2015 was another record year for employee volunteer participation — 36 percent of ESPN employees volunteered in at least one of the 528 volunteer events the company offered. Recently, SportsCenter anchor Chris Cotter and ESPN President John Skipper recognized the efforts of those employees who go above and beyond helping others at the annual Team ESPN Volunteer of the Year Awards.
Here are the Team ESPN Volunteer of the Year Award 2016 winners:
Team ESPN VoluntEAR of the Year: Brie Gallagher
As a Volunteer Champion in the Charlotte, N.C., office, Brie – a production coordinator – has planned and/or participated in hundreds of volunteer projects. Last year, Brie Gallagher organized several volunteer events with Special Olympics including employee participation at the North Carolina Summer Games. She created a Unified Bowling team and recruited volunteers to run in several legs of the Unified Relay Across America. She also was one of 30 employees from across the entire Walt Disney Company to attend the Special Olympics World Games as part of Disney’s Global Service Project.
Team ESPN Commentator of the Year: Sage Steele
NBA Countdown host Sage Steele originally became involved with Special Olympics when her kids were nominated by their elementary school teacher to participate in Unified Sports. Soon after, the whole family was hooked. Steele then became one of the ambassadors for ESPN’s commitment to Unified Sports. She has been an announcer of the Unified Game at NBA All-Star Weekend and this year served as an honorary coach at the game. See her acceptance speech here.
Environmental Champion Award: Judi Weiss
As soon as the location is selected for the next College GameDay, senior remote operations producer Judi Weiss starts gets to work ensuring that we leave the college or university even better than when we arrive. This includes coordinating with Corporate Citizenship to put practices into place that minimize the show’s environmental impact. She even helps sort waste into recycling and composting bins to make sure we are diverting as much from the landfill as possible.
Team ESPN V Spirit Award: Staci Green
Post producer Staci Green is an integral part of the V Week committee, and this year created innovative and generationally-relevant content, including a new PSA that connects ESPN fans with the realities of cancer. She is always enthusiastic and eager to pitch in wherever needed — all in an effort to help raise awareness and funds for The V Foundation.
Team ESPN Team of the Year: ESPN Sales and Marketing
Working with Corporate Citizenship and Feeding America, ESPN Sales and Marketing planned a large-scale food packing program across 6 offices that, in total, impacted 100,000 people.
ESPN will make grants to each recipient’s charity of choice. This video captures the ceremonies on ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., campus.
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