Host Committee

Gary Bettman has served the National Hockey League as Commissioner since February 1, 1993, and has guided the world’s top professional hockey league through three decades of growth and advancement on and off the ice. Record revenues, record attendance and numerous fan-friendly and community-minded initiatives are just a few of the ways Commissioner Bettman has brought the NHL to a broader audience, through more media platforms, than at any time in League history. In recognition of his many contributions to the game, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2018.

By negotiating another long-term Collective Bargaining Agreement with the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) – over a year in advance of the current CBA’s expiration -- and long-term, multi-billion-dollar national broadcast rights agreements in the United States (Walt Disney Company/ESPN and Warner Media/TurnerSports) and Canada (Rogers Communications) plus innovative digital rights agreements with Disney Streaming Services and ESPN+ in the U.S. and Rogers in Canada, Commissioner Bettman has fostered unprecedented economic stability for the League’s Member Clubs. League revenues have increased more than tenfold during Commissioner Bettman’s tenure and franchise values have increased exponentially.

Last year, alone, Commissioner Bettman devised and executed an unprecedented hybrid transaction that established the Utah Hockey Club as the NHL’s newest franchise – further strengthening the League. And his vision drove the League’s spectacular return to best-on-best international play with the 4 Nations Face-Off, which captured the imagination of sports fans worldwide.

Amid the global pandemic, Commissioner Bettman worked with the NHLPA to extend the CBA – guaranteeing extended labor peace – and to craft a Return to Play plan that enabled the NHL to safely return to the ice, complete the 2019-20 season and award the Stanley Cup. The following year, with COVID restrictions still in place, Commissioner Bettman oversaw temporary realignment and deployment of a schedule that included exclusively intradivisional games, enabling the 2020-21 season to be played and the Stanley Cup to again be awarded.

On the ice, the NHL’s competitive balance might be unrivaled in professional sports thanks to the strongest Collective Bargaining Agreement in sports. The refinement and the implementation of rules designed to accentuate the speed, skill and creativity of the players has resulted in an offensive renaissance and enabled younger players to thrive.

A calendar of innovative signature events – including iconic outdoor games (the NHL Winter Classic, the NHL Stadium Series and the Heritage Classic) – has driven fan engagement and sponsor participation to unprecedented levels. These achievements were recognized with three Sports Business Awards accorded by the Sports Business Journal and Sports Business Daily in 2014, with Commissioner Bettman being named Sports Executive of the Year; the NHL being named Sports League of the Year, and the 2014 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic – which attracted a crowd of over 105,000 to the University of Michigan’s “Big House” stadium on New Year’s Day – being named Sports Event of the Year.

Advancements in the game under Commissioner Bettman include the implementation of overtime and the ‘shootout,’ which eliminate tied games during the regular season. The League’s introduction of the two-referee system revolutionized hockey officiating around the world. Other innovations include the development and advancement of video review (since replicated by the National Football League, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association), emergency on-ice trauma care and elevation in the study of injuries.

In addition, Commissioner Bettman created the first Department of Player Safety in pro sports. The Department is entrusted with the continued consideration of suggesting proposed changes to rules and equipment that will make the game safer for the players. The NHL also was the first sports League to explain player supplementary discipline rulings in videos available to all through the League’s digital outlets – an advancement that has been hailed throughout the sports world.

Commissioner Bettman has positioned the League to be at the forefront of technological advances that enhance fans’ connections to the game. Under his leadership, the League has built the most advanced technology solutions in sports including NHL EDGE, the League’s groundbreaking Puck and Player Tracking technology, and the award-winning Digitally Enhanced Dasherboards (DED) system.

Commissioner Bettman also has focused attention on the League’s international makeup and appeal. He was instrumental in the inclusion of NHL Players at five consecutive Olympic Winter Games, beginning in 1998 at Nagano, Japan, and the return of the World Cup of Hockey tournament in September 2016. Beginning this season, when NHL Players will stock the rosters at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games and then in February 2028, when the NHL and NHLPA will stage a World Cup, the League will commit to a calendar rotation that sees NHL Players competing in best-on-best international tournaments every two years.

As a further testament to the League’s international appeal, NHL games are televised in more than 160 countries and covered on NHL.com in multiple languages – Czech, Finnish, French, German, Slovak, Swedish and Spanish – in addition to English.

In keeping with the Commissioner’s commitment to serving fans, the NHL Network provides viewers in the U.S. with on-site coverage from the League’s signature events as well as daily programming that features game highlights and analysis every night of the season. In addition, during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons and playoffs, the League partnered with Amazon Prime Video and Box-to-Box Productions to produce FaceOFF: Inside the NHL, a widely-acclaimed documentary series that revealed the personalities of many of hockey’s brightest stars.

Growing the Game through social impact and strategic philanthropy continues to be a core pillar of Commissioner Bettman’s tenure, guided by a goal to make hockey more accessible for all fans. Under his leadership, numerous initiatives bring hockey closer to this goal and include the growth of youth participation in on-ice hockey programs; reaching fans in innovative ways with ‘NHL in ASL’ language broadcasts; and extending the reach of hockey beyond the 32 NHL markets with NHL STREET ball hockey programs.

Many programs have been making a positive impact since the beginning of Commissioner Bettman’s leadership, including Hockey Fights Cancer – the first national cause program pioneered by a major sports league when it was founded 27 years ago – which has raised more than $44 million since its inception, supporting cancer patients and their families.

