ESPN EVP & CFO Christine Driessen on the impact of espnW: Women + Sports Summit

(L-R) President of the WNBA Donna Orender; VP, Women’s Marketing Under Armour, Heidi Sandreuter; Managing Director, Sage, Paul Altman with ESPN’s Darren Rovell during the 2014 espnW Summit (Eddie Perlas / ESPN Images)

Carol Stiff (l), Dr. Richard Lapchick and Ruthie Bolton during the 2014 espnW Summit (Eddie Perlas/ESPN Images)

Guest speaker Maria Shriver (l) with SportsCenter anchor Kevin Negandhi during the 2014 espnW Summit (Kohjiro Kinno/ ESPN Images)

(L-R) Extreme sports athlete Rebecca Rusch, snowboarder Amy Purdy, First Take anchor Cari Champion, Numbers Never Lie co-host Jemele Hill, WNBA star Brittney Griner, volleyball star Gabrielle Reece and NBA Countdown host Sage Steele during the 2014 espnW Summit (Eddie Perlas/ESPN Images)

DANA POINT, Calif. – ESPN Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Christine Driessen has seen the evolution of the espnW: Women + Sports Summit from beginning to present, having been both an observer and a key influencer of the three-day conference.

The 2014 Summit was bigger than ever, releasing details on collaborative research into the participation of girls and women in sports and the role of sports in creating successful business women; awarding grants to further support grassroots efforts serving girls and women; and additional important programs and offerings.

Front Row caught up with Driessen at the end of the Summit to get her reflections on the last five years, as well as her learnings from the 2014 Summit.

The theme of this year’s Summit was “Making an Impact.” In your mind, what has been the overall impact of the Summit after five years?
I am so proud of our Summit, and over the last five years, we have elevated the story of women in sports and how important sports is in the lives of young women – any age. One of our speakers said “women” are aged 8–80, and I truly do believe that.

I think we are really taking this idea of women and sports and leadership — and how that all melds to make all of us better – and creating a real movement.

What are you taking away from this year’s Summit?
How incredibly talented women are; how wonderful they are at giving back; how powerful we can be at making change.