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Sports Backers
100 Avenue of Champions, Suite 300
Richmond, VA 23230
Phone 804-285-9495
Fax 804-285-3132
General Email
Info@sportsbackers.org
The Staff
Kelly Carr
Special Event & Media Support
Kelly@sportsbackers.org
Kelly assists with marketing and web development, managing OurSB, and facilitating work flow.
Kelly and her husband grew up in Indiana and every year they attend a football game at their alma maters Purdue (Kelly) and Notre Dame (Matt).
Best Sports Backers Moment: Kelly recalls getting extra attention from the police early one morning while she was working in a park filling coolers for the Marathon Training Team because who would be crazy enough to be up at that hour making PowerAde!
Will Dixon
Event Production Assistant
Will@sportsbackers.org
Will was born in Richmond and has lived here his whole life. He went to Godwin High School then on to James Madison University where he graduated Cum Laude in Sports Management with minors in Business as well as Conflict Analysis and Intervention. His hobbies include spending time at the river, playing sports and watching Seinfeld. Will’s job responsibilities include assisting with event development as well as event set-up/breakdown and event operations.
Will’s favorite Sports Backers moment was witnessing and working on the complete transformation of Maymont Park into the amazing festival atmosphere for the cross country teams and runners.
Jeff Fitch
Director of Development & Sponsorship
Jeff@sportsbackers.org
Jeff works with Sports Backers board members and community leaders to identify and recruit regional government, corporate and community investors for the Sports Backers Building on Excellence Campaign. He also identifies and recruits corporate sponsors for Sports Backers events and program and researches and writes sports program assistance grants.
Jeff ran varsity cross country at James Madison University and later served as a member of the city council in his hometown of Hopewell, Virginia
Best Sports Backer’s Moment: Jeff’s introduction to Jon Lugbill and the Sports Backers came during a rainy, 10-mile run in Seattle when both were participants in a business trip.
Townley Goldsmith
Director of Event Development
Townley@sportsbackers.org
Townley oversees the development and recruitment of new events, some of which are created/owned by the Sports Backers, while others are owned by outside organizations. And she manages both the Sports Tourism Grant Program and the Sports Event Incubator Program to help local sports organizations market existing events and/or create new events to be held annually in the Richmond region.
Townley played second base for the University of Virginia varsity softball team which won the 1994 ACC Softball Championship.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Townley marvels at the mad and ultimately futile dash she and her Sports Backers colleagues made through JFK airport to get the last plane home from a day trip to New York City where they attended a New York Yankees game as part of a sports tourism mini-holiday celebrating the Sports Backers winning the “best sports commission in America” designation from the National Association of Sports Commissions in the summer 2006.
Mary Marshall Graeber
Volunteer Coordinator
MaryMarshall@sportsbackers.org
Mary Marshall coordinates individual volunteers and volunteer groups for the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k, SunTrust Richmond Marathon & McDonald's X-Country Festival at Maymont, and she coordinates planning meetings and communication amongst our event committee members.
As self-described “people person,” Mary Marshall enjoys her interaction with volunteers.
Best Sports Backer Moment: Mary Marshall loves watching her sons McClain and Thomas come across the finish line of the Richmond Times-Dispatch Kids Run.
Faith Hecht
Fit For Life Program Coordinator
Faith@sportsbackers.org
Faith manages the Fit for Life Program for elementary school kids and helps coordinate the Healthy School Challenge for middle and high school kids. She also oversees the Richmond Times-Dispatch/Sports Backers Annual Scholarship Program, which recognizes outstanding Richmond-area high school scholar-athletes. She is also directing the Sports Backers’ Save Our Kids: The Childhood Obesity Conference.
Joining the Richmond Road Runners Club was a way for Faith to make new friends when she and her family relocated to Richmond. A dedicated runner and volunteer, she was soon welcomed into the Sports Backers.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Faith likes being at the finish line for our kids runs and watching the faces of the kids as they finish, especially at the First Market Mile in the spring. She also appreciates the emotional outpouring of some of the novice runners or walkers who have met a huge personal challenge and finished the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k.
Meghan Keogh
Sponsorship and Development Manager
Meghan@sportsbackers.org
Meghan coordinates sponsorship activities and provides a wide range of support for the Building on Excellence Campaign, corporate sponsorship of Sports Backer events, and grant writing. She is also in charge of investor/sponsor recognition events in conjunction with all Sports Backers events.
Meghan lettered in softball, basketball, soccer and indoor track at Manasquan High School in Manasquan, New Jersey.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Meghan recalls seeing the calm before the storm on the race course at the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k as she rode the race sponsors trolley at the head of the pack.
Dona Lawson
Accounting Manager
Dona@sportsbackers.org
Dona manages for all accounting functions and financial record keeping and reporting for the Sports Backers; she handles payroll disbursements and is responsible for insurance and human resources/benefits; and she facilitates financial communications between management and the board of directors.
Dona was a natural choice for the Sports Backers part-time accountant as her husband, neighbors and friends were all longtime Sports Backers participants, volunteers and staffers.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Dona loves the energy and excitement at the start line of the running races, especially the kids races, when all the people surge out onto the course as the gun fires. She also loves sharing in the runners’ sense of accomplishment at the finish line.
