COMMUNITY
Ross Speaker Series
An ongoing series featuring leading experts in psychology, mental health, wellness, and more.
Building a Dynasty: Inside Gotham FC’s Championship Culture
MONDAY, JULY 7, 6–8 PM
Media Building Outdoor Amphitheater, Goodfriend Drive Campus
Admission: $20 per person. Open to the public.
Yael Averbuch West
Emily Tisch Sussman
Join us in Ross School’s beautiful outdoor amphitheater for a special evening with Yael Averbuch West, General Manager of Gotham FC! Emily Tisch Sussman, Chair of Ross School’s Board of Trustees, will moderate a conversation with Yael about building a winning culture, leadership on and off the field, and what’s next for women’s sports.
What does it take to build and sustain a championship-winning team in the modern era of professional women’s sports? Join Yael Averbuch, General Manager of Gotham FC, and Emily Tisch Sussman, host of the award-winning podcast She Pivots and Chair of the Ross Board of Trustees, for a dynamic conversation on the rise of one of the National Women’s Soccer League’s most exciting teams.
Fresh off a national title, Gotham FC, the preeminent top-tier professional women’s soccer team representing New York, is redefining excellence — not just on the field but across operations, leadership, and culture. In this session, Averbuch will share the strategy behind building a high-performing organization, the mindset that drives continued success, and what it means to lead in an increasingly competitive landscape. Emily Tisch Sussman will moderate the conversation, diving into how to build a winning culture, what leadership looks like on and off the field, and what’s next for the future of women’s sports.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Yael Averbuch West
An accomplished business leader, former member of the U.S. Women’s National Team, and standout collegiate and professional player, Yael Averbuch West was named interim General Manager and Head of Soccer Operations of Gotham FC on Aug. 3, 2021. She took the permanent position four months later. Under her leadership, Gotham FC won the 2023 NWSL championship and registered the most successful regular season in club history in 2024.
Born in New York and raised in Montclair, N.J., Averbuch developed as a player in youth programs in her home state before reaching the first of her two goals in the game: playing for the University of North Carolina.
In her time at UNC, the Tar Heels won national championships in 2006 and 2008. Averbuch set the school record by starting 105 consecutive games, and she scored the fastest goal to begin a game in women’s college soccer history (four seconds, against Yale in 2006). Among several honors during her collegiate career, Averbuch was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year in 2006 and ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women’s soccer in 2007, and she was voted First Team All-America three times by the NSCAA coaches. Averbuch received the ultimate honor when North Carolina retired her No. 17 after her senior year.
Averbuch achieved her other childhood dream by earning 26 caps as a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team from 2007-13. When she took the helm at Gotham FC in 2021, Averbuch became the first former U.S. Women’s National Team player to be named general manager of an NWSL club.
Averbuch was selected by Sky Blue FC with the fourth overall pick in the 2009 WPS Draft and went on to win the league championship that year. She won another WPS title with the Western NY Flash in 2011. After two years playing in Russia and Sweden, which included competing in the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2012, Averbuch played in the NWSL for five years between 2014-18. This included an NWSL championship in 2015 during her three seasons with FC Kansas City, and she played one season each with the Washington Spirit and Seattle Reign.
While still playing in the NWSL, Averbuch began her career as an entrepreneur and business leader. In 2016, she launched Techne Futbol—an app providing personal training for soccer players of all ages, experience, and skill levels—and remains the owner of the business today. In 2017, she founded the NWSL Players Association and served as the organization’s first president and, later, its first executive director. Now that she has come full circle as GM and Head of Soccer Operations for Gotham FC, Averbuch has returned to Montclair, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Emily Tisch Sussman
Emily Tisch Sussman is the creator and host of the award-winning podcast She Pivots, a Tony-nominated producer, a Marie Claire contributor, a democratic political strategist, and a mother of three (all of whom attend Ross Lower School). With a passion for amplifying women's voices, she shares the stories of those who have successfully pivoted in their personal and professional lives, sharing how they turned challenges into formative opportunities.
Emily created She Pivots after leaving her fast-paced job as the VP of Campaigns at the largest democratic think tank in Washington, D.C. Her pivot pushed her to confront her own idea of success without the career she thought she’d have forever. Emily is a seasoned host, having interviewed leaders and influential women, including Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Priyanka Chopra, and Sophia Bush, among others. Emily currently serves as Chair of Ross School’s Board of Trustees.
