Chapter Leadership Team – Illinois State Chapter

Leadership Team

Brittany Romano

President

I am volunteering to help lead the Illinois Field Hockey State Chapter because I am passionate about growing the game and giving back to a sport that has shaped so much of my life. As a former collegiate player at Denison University and now the head coach at New Trier High School, I’ve seen firsthand the positive impact field hockey can have on athletes both on and off the field. I’m excited to help expand opportunities for players, coaches, and programs across Illinois while fostering a strong, connected field hockey community.

Brittany Romano

President

About this Leader coming

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Misty Brady

Vice President

Field Hockey is a cornerstone of my life. I distinctly remember it all: my seventh grade preseason, my high school bus rides, working through adversity during my collegiate career, and the fast pace growth required coaching at the high school and D1 level… Every step of the way I built discipline, gained confidence, and learned to lead. I am volunteering to help as many athletes as possible to grow character through this beautiful game, and make friendships that truly last a lifetime.

Misty Brady

Vice President

Bessant, from Charlotte, N.C., is a high-profile figure in the banking industry. She is the chief operations and technology officer at Bank of America and is a member of the company’s executive management team. Since 2010, Bessant has led Global Technology and Operations, delivering end-to-end technology and operating services across the company through nearly 95,000 employees and contractors in more than 35 countries.

Active in the community and region, Bessant received the 2018 Distinguished Service Award from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In addition, she was awarded the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine and was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal with the Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award. She chairs the North Tryon Vision Plan Advisory Committee.

Samantha Brown

Secretary

I’ve been the head field hockey coach at Deerfield High School for thirteen years, and in that time I’ve seen how powerful and positive the field hockey community can be for female athletics. Field hockey has brought so much fun, challenge, and reward to the athletes I’ve worked with, and I’m passionate about helping the game continue to grow here in Illinois. Our state has so much potential to expand the sport and create even more opportunities for athletes to fall in love with the game.

Samantha Brown

Secretary

Bruttomesso earned her Bachelor of Science in Education from Slippery Rock University in 1984, and her Master of Education in Sport Psychology from Temple University in 1990. She currently works as a physical education teacher and coach at Germantown Friends School, where she’s coached softball, field hockey, lacrosse, squash, and track and field.

Bruttomesso began her career as a FIH Umpire in 1995 and umpired internationally until she retired in 2004. During that time, she umpired multiple NCAA Final Four games from 1998 to 2000. After her retirement from umpiring, Bruttomesso began acting as an umpire manager and rules interpreter, acting as a rules interpreter for the NCAA from 1998 to 2004, and again from 2022 to present. She has been an umpire manager for USA Field Hockey at Regional Club Championships, National Club Championship, and National Hockey Festival since 2019.

Sarah Tuscher

Treasurer

Sarah Tuscher has been a part of Illinois field hockey for the past ten years. All three of her daughters have played for their local program in Glen Ellyn when they were in elementary school and with both travel teams in the Chicagoland area, Windy City Field Hockey and Rise Field Hockey. She is a very involved with the Glenbard West Field Hockey program where her girls have played. Her goal for the Illinois Chapter of USA Field Hockey is to provide more opportunities to all Illinois athletes, young and old, to learn and love the game. Sarah is also tax controversy attorney with Moore Tax Law Group in Chicago.

Sarah Tuscher

Treasurer

Fee joined the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2012 after her graduation from Duke University, and played for the following six years, retiring in 2018. During her time on the team, Fee competed in 111 international caps and represented USA at many major international competitions. These included finishing fifth at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, winning gold at the 2015 Pan American Games, and participating in the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, in The Netherland and England respectively.

Fee has more than a decade of coaching experience and became a USA Field Hockey Certified Level 1 Coach in 2013. She is the owner and coach of PowerHouse Field Hockey Club and served as the head coach of the U.S. O-60 Women’s Masters Team at the 2022 World MastersHockey (WMH) World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa this past fall. She previously was the head coach at Episcopal Academy and led the program to a state championship, while earning NFHCA All-South Region Coaching Staff of the Year. In 2016, she was the volunteer assistant coach at the University of Maryland, and then in 2017 served as an assistant coach.

In college, Fee served as captain for two years, received the Blue Devil Award, Underdog Award and had an award named in her honor. The Stef Fee Duke True award is presented to one athlete annually who shows the highest degree of leadership on and off the field and has a contagious passion for field hockey.

Fee earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2012 from Duke University in Psychology, with minors in Education and Culture Anthropology. Outside field hockey, she has worked in marketing both in the sports and health industries.