Jon Lugbill
Executive Director
Jon@sportsbackers.org
Jon motivates a dedicated, hard working staff in all aspects of creating, organizing and promoting sports events that put thousands upon thousands of healthy heads on Richmond beds. He confers with community leaders, government officials and corporate supporters on sports tourism initiatives and youth exercise programs that we create or support to advance the economic vitality and communal well being of the Richmond region. And he works closely with our energetic and visionary board of directors to maintain our reputation as one of the hardest working, best run sports commissions in the United States.
Jon runs, mountain bikes, rock climbs, and in a former life he was a five-time individual world champion in whitewater canoeing and a member of the 1992 Olympic Team.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Jon was thrilled to hear Sports Backers named the Sports Commission of the Year at a national meeting of our peers in 2006.
Mike McCormick
Communications Director
Mike@sportsbackers.org
Mike informs regional media representatives of how Sports Backers goals, events and accomplishments add to the Richmond region’s economic vitality and physical health; he oversees the publication of the Sports Backers’ quarterly magazine SBQ; and he writes letters, articles, press releases, website content, annual reports and fundraising materials.
A former national champion whitewater kayaker, Mike is the co-founder of Team River Runner, an all-volunteer program that teaches kayaking to wounded veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Mike was delighted to have a big, boisterous crowd of whitewater kayak fans (including Virginia Governor Tim Kaine who was cheering his son Nat) on Father’s Day at the Jammin’ on the James Boatercross event that he organized for the James River Adventure Games.
Ray Patterson
Manager of Community Affairs
Ray@sportsbackers.org
Ray coordinates the organizational planning of the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K, James River Adventure Games, SunTrust Marathon & NTELOS 8K and the Duathlon World Championships, and assists in oversight of scheduling, community relations and budgeting of all Sports Backers-owned events.
Running and exercising and volunteering for sports events has been part of Ray’s fun and healthy lifestyle for 20 years, now he’s getting paid to do what he loves best.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Having been one of the inaugural 150 Marathon Training Team runners six years ago and a coach every year since, Ray was elated and proud to share in the accomplishment of having a thousand people in the stands at Sports Backers stadium for the first day of the 2007 Marathon Training Team program.
John Raigins
Event Operations Manager
JRaigins@sportsbackers.org
John manages the Sports Backers Indoor Sports Tournament Center, which consists of $500,000 worth of sports equipment and Sport Court flooring, installed for a variety of events held in the Greater Richmond Convention Center; manages maintenance, transportation and storage of the Sports Backers equipment inventory, and coordinates the event-day logistics for all Sports Backers equipment and signage during Sports Backers-owned events.
John has wanted to work in the sports industry since writing an essay on sports business operations in his 9th grade English class in Aberdeen, Mississippi.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Watching the start of the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K from above the crowd in the boom lift and seeing 25,000 people running down Broad Street for an event that he had helped orchestrate left a big impression on John.
Lisa Randolph
Director of Event Production
Lisa@sportsbackers.org
Lisa manages a wide variety of logistic and operational concerns at the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10k, the McDonald’s Maymont X-country Festival, and the SunTrust Richmond Marathon. She also coordinates and manages the Sports Backers Marathon Training Team and the YMCA 10k Training Team and our volunteer corps for the James River Adventure Games and the Patrick Henry Half Marathon. In addition, she handles mail-in registration duties for all of the Sports Backers events and our internship program.
A mother of four children, Lisa is passionate about the Sports Backers’ mission of encouraging healthy lifestyles, a message she carried with her while running the 100-mile Himalayan Challenge, a multi-day stage race in India.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Lisa enjoys the “electric” charged atmosphere produced by the 3,000 high school kids at the McDonald’s X-country Festival at Maymont – she’s still trying to figure out how to bottle it!
Scott Schricker
Marketing Director
Scott@sportsbackers.org
Scott advises the executive director on all aspects of Sports Backers operations and strategy. He is also responsible for the integrated marketing campaigns of the entire organization and all of its events, including the design and maintenance of our websites, and he oversees our communications program and media outreach.
Scott was the Cavalier mascot during his undergrad days at the University of Virginia and began his career as a television sports anchor for the NBC affiliate in Charlottesville. A stint with the Richmond Braves AAA baseball team brought him to town and led him to the Sports Backers.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Scott recalls going to the Winter X-Games at Crested Butte, Colorado in ‘99 while bidding on the Summer X Games. He enjoyed a week hobnobbing with ESPN staffers and skiing some great powder.
Megan Silva
Event Manager
msilva@sportsbackers.org
Megan serves as the tournament director for events including the CAA Youth Basketball Tournament, the Cougar 7 v 7 Field Hockey Tournament and the U.S. Army 3 on 3 Summer Hoops. Megan serves as the liaison to the Duck ‘n Dodge National Dodgeball Tour. She researches new events and helps with event operations for all of the major Sports Backers endurance events. Megan also coordinates medical support at our events.
Megan, who was a Richmond Times-Dispatch-Sports Backer Scholar Athlete Scholarship recipient, earned Division III National Player of the Year for her point guard play on the Randolph-Macon College women’s basketball team.
Best Sports Backers Moment: Megan was thrilled and anxious on the eve of the inaugural U.S. Army 3 on 3 Summer Hoops. After completing the tarp pull with the events development team, the stage was set for a great weekend full of basketball.
