Tennis Weekend 2017 will feature a diverse group of speakers and sessions geared towards growing your tennis organization or business. Get to know the speakers through their bios below. Click here to return to the Tennis Weekend homepage.

Keynote Speaker - Craig Morris

Craig Morris oversees the day-to-day operations of Community Tennis and Youth Tennis. He is charged with overseeing development, implementation evaluation and innovation to ensure success in all areas of Community Tennis, including Adult Tennis offerings and initiatives with an emphasis on Youth Tennis. Morris is also leading USTA’s youth tennis brand, Net Generation.

Prior to joining the USTA in 2015, Morris had served as the Director of Participation for Tennis Australia since 2013. In this role, he directed all aspects of strategy and delivery for growing the game in Australia. 

Before this, Morris held a variety of positions with Australia’s governing body of tennis. As National Leader of Hot Shots (10 and Under tennis) he developed the strategy of bolstering youth participation, and increased registered players in the program by over 300 percent in just over three years.  Prior to this he held the role of manager of Athlete Development (2007 – 2011). While Head of Women’s Tennis and Manager of Athlete Development (2009 – 2011), he directed the national operations of the player pathway, focused on developing high level players.  Morris also served as Manager of Coach Development (2004 – 2007), where he directed all coaching education policies and programs.

Between 2001 and 2004, Morris coached Samantha Stosur (2011 US Open Champion) on the WTA tour as part of the TA Optus Achievers program. Morris was her first tour coach and during this period transitioned Stosur into the top 100. Prior to that he held the position of Women’s tennis coach for the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), travelling with Australia’s leading female junior athletes on the ITF junior tour.

He holds a Tennis Australia High Performance coaching qualification, a Bachelor of Education and a Masters of Sport Management.

Closing Speaker - Oris Stuart

As Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at the National Basketball Association, Oris Stuart is responsible for overseeing diversity and inclusion strategies for the NBA, WNBA, and NBA Development League. He provides oversight, leadership and best practices on diversity and inclusion matters to the league offices and teams, oversees efforts to increase the number of minority and women-owned suppliers, and supports efforts to attract, develop and retain diverse talent. Stuart also leads the global diversity and inclusion council to ensure engagement on the league’s diversity and inclusion strategies at all levels.

Stuart has more than 15 years of experience as a business executive in diversity and inclusion issues. Prior to joining the NBA in June 2015, Stuart spent two years as a Senior Partner with Korn Ferry, the world’s largest executive search and talent management firm, where he led its Inclusion and Diversity practice. He provided organizational, strategic, and technology advisory services that helped directors, chief executives, and senior leaders address a wide range of global talent, diversity, and inclusion challenges. His industry focus included life sciences, financial services, utility, quick service restaurant, retail, professional services, and healthcare. Previously, Stuart served as the Chief Executive Officer for Global Novations, the world’s preeminent diversity and inclusion consultancy and training firm. During his tenure with Global Novations, Stuart supported clients across Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, guided the expansion of the firm’s technology and consulting platforms, oversaw a tenfold increase in the firm’s size, and engineered its ultimate acquisition by Korn Ferry in 2012.

Earlier in his career, Stuart served as a senior business manager and strategy, operations and technology consultant for such organizations as Deloitte, Providian, and Wingspan Technology.

Stuart graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in electrical engineering and holds an MBA from Duke University. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Black MBA Association.

Stuart is married to his wife Geneen of 25 years and has four children Justice and Chase, 22, Olivia, 18 and Summer Rose, 16.

ostuart@nba.com
@orstuartiii

Featured Speaker - Jennifer Gregg

Jennifer Gregg is committed to helping others reach their full potential, both personally and professionally. As a non-profit Executive, Jennifer uses her experience and knowledge to encourage others to develop and enhance their leadership skills.  She facilitates continuing education courses nationally, covering various topics related to volunteerism, personal and organizational growth, leadership and team building. Having 22 years of USTA knowledge coupled with the ASAE CAE designation – Jennifer brings a unique blend of experience and information to share with all participants.

Featured Speaker - Elliot Petit

Elliott Pettit is the Director of School Tennis for the USTA. He has been a member of the Community Tennis staff for nearly five years and previously served as the 10 and Under Program Lead at the National Tennis Center. During his time at the NTC, Elliott and his team ran School programs that impacted nearly 15,000 children across the five boroughs of New York City.  He is a USPTA certified Elite Professional, a PTR certified Professional, USTA High Performance certified, and was a member of the Coach Youth Tennis National Faculty."

Featured Speaker - Stacey Percival

Stacey Percival started playing competitive tennis at the age of 7.  She went on to receive a college scholarship and played four years at West Virginia University.  Stacey has been working in the USTA adult department focusing on USTA leagues for almost 5 years.  She currently manages all 16 league national championships but her passion lies in getting 18-40 year old players in USTA adult programs.  Stacey just recently relocated to Orlando where she loves working at the USTA National Campus.

Featured Speaker - Matt Barnhart

For the past three years, Matt Barnhart has served as USTA National Manager of Junior Team Tennis. He joined the USTA family in 2011 as USTA Virginia District JTT Coordinator and Director of Communications. Matt then worked for the USTA Mid-Atlantic Section as their JTT Manager and Tennis Service Representative for Virginia.

During Matt's tenure at National, the JTT program has grown by 7%. He oversees the JTT digital assets, hosts an annual National JTT Coordinator training, serves as tournament director for the JTT National Championships, and has given more than 40 presentations at National TDW, AMC, SAMC, and Section ALC/TSR trainings. Matt also assists with the junior NTRP, TennisLink, and US Open activations. He is currently focusing on supporting Net Generation and the "Team Challenge," a introduction to competition program being launched in 2018.

Matt lives in Orlando, FL with his wife Lauren and two daughters, Isabelle and Clara.

Featured Speaker- Kendra Becker

Kendra has been the Director of the 12 and under program at Intensity in Norwalk, CT since 2011. She enjoys teaching players of all ages, but especially has a passion for 12U tennis using red, orange and green balls. Kendra is certified by the PTR in both Adult and 10 and under tennis and also by the USPTA. She is currently working on her Master of Tennis Junior Development- a level 5 course, through the PTR.
Kendra serves as a volunteer for the USTA on the New England Coaches Commission. She is the 2017 recipient of the USPTA New England Al Rogers Education award for continuing education. She was also invited to be an Ambassador for the USTA’s Net Generation program and she will be conducting on court workshops for the USTA in 2018 for Net Generation Coaches.

Featured Speaker - Alex Wesley

Alex Wesley is the Director of Marketing for USTA New England. She has been with the organization for nearly six years and has a passion for marketing tennis at the grassroots level. It’s been her observation and experience that many times, marketing is the missing piece with tennis throughout New England and works day in and day out to close that gap. She picked up a racquet for the first time at age 14 and went on to play for her Division III college tennis team at SUNY Brockport in Western New York, where she earned degrees in both Communications and Sociology.

Prior to her time at USTA New England, Alex was a television news reporter in Alexandria, LA and Rochester, NY. She lives in Boston with her husband, Scott and their beautiful dog, Duke. 

Featured Speaker - Chantal Roche

Chantal Roche serves as the Diversity and Inclusion Manager for USTA New England. She has a passion for program management, youth development, and using Diversity and Inclusion solutions to bring tennis to anyone who wants to play. She has spent the majority of her career in non-profit and is pleased to now be helping our tennis community find new pathways to success.

She received her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish at Arizona State University and earned her law degree from Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, RI. Chantal currently lives in Plainville, MA with her husband, who is an avid tennis player.