Misha Geller

Coach Chair

Misha Geller

Coach Chair

Friedberg, of Old Greenwich, Conn., is the CEO of Hampstead Park Capital Management, which he founded in 2016. The investment firm is an active, constructive, long term investor in small cap public and private companies in the United States and Canada. Over the last 30 years, Friedberg has focused both as an investor and consultant as a Partner at Bain & Company, investing and actively working with companies to provide a combination of capital investment, operating improvement and strategic support, and in a governance role to support management teams to maximize long term shareholder value. He has invested in more than 30 companies, serving on five public boards, taking two private, and numerous non-profit boards.

Friedberg has been involved in youth sports and education for over 20 years in a range of capacities. He has been involved with National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), Performance Sports Group (Bauer, Easton, Cascade, and Maverik), VICIS Football Helmets, Greenwich Skating Club and as a USA Hockey youth ice hockey coach. He is a member of Cornell’s Johnson Business School Development Committee and serves on the Advisory Council of Cornell’s business school.

Friedberg received his Master of Business Administration in 1987 from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell and a Bachelor of Science degree in 1984 from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in England.

Kelly Derrig

Communications Committee Chair

Kelly Derrig

Communications Committee Chair

King’s extensive professional and athletic resume spans more than three decades, beginning his post-college basketball career by acting as assistant coach of the Indiana Pacers for four season. In 1998, King transitioned to the front office, joining the Philadelphia 76ers, where he eventually served as president and general manager before leaving the organization in 2007.

Following his departure from the 76ers, King joined the New Jersey (later Brooklyn) Nets, where he served as general manager of the organization from 2010 to 2016. During this time, he increased team average gate receipts 100%, planned and designed the new practice site and offices in Brooklyn, and established community initiatives in Brooklyn with the athletes.

More recently, King acted as a co-host on WIP morning radio sport talk show, provided NBA analysis through Turner Sports, and worked as president of both ReachTV and Elfus Sports Management. He currently works as a senior partner at Modern Executive Solutions. In this role, he leads business development in sports, media and entertainment, researches and writes contracts, agreements, and proposals, and provides services to all individuals promoting effective and lasting business relationships.

Beyond his professional career, King has served on several sport, non-profit, and charitable boards over the past 30 years.

King attended Duke University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1988. During his tenure with the Blue Devils, the team played in two Final Four appearances, 1986 and 1988. His daughter is an avid field hockey player.

Shawn Gore

Communications/Website

Shawn Gore

Communications/Website

Martin joins USA Field Hockey ‘s Board of Directors with extensive legal, compliance and governance experience. He began his legal career almost 30 years ago, working in the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Missouri, before moving to the United States Attorney’s Office in 1997 to act as an assistant United States Attorney. Throughout his career, he has acted as a partner at three law firms, in addition to several other notable legal positions.

Currently, Martin works for Skillsoft Corp as the Senior Vice President of Legal Compliance. His previous experience in compliance includes his time at Corpedia Corporation as General Counsel anp Chief Compliance Officer from 2006 to 2011 and Adelphia Communications Corporation as vice President of Law, Litigation and Compliance.

Martin earned his Bachelor of Arts in Public Affairs and Political Science from the University of Denver in 1991. Since completing his undergraduate, he earned three advanced degrees, including A Juris Doctorate from Creighton University School of Law, Master of Law from Georgetown University Law Center, and Master of Business Administration from the University of Denver. Martin is a member of the Bar in Colorado, Missouri and District of Columbia

Martin became interested in field hockey through his daughter, an enthusiastic player who is committed to the University of Illinois. He has supported the Colorado Bears Field Hockey Club and Colorado Academy high school program.

Kristina Johnson

Communications/Website

"Field hockey has been apart of my life since I began playing in middle school, and now it is my goal to be able to spread my love for the sport and grow it in Illinois. I hope to help accomplish this alongside the rest of the team and expand the reach of opportunities to play. As the current head coach at Edwardsville High School, my ultimate goal is to spread field hockey in Southern Illinois and have more opponents to play outside of St. Louis."

Kristina Johnson

Communications/Website

Niehoff is the current executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), a position she has held since August 2018. As the organization’s sixth full-time executive director and first female to lead the organization, she is responsible for the oversight of all aspects of the organization and achievement of the NFHS Strategic Plan and NFHS Board of Directors Priorities. She interacts with NFHS Board of Directors and 51 member associations and collaborates with other stakeholder entities including professional sport organizations. Prior to that she served as the executive director of the NFHS-member Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Athletic Conference (CAS-CIAC) for seven years.

On top of her extensive involvement with NFHS, Niehoff was previously a teacher, coach, athletic director, assistant principal and principal at the middle and high school levels in Connecticut for 20 years. She also was the field hockey coach at Litchfield High School and Joel Barlow High School.

Niehoff served as the interim director of education for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee from 1995 to 2001 and was on the USA Field Hockey Board of Ethics from 2006 to 2017.

Niehoff earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, master’s from Southern Connecticut State University, sixth-year degree in educational leadership from Central Connecticut State University and doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Connecticut.

