Carol Stiff is vice president, multimedia strategy & integration at ESPN, Inc., a role she assumed in March 2014 that focuses on integrating the content and stories from the comprehensive multiplatform espnW initiative and elevating its presence across ESPN platforms.
Since joining ESPN in 1990, Stiff has become one of the most influential people in women’s college sports. She began in the programming department, ultimately advancing in 2005 to the role senior director, programming & acquisitions. In April 2010, Stiff was elevated to vice president, programming & acquisitions, where she oversaw the acquisition and scheduling of a variety of sports including NCAA women’s basketball, several NCAA championships and more. In February 2013, Stiff joined the espnW team as vice president, content program and integration.
Stiff has established herself as a leader at ESPN, spearheading the development of 2013’s Nine for IX film series and as a member of ESPN’s employee committee in support of The V Foundation for Cancer Research, through which she was instrumental in the development of the Jimmy V Week and in raising awareness for the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.
Before joining ESPN, Stiff worked in college athletics, first at Western Connecticut State University as the head field hockey coach and assistant women’s basketball coach (1983-85), then as head women’s basketball coach and physical education instructor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. (1985-88), before moving to Brown University to serve as an assistant women’s basketball coach and recruiter (1988-89).
Stiff is a member of several professional groups, including the Women’s Sports Foundation, the USA Women’s Basketball Standing Committee, the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Board of Directors and the Collegiate Women’s Sports Awards Board. In 2012, she was selected as a unanimous selection to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund Board of Directors.
Stiff’s accolades include: the Connecticut Basketball Hall of Fame (April 2005); one of Sports Business Journal’s most influential women’s sports executives (2009); the WBCA Mel Greenberg Media Award (2011); a WISE Woman of the Year (2013); and No. 32 of Business Insider’s Top 50 Most Influential People Behind the Scenes in Sports, among others.
A native of Bernardsville, N.J., Stiff graduated in 1983 with a bachelor of science degree from Southern Connecticut State University, where she competed in basketball and field hockey. In 1989, she received a master’s degree in human performance/physical education from SCSU.
