The Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC) announced on March 7 that they had added new members to the league advisory board. The announcement was made in conjunction with National Women’s History Month.
According to the press release, the advisory board was created to help the league continue to develop and grow, and its new members were elected to assist league executives in ensuring that the WNFC is a commercially-viable organization.
“We are now in year three of our five-year target to build a professional league and brand that will help women and girls realize their full potential through football,” said league CEO Odessa Jenkins in an interview with The Dallas Express.
“We can’t stay on the trajectory that we are on without a team of powerful people who believe in and support our message. Our Board believes in women’s tackle football. They believe in women’s sports. They believe in the WNFC,” Jenkins added.
The WNFC advisory board now counts 11 members who come from a variety of backgrounds and have real-world experience in developing brands. The board includes four women and six people of color who bring experience from years working in media, sports organizations, and educational and business development.
WNFC was formed in 2018 from the remnants of the Independent Women’s Football League and includes teams from the Women’s Football Alliance and the United States Women’s Football League. WNFC has quickly become one of the most popular women’s football organizations and continues to attract teams from other leagues.
The newly-announced advisory board includes: Melissa Lawton, head of sports production at Facebook (META); David Hill, president of Vyre Network, Inc.; Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, founder of Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design; Lamar Seay, CEO at Vyre Network; Scott Pioli, front office analyst for NFL Network and CBS Sports; Patrick Willis, former NFL player; Ann Kletz, CEO and founder of Goal Five; Kiran Murthy, senior managing director of Transformation at Charles Schwab; Katherine Rathe, senior vice president of Wealth Management at UBS; Jennifer King, running backs coach for the Washington Commanders; and Patrick Crakes, owner of Crakes Media.
The board held its first meeting in February ahead of the 2022 season. After playing a full season in 2019, the WNFC suspended all games for the 2020 season in light of the global coronavirus pandemic. Play resumed in 2021 with a total of 20 teams competing. The Dallas Elite Spartans, coached by Jenkins, won the League Championship in both 2019 and 2021.
The eight-week WNFC season kicks off with its first games on April 2, 2022. Each team will play a six-game schedule with two bye weeks. The Elite Spartans will begin the season playing at the Kansas City Glory, who they will also face in the season’s final game before the beginning of playoffs in June.
The IX Cup Championship game will return to The Star at Frisco again this season after being hosted there in 2021.