Common Ground Alliance (CGA), the national association dedicated to protecting underground utility lines, people who dig near them, and their communities, today announced that Susan O’Malley, former president of Washington Sports and Entertainment and the first female president of a professional sports franchise, will be the keynote speaker at the 2023 CGA Conference & Expo in Orlando, Fla.

Susan O’Malley has paved the way for women in business during her decades of work in the sports industry. She became the director of advertising for the Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) at 25. A few short years later, O’Malley was named president of Washington Sports & Entertainment (WSE), making her the first female president of an NBA franchise at just 29 years old. O’Malley has achieved many significant accomplishments over the course of her career, including implementing innovative marketing and customer service strategies that elevated WSE and are still in use today.

Today, O’Malley inspires students with her expertise as a professor in the Department of Sport and Entertainment at the University of South Carolina. She has made it a priority to act as a mentor, especially to her female students looking to become future industry leaders.

During her keynote at the 2023 CGA Conference & Expo, O’Malley will share her WIN Theory in which she outlines the three keys to being successful at any level of business.

“We are thrilled to have Susan O’Malley as the keynote speaker at the 2023 CGA Conference and Expo to share her inspirational lessons about leadership and motivating your team to be innovators in their field, even in a challenging business environment,” said Sarah Magruder Lyle, President and CEO of Common Ground Alliance. “We look forward to another successful conference, where industry professionals from across the country will gather for a productive week of engaging events and discussions meant to address the underlying causes of damages to underground utilities and help our industry look toward the future of damage prevention.”

The 2023 CGA Conference & Expo is the damage prevention industry’s premier event that brings together hundreds of experts and decision-makers for five days of focused collaboration designed to put the industry On the Road to Zero damages to underground utilities. In addition to hearing keynote speaker Susan O’Malley, conference attendees can look forward to educational, action-oriented programming to engage stakeholders in thoughtful discussions, interactive breakout sessions and networking events with key industry decision-makers. Registration for the 2023 conference will open in October 2022.

For more information about the CGA Conference & Expo, visit www.CGAConference.com.