Susan Woods

Youth Committee Co-Chair

Susan is a RN and lives in Glen Ellyn, IL with her husband and is mom of two kids. Her son is a senior in high school and plays lacrosse and her middle school daughter plays field hockey for Windy City. The summer before kindergarten, her daughter attended a Glenbard West High School field hockey camp with a friend and was hooked! She now plays every chance she can get. Susan wants to help grow the game in IL and encourage more youth to give field hockey a try!

Susan Woods

Youth Committee Co-Chair

Grassi grew up in Montgomery County, Md. He was selected to the U.S. U-16 Men's National Team in 2004, moved up to the U-21 USMNT and in 2012 joined the senior USMNT, where he continues to play. Over his career he has competed in Junior Pan American Championships, Pan American Cups, and Pan American Games, in addition to FIH Hockey World League events and other tournaments. He is also a member of the Indoor USMNT.

Aside from his playing career, Grassi has been coaching field hockey for more than a decade. He is passionate about growing the game of field hockey for boys and girls. He has worked with several different club teams, in addition to collegiate teams and Junior USMNT. He runs Mustangs Field Hockey Club, for boys and girls youth hockey all the way up to adults.

Grassi joined the USA Field Hockey Board of Directors in 2019 as an interim Athlete Representative and was officially voted into the position as a full Athlete Representative later that year. He is also the Chair of the Athlete Advisory Committee. He currently lives in Washington D.C. and works as a mechanical engineer.

Theresa Moulton

Youth Committee Co-Chair

I’m volunteering to support growth of the game in our state. I believe in the vision to give players of all ages access to high quality hockey close to home with affordable access.

Theresa Moulton

Youth Committee Co-Chair

Holt has been a member of the U.S. Men’s National Team since 2007 and accumulated a 146 international caps. Since his debut he has been an offensive scoring threat tallying an impressive 85 goals. He has traveled to many countries where he competed in various test series and international events including the World League Round 1 (2012, 2016), World League Round 2 (2013, 2015, 2017), Hockey Series Open (2018), Hockey Series Finals (2019), Pan American Games (2011, 2015, 2019-A) and Pan American Cup (2009, 2017). When he was a member of the Junior USMNT he played in the Junior Pan American Championships and men’s Junior World Cup.

He is an active coach and in January 2020 was named the assistant coach at Indiana University. Holt has served in many coaching capacities and got his start with USA Field Hockey as the assistant coach of the U-21 USMNT. He went on to serve as the associate head coach of the U-16 squad before being moved up to the U-18 team.

Holt also has experience coaching internationally and in 2010 was the head coach of the Royal Oreé T. H. B. U-16 Boys first time in Brussels, Belgium. He returned to coaching abroad in 2016 as the head coach of the Royal Pingouin Hockey Club U-16 Boys first team and assistant coach for the U-18 Boys first team. During the 2017 season, he went on to be the director of strength and conditioning with Hockey Club Ludwigsburg in Germany. Holt spent the 2018 and 2019 seasons in The Netherlands coaching for two club organizations. In 2018, he was the head coach of the U-16 Boys first team at V.M.H.C. Cartouche prior to becoming the head coach of the U-14 girls team with NMHC Nijmegen.

Holt earned his bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Performance (Exercise Science) from the University of Louisville in 2014. He also earned his master’s degree from Louisville in Athletic Administration in 2015. While pursuing both degrees, he served as the volunteer assistant coach from 2012 to 2015, where he assisted in the development of team game plans and breakdown of film.

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Adult & Masters Committee Chair

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Adult & Masters Committee Chair

Ginolfi has one of the most decorated playing careers for the U.S. Women’s National Team after having competed in 261 international matches for Team USA. She joined the USWNT in 2005, when she was just 15 years old, and instantly earned respectful recognition as a wise athlete beyond her years. The three-time Olympian (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016) claimed six gold and three silver medals, including a historic and memorable performance in the 2010 Pan American Games final while playing with a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Ginolfi played collegiately at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a four-year starter and two-time captain. She helped lead the Tar Heels to two NCAA National Championships (2007, 2009), two NCAA Runner-Ups (2010, 2011) and two Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) titles (2007, 2011), along with many personal accolades.

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Role

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Role

Worthington brings more than 30 years of experience at Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Microsoft, Method and most recently Lyra Health. Recognized as a top marketer across consumer, tech and healthcare, Alison guides organizations through pivotal periods of their strategic evolution in the capacity of Chief Marketing Officer, Board Director, and Advisor. She also founded a consulting practice where she helps companies like GoPro, Ancestry, Bragg and multiple startups accelerate their vision and growth. Alison earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School and an AB from Smith College. She is a mom of twin daughters and is an advocate for youth mental health and sports participation.

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