a priority for us. Erin and Ken are experts in their fields, whose collective experience will help elevate our work to expand participation and safety in sports in equitable, accessible and innovative ways.”
New Advisory Board members include:
- Erin Burchfield is the global director of strategic partnerships for Microsoft Philanthropies, where she focuses on developing public, private and foundation partnerships to support nonprofits in better utilizing technology to drive mission impact and outcomes. A native Seattleite, her career journey started in nonprofit fundraising, before moving into corporate and technology leadership roles. In 2012, Burchfield founded NQuiry, Inc., a tech startup in Seattle, which developed an interactive polling and surveying platform. She also co-founded CEO Wattage: CEO Women At The Top, Achieving Gender Equality, dedicated to changing the ratio of women in the C-suite. Burchfield is a former collegiate rower at Wesleyan University and earned an MBA from the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business (Foster MBA, 2006). She currently serves on the Advisory Board for MovingWorlds.org, and the Board of Directors for Green Plate Special, a nonprofit in Seattle. Burchfield is an avid runner, hiker and enjoys yoga.
- Ken Denman has been a venture partner at Sway Ventures, a venture capital firm, since 2018. Previously, Denman was President and CEO of Emotient, Inc. a provider of video-based automated facial expression measurement software technology, from 2012 until the company was acquired by Apple in 2016. He was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of Openwave Systems, Inc. and iPass, Inc. and a Senior Vice President for MediaOne. Denman has been Visiting Professor at the University of Washington Foster School of Business – Edward V. Fritzky Endowed Chair since 2012 where he also serves on the Advisory Board, in addition to being an Executive Board Member of the University of Washington Foundation. He was elected to the VMware board of directors in January 2021 and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Seattle Children’s Hospital. Denman is also a director of Motorola Solutions, Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and LendingClub Inc.
Burchfield and Denman will join Browd (board chair) and current board members Jeff Miller, executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy for the National Football League, and Dr. Judith Wasserheit, chair of the University of Washington Department of Global Health.
About The Sports Institute at UW Medicine
The Sports Institute at UW Medicine works to expand participation and safety in sports. Since its founding, The Institute has led first-of-its-kind efforts to legislate safe return to play across all 50 states and to advance best practices in sports safety. Based in Seattle, Washington, The Sports Institute partners across sectors and convenes experts, evidence-based approaches and research from medicine, policy, science and technology to encourage play and to make sports safer. The Sports Institute is a proud member of the UW Medicine community, one of the world’s leading centers for patient care, medical education and research. To learn more about The Sports Institute, visit www.thesportsinstitute.com.