NHL Green, another of Commissioner Bettman’s initiatives, has been recognized widely for its support of environmental causes. NHL Green received the prestigious 2011 Sport for the Environment Award from the global Beyond Sport organization. The League also was celebrated for the establishment and success of the NHL Food Recovery Program, which recovers prepared but untouched food from all 32 NHL facilities, providing hundreds of thousands of meals to local shelters across North America while diverting hundreds of tons of food waste from landfill. NHL Green was named winner of the 2013 Communitas Award for Leadership in Ethical and Environmental Responsibility. NHL Green also released the 2014 NHL Environmental Sustainability Report, the first of its kind by a major professional sports League, which highlighted the numerous programs, benchmarks, and successes that have increased the League’s overall sustainability. In 2014, the Green Sports Alliance, a non-profit organization with a mission to help sports teams, venues and Leagues enhance their environmental performance, honored the NHL with its Environmental Leadership Award.

For all of these achievements and many more, the Sports Business Journal in 2023 presented Commissioner Bettman with its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

A native of Queens, NY, Mr. Bettman also served 12 years with the National Basketball Association. Prior to that, he worked in the Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn law firm.

Commissioner Bettman graduated from Cornell University and the New York University School of Law. He and his wife, Shelli, have three children -- Lauren, Jordan, and Brittany – and eight grandchildren.

Jeffrey J. Hurd is Chief Operating Officer of Equitable and a member of the Equitable Holdings (NYSE: EQH) Management Committee. He has strategic oversight for the company’s Human Resources, Information Technology and Communications departments.

Mr. Hurd also has responsibility for the company’s Transformation Office which encompasses key functional areas including operations, data and analytics, procurement and corporate real estate. Prior to joining Equitable in January 2018, Mr. Hurd served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at American International Group, Inc. (AIG).

He amassed deep industry experience during his nearly 20-year tenure at AIG, having served as the Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Deputy General Counsel and Head of Asset Management Restructuring. In addition, he was the Chief Administrative Officer for AIG Investments and the interim CEO of AIG Global Real Estate. |

Mr. Hurd currently serves on the Board of Directors for AllianceBernstein. He previously has held a variety of board positions, including United Guaranty Corporation, a leading mortgage insurer, and the post-I PO board of AIA Group, a top insurance company in Southeast Asia. He began his career as an associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

Mr. Hurd received his Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law, and his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Union College.

Toni Townes-Whitley, 35-year global technology veteran, is the new Chief Executive Officer of Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAIC), effective October 2, 2023. Toni brings a distinguished and proven track record of driving strong enterprise financial results and fostering an inclusive culture focused on entrepreneurship and high performance. In her most recent role as President, U.S. Regulated Industries at Microsoft, she led the company’s public sector and regulated commercial industries including education, financial services, government, and healthcare, managing $16B of annual revenue.

Toni is a global tech leader who has served as an Independent Director/Trustee on 8 Boards:  Nasdaq, Marathon Petroleum Corporation, PNC Financial Services, Granicus, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Partnership for Public Service, and the Princeton Faith & Work Initiative. She is a guest lecturer on technology ethics and entrepreneurism in the public sector at Stanford and Princeton Universities. She has been a recipient of numerous awards.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in public policy and economics from Princeton University’s School of Public & International Affairs (SPIA) and has received certifications from Wharton Executive Education, New York University, and the Performance Management Institute. Toni is the proud daughter of former Comptroller of the Army, LTG (Ret.) James F. McCall and former Fairfax Co. principal S. Yvonne McCall. She and her husband John H. Whitley reside in Northern VA and have five children, nine grandchildren and counting… Upon her appointment, she has become the 3 rd African American female CEO on the Fortune 500 and first in the National Defense sector.

As former President of US Regulated Industries at Microsoft, Toni led the US sales strategy for driving digital transformation across customers and partners within the public sector and commercial regulated industries – including Education, Financial Services, Government, and Healthcare.  With responsibility for the 5200+ sales organization and $16B+ P&L, she was one of the leading women at Microsoft, and in the technology industry, with a track record for accelerating and sustaining profitable business and building high-performance teams. In addition to leading a sales organization, she helped steer the company’s work to address systemic racial injustice – with efforts targeted both internally at representation and inclusion; as well as externally at leveraging technology to counter prevailing societal challenges. She has developed expertise and speaks publicly about “Civic Technology,” applying tech innovation for social impact.

Toni helped to launch new initiatives at Microsoft, building the ethics framework for Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies, creating a Microsoft Federal subsidiary model, establishing the Microsoft Executive women’s network, sponsoring Blacks & Africans at Microsoft (BAM), and partnering with the Athena Alliance, an organization that prepares tech women for corporate board roles, and creating a cultural and operating shift to applied innovation customized by industry.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Toni was president of CGI Federal, where she was responsible for a portfolio of more than $1 billion, leading 6,600 employees to deliver greater value to US Government civilian, defense, and intelligence sectors. Previously, Toni held several management roles at Unisys Corporation leading global and commercial-sector system integration and the Federal Civilian group, where she achieved 500 percent revenue growth and doubled profitability.

Toni’s work has been recognized across many industries, making her the recipient of numerous awards that include Fortune’s Most Powerful Women: Ones to Watch, Women in Technology Leadership, Black Enterprise Top Executive, FedScoop Top50 for Industry Leadership, the 2020 IES Lifetime Achievement Award, NVTC Tech 100 Executive, Federal 100 Industry Eagle Award, and “Woman of the Year” by the Washington-based STEM for Her organization.