Opening Lecture: Get in the Game Featuring Mia Hamm

Thursday, September 11, 6:00-7:30 PM | Crystal Bridges Great Hall

Join us for a legendary kickoff to our newest exhibition Get in the Game! The evening opens with remarks from Austen Barron Bailly, Chief Curator. Katy Knox, President, Bank of America Private Bank and champion for cultural engagement and community investment, is expected to attend and also deliver opening comments. Following the introduction, we dive into a can’t-miss conversation between soccer icon Mia Hamm and moderator Steve Nelson.

A pioneer, a champion, and a cultural icon, Mia Hamm forever changed the game—not just for women’s soccer, but for sports worldwide. With two World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals, and a record-breaking career, Hamm inspired a generation and redefined what was possible on and off the field. From her collegiate dominance at UNC to that unforgettable Gatorade commercial with Michael Jordan (“Anything you can do, I can do better”), Hamm proved time and again that greatness knows no gender. 

Named ESPN’s greatest female athlete of the past 40 years, Hamm continues to lead as a fierce advocate for equity in sports and health through the Mia Hamm Foundation, supporting young women athletes and families in need of marrow or cord blood transplants.

This event is your front-row seat to hear from one of the greatest of all time. Don’t miss the chance to witness her story, her legacy, and her enduring call to action.

BIOS:

Mia Hamm is widely recognized as the world's best all-around women’s soccer player. In Atlanta at the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, she proved it by leading her team to Team Gold in front of 80,000 screaming fans in Athens, Georgia. Never in history had so many spectators come out to watch a women’s sporting event. The Games highlighted female athletes like no other time in modern history and Mia emerged as one of the Game's true examples for people of all ages who have a dream and go for it. The 1999 Women’s World Cup, where the USA took home the championship in front of 40 million viewers in this country alone, sold over 650,000 tickets, including sellouts at Giants Stadium and the Rose Bowl. There is no stopping women's soccer and Mia's enormous impact, both on and off the field.

Mia played collegiately at UNC and led her team to four consecutive NCAA championships. Her awards and accomplishments only tell part of the story of this remarkable athlete; she gives much of her precious free time to charitable causes and strives, in anything she does, to promote women’s athletics, the sport of soccer, and a feeling of confidence and sense of purpose in young people. 

Mia was the youngest player ever to play for our National Team (age 15) and retired in 2004 after 17 years, 2 World Championships, and 2 Olympic Gold medals. Her records in appearances and goals, MVP awards and overall performance put her at the top of the sport. As Phil Knight, Chairman of Nike says, “I think we've had three athletes who just played at a level that added a new dimension to their games. That's been Michael Jordan, in basketball, and in some ways Mia Hamm in women's soccer and Tiger Woods in golf.” In April of 1999, Nike named the largest building on its corporate campus after Mia.

Having seen the enormous support her and her teammates received at the '96 and '00 Games, Mia became a founding member of the Women's United Soccer Association and led the Washington Freedom to the Founder’s Cup. Poised, articulate and honest, Mia is a pioneer in her sport and a role model for athletes and fans alike who believe in equal opportunity, Title IX legislation, and the love of the game.

Steve Nelson is Co-Founder and was launch CEO and the initial Chairman of Carbon, Inc., a digital 3D manufacturing company founded in 2013. He raised the company’s original venture funding from Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital. Carbon has received over $683 million in capital from Sequoia, Silver Lake, Google Ventures, and others.

Steve is also Co-Founder of re—inc, a purpose-driven, global lifestyle company for changemakers, co-founded by World Cup Champions and cultural icons – Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath, Christen Press. The company is backed by Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, CAA, and Stanford.

In addition, Steve is a private investor and board member/advisor of several young companies.

He is a founding advisor of the Heartland Whole Health Institute, and Alice L. Walton School of Medicine. Steve recently concluded a four-year term as Chairman of the Board and then Chairman of the Executive Committee of Blue Cross of North Carolina, capping 17 years of board service at the State’s largest health insurer.

Steve Nelson had been at Wakefield Group as Managing Partner for 15 years. He established and ran the venture capital firm’s Research Triangle Park (RTP) office with private investment experience in many areas, including physicians practice management software, electronic medical records, and nano/biotech. He joined Wakefield after 19 years of executive/general management experience leading technology, software, and cloud computing teams and businesses in Chicago, New York, SF, and Silicon Valley, while at IBM, Informix Software, and Quokka Sports.

Steve was asked to Chair, by two consecutive Governors, the creation and launch of the first-ever North Carolina Innovation Council. He has taught entrepreneurship at UNC Chapel Hill and was a frequent lecturer on entrepreneurship and venture capital at UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, and Stanford. Steve received his B.S. degree in Business from Wake Forest and is a former member of their Board of Trustees. He and his wife Susan are new residents of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Katy Knox is president of Bank of America Private Bank and a member of Bank of America’s executive management team. She leads more than 4,000 professionals who are dedicated to helping high net-worth individuals, families and institutions grow, preserve, and share their wealth.

The Private Bank leverages the global resources of Bank of America to deliver highly customized solutions in banking, lending, investment management, wealth structuring, trust and estate planning, and philanthropy. As president, Knox has modernized and grown The Private Bank by expanding into new markets, adding advisors, and investing in technology to better serve clients. Under her leadership, The Private Bank has been named the Best Private Bank in the U.S. and North America for its expertise, innovation, and best-in-class service offerings. 

With over 35 years of financial services industry experience, Knox has held numerous leadership positions at Bank of America across Wealth Management, Commercial Banking, Business Banking, and Retail Banking, enabling Knox to understand client needs at every stage of their lives and careers. Knox is a leader and vocal advocate within the company’s employee networks and has served as vice chair of Bank of America’s Global Opportunity & Inclusion Council. She actively participates in Bank of America’s Global Ambassadors Program, which provides mentorship to women leaders worldwide. She has launched several programs within the Private Bank to mentor students and women in South Africa, Haiti, and the Middle East.     

Knox received her undergraduate degree in business administration from Elmira College and her Master of Business Administration from Boston College. She serves on the boards of trustees for the Women’s Sports Foundation, Carnegie Hall, JFK Library Foundation and Nantucket Film Festival.

Austen Barron Bailly is Chief Curator for Crystal Bridges and the Momentary, leading the Curatorial and Art Management Division. Since 2019, Bailly has provided strategic vision and executive leadership for all art functions of the museum including collection development and care, exhibitions and installations, programs, publications, and partnerships. Bailly’s curatorial career spans more than 25 years at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Peabody Essex Museum. She has curated and authored many American art exhibitions and publications including the award-winning American Epics: Thomas Hart Benton and Hollywood and Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle.