ESA Ireland’s annual flagship event returns to the capital city of Dublin on 12 June with a new venue. This year’s event will be hosted by Aviva Stadium and Levy Ireland.
The event is open for booking, with free entry for ESA Members.
Programme
| 08:00 | Arrivals | |
| 08:30 | Welcome & Introduction | Daragh Persse | ESA Board Director |
| 09:00 | ESA Update and 2025 Sponsorship Trends | Sophie Morris | ESA Chair |
| 10:00 | Building the Business Case to Invest in Women’s Sports | Marie Crowe | Sports broadcaster and journalist Jess Glover | Royal London Lenah Ueltzen-Gabell | The Collective, Wasserman |
| 10:45 | The Breathing Space: 2025 ESA Awards Sponsorship of the Year | Aris Theophilakis | NOSLEEPTILLBROOKLYN |
| 11:15 | Coffee break | |
| 11:30 | Audience Engagement | Verve |
| 11:45 | AIM Awards Sponsorship Winners Panel | Shane McGonigle | Marketing Institute of Ireland AIM Winners x 2 |
| 12:15 | Content TBC | Speaker TBC |
| 12:45 | Networking | |
| 13:30 | Event closes |
Marie Crowe
Sports broadcaster and journalist
Marie is an award-winning sports broadcaster and journalist with over 15 years’ experience reporting on a wide variety of sports in Irish national media and anchoring the coverage of major sports events on both TV and radio. She was named Journalist of the Year in 2024 and won a Royal Television Society Award for her investigative journalism.
Jess Glover
Senior Sponsorship Manager, Royal London
Jess leads sponsorship at pensions and investment firm Royal London, whose groundbreaking partnership with the British & Irish Lions influenced the creation of the first-ever Lions Women’s team. Through the partnership, Royal London is supporting the long-term development of women’s rugby throughout the UK and Ireland. Jess’ previous experience includes The IRONMAN Group, where she led partnership management across their endurance sports properties, and sports & entertainment marketing agency Fuse, where she activated PepsiCo’s sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League.
Sophie Morris
Chair, European Sponsorship Association
Sophie is Co-Founder and Director of Sponsor View, the first-of-its-kind independent sponsor satisfaction research and measurement service that helps rights holders identify how they can evolve their offering, improve their service and increase the value they provide to their sponsors. Sophie has worked in marketing and sponsorship for over 20 years. She is a Chartered Marketer, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a member of the Market Research Society who sits on the Board of the Institute for Sport Business at Loughborough University and the Danish sponsorship group ‘SPOT:ON’.
Aris Theophilakis
Co-Founder, Creative Director, NOSLEEPTILLBROOKLYN
Co-Founder Aris works as a creative director and brand strategist at NOSLEEPTILLBROOKLYN, a combined brand experience, design and advertising agency based in Norway. He has extensive international experience having established several agencies and his portfolio includes work for brands like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Nokia, Red Bull and Heineken. His agency’s triumph at the 2025 ESA Awards with Gjensidige complements a distinguished collection of industry recognition, including Cannes Lions, OneShow, Eurobest, Clio and Effie trophies.
Lenah Ueltzen-Gabell
Group Managing Director, Wasserman
Lenah has overseen the growth of the Wasserman agency brand in the UK, Middle East and China since joining in 2008, with a network of wholly owned offices supported by a trusted extended family of strategic speciality partners purposely built to provide clients with local and category expertise. In 2022, Ueltzen-Gabell became globally responsible for Wasserman’s Marketing Centre of Excellence. She was inducted into SportBusiness Journal’s Forty Under 40 Class of 2013 and in 2017 at the Leaders 40 Under 40 Awards. A former equestrian, she champions growth and equality for women in sports, music and culture.
