Dan Reed
Chair of the Heisman Trophy Trust and former Meta executive. Reed previously served as COO of Meta Reality Labs, where he helped scale AI wearables, VR, MR and AR products, and earlier led Meta’s global sports and media partnerships after serving as President of the NBA G League.
Sport’s Power Depends on Credible Rules, Access, and Responsibility
At the Rose Bowl Institute’s Sportsmanship Summit, Aspen Institute leaders and sports executives argued that sport shapes power not automatically but through the rules, access and relationships institutions build around competition. Dan Reed of the Aspen Institute said leagues depend on legitimate governance and fair enforcement, while Scarlen Martinez argued that athletes and other sports figures must recognize the influence their platforms give them. Across examples from women’s and para sport to the Los Angeles Chargers’ work in Greece, the panel made the case that sport’s civic value rests on how people choose to use that influence.
Heisman Backs National Leadership Academy for High School Team Captains
Dan Reed, chair of the Heisman Foundation, announced the Aspen Institute’s Captains Leadership Academy as a national effort to turn high school sports captains into broader civic leaders. Reed said Heisman is making the largest single grant in its history as founding partner, arguing that students already chosen to lead teams can be trained, mentored and supported to lead in schools and communities. Pete Weber of the Aspen Institute placed the academy within a wider push to expand youth leadership development, with IMG Academy also named as a partner.