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Gaelin is a former college football player with the University of Minnesota and East Carolina University. He signed a rookie contract to play in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals before retiring from football to work in youth services. A former foster child himself, Gaelin now works as a Director of Coaching at The Forgotten Initiative a foster care advocacy organization in Bloomington, IL.

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Erin Hatton, Ph.D., is professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo-SUNY. Dr. Hatton’s research and teaching center on issues of work, labor, power, and inequality. Her award-winning book, Coerced: Work Under Threat of Punishment (University of California Press, 2020), examines the labor of Division I college athletes and the power dynamics that shape this labor relation.

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James Humphries is a criminal and family law litigator in Dallas, TX. James received his B.A. (1980) and his J.D. (1984) from the University of Michigan. At Michigan, James lettered in football and played from 1976 to 1979. He has four children and three grandchildren.

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Victoria Jackson, PhD is associate clinical professor of history at Arizona State University, where she directs the Sports Initiative at the Humanities Institute and is a Global Sport Scholar with the Global Sport Institute. Jackson writes and speaks about the intersection of sport and society; her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post,…

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Neal Jameson is a union organizer with over 5+ years of experience in both public and private sector. As a former athlete, Neal knows the demand of the game and the sacrifices that athletes must make.

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Pete Najarian’s NFL football career spanned several seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings. After this, Najarian spent multiple years with NBCSports covering college and NFL football as well as with ESPN covering college football. Pete played college football at the University of Minnesota where he was a team captain and held the team record for most lifetime tackles for many years.

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Professor Richard W. Painter received his B.A., summa cum laude, in history from Harvard University and his J.D. from Yale University, where he was an editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation. Following law school, he clerked for Judge John T. Noonan Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and later practiced at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City and Finn Dixon & Herling in Stamford, Conn.

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Dr. B. David Ridpath, Ed.D, is beginning his second decade as a tenured faculty member with Ohio University and its prestigious Sports Administration Program as an Associate Professor of Sports Business. He was also a past president of The Drake Group. Prior to these positions, he was an Assistant Professor of Sport Administration at Mississippi State University and has over 15 years of practical experience in intercollegiate athletics in administrative and coaching capacities at Marshall University, Weber State University and Ohio University.

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Andy Schwarz is an economist specializing in antitrust, class actions, and damages analysis, and has served as an economic expert in a variety of state and federal litigation. Andy’s primary practice is as a consulting expert, providing privileged advice to counsel and working with experts in very large, complex litigation matters in antitrust, intellectual property, sports and entertainment, and banking and insurance.

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Dr. Richard M. Southall is a Professor in the Department of Sport and Entertainment Management at University of South Carolina. He earned a B.A. (English - summa cum laude) from Western Colorado University, and an M.A. (Pedagogy) and Ed.D. (Sport Management) from the University of Northern Colorado He is Director of the College Sport Research Institute (CSRI), which conducts research examining the NCAA’s Collegiate Model of Athletics,..

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Corey Staniscia recently served as the Chief of Staff to Florida State Representative Chip LaMarca, where they authored the transformative Florida name, image, and likeness legislation. The Florida legislation led to nationwide collegiate athlete reform on July 1, 2021.

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Ellen J. Staurowsky, Ed.D., is a full professor in sports media in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College. She has been recognized as a fellow of the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM), the AAHPERD Research Consortium, and the National Academy of Kinesiology. Dr. Staurowsky is internationally recognized as an expert on social justice issues in sport which include college athletes’ rights and the exploitation of college athletes, gender equity and Title IX, pay equity and equal employment opportunity, representation of women in sport media, and the misappropriation of American Indian imagery in sport.

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Marshall is a labor attorney based in Minneapolis. He has represented labor unions at the local and national level. He has also represented individual athletes, coaches, and administrative personnel at the amateur, collegiate and professional levels. Marshall is also a well-known newspaper columnist with the Star Tribune newspaper, MinnPost, Bench and Bar Magazine of Minnesota, Finance & Commerce newspapers, Sun Post Weekly newspaper chain, National Law Journal and others.

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We have a member of our advisory board who is the parent of a current college football player. This person is choosing to remain anonymous for now.