An Evening with Dr. Nicholas Kardaras
MONDAY, APRIL 14, 5:30–7 PM
Senior Building Lecture Hall, Goodfriend Drive Campus
We're all in uncharted territory when it comes to our Brave New World of living life online. Our devices are scientific marvels that can offer many benefits—but what's the dark side of our screen love affair? More importantly, how are our devices affecting our most valuable resource—our children?
In this presentation and conversation with one of the country's leading experts on screen time, Dr. Kardaras will look at the social, psychological, developmental, and neurological impact of smartphones, social media, and gaming and the effects on our kids. He'll also address the questions that most families are wrestling with: How much screen time is too much? At what age should I get my child a smartphone? What do I do if I think my child has developed a serious problem with either their screen overuse and/or their mental health?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Kardaras is an Ivy-League educated psychologist, a best-selling author and one of the country’s foremost experts on mental health, addiction and the clinical and social impacts of the digital age. He is the Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Omega Recovery in Austin, Texas and a Clinical Professor at Stony Brook Medicine where he specializes in teaching the treatment of addiction and mental health. Dr. Kardaras is also the author of the best-selling Glow Kids which has now been translated into 15 languages, and the more recent Digital Madness: How Social Media is Driving our Mental Health Crisis. He's appeared on ABC’s 20/20, the Dr. Phil Show, Good Morning America, the CBS Evening News, CNN, FOX & Friends, NPR PBS, the BBC and featured on the A&E TV series Digital Addiction and the documentaries Screened Out and Doomscroll. Dr. Kardaras has also worked with both state legislators and members of Congress to help enact digital media legislation to protect children and teens from the adverse impacts of problematic screen usage.
Raising Resilient Children in the Digital Age: A Conversation with Dr. Aliza Pressman and Dr. Samantha Boardman
Moderated by Emily Tisch Sussman
MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 10:30 AM–12 PM
Senior Building Lecture Hall, Goodfriend Drive Campus
Raising Resilient Children in the Digital Age: A Conversation with Dr. Aliza Pressman and Dr. Samantha Boardman was the first in a new speaker series on parenting presented by Ross School on August 5, 2024. A discussion between experts Aliza Pressman, a developmental psychologist, and positive psychiatrist Samantha Boardman was moderated by Emily Tisch Sussman, host of the podcast She Pivots and Chair of Ross School’s Board of Trustees.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dr. Aliza Pressman
Dr. Aliza Pressman is a developmental psychologist with nearly two decades of experience working with families and the health care providers who care for them. Aliza is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Behavioral Health in the Department of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital where she is co-founding director of The Mount Sinai Parenting Center. Aliza is the host of the award-winning podcast, Raising Good Humans and author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Five Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans. She holds a BA from Dartmouth College, an MA in Risk, Resilience and Prevention from the Department of Human Development at Teacher’s College, and a PhD in developmental psychology from Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Aliza also holds a teaching certificate in mindfulness and meditation from The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley. Aliza is the mother of two teenagers.
Dr. Samantha Boardman
Dr. Samantha Boardman is a New York-based positive psychiatrist dedicated to addressing mental health issues and fostering overall well-being. While psychiatry has historically focused on the diagnosis of disease and the treatment of individuals with mental illness, Positive Psychiatry takes a more expansive approach, focusing on the promotion of well-being and the creation of health.
Samantha’s practice combines years of training in medical school and psychiatry with her studies in the field of positive psychology. Based on 15 years of experience, she helps clients find strength within stress and wellness within illness. She is passionate about cultivating vitality, boosting resilience, and transforming full days into more fulfilling days.
On her website Positive Prescription, Samantha shares practical and achievable strategies that are life-enhancing and resilience-building, plus her take on why they matter. No smiley faces. No rainbows. No unicorns. The content is never finger-wagging or guilt-inducing. As Samantha states, “The word “should” is not in my vocabulary.”
Emily Tisch Sussman
Emily Tisch Sussman is the creator and host of the award-winning podcast She Pivots, a Tony-nominated producer, a Marie Claire contributor, a democratic political strategist, and a mother of three (all of whom attend Ross Lower School). With a passion for amplifying women's voices, she shares the stories of those who have successfully pivoted in their personal and professional lives, sharing how they turned challenges into formative opportunities.
Emily created She Pivots after leaving her fast-paced job as the VP of Campaigns at the largest democratic think tank in Washington, D.C. Her pivot pushed her to confront her own idea of success without the career she thought she’d have forever. Emily is a seasoned host, having interviewed leaders and influential women including Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Priyanka Chopra, and Sophia Bush, among others. Emily currently serves as Chair of Ross School’s Board of Trustees.
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