GIRLS ACADEMY Annual SUMMIT

Danielle Slaton played soccer for the U.S. Women’s National Team from 2000-2005, earning a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games and third in the 2003 Women’s World Cup. She played professionally in the Women’s United Soccer Association, where she won a championship with the Carolina Courage and was the league defender of the year in 2002. She also played professionally for Olympique Lyonnais in France, and spent her college years at Santa Clara University, where she captained her team to a NCAA championship in 2001. At Santa Clara, Danielle was a 3x All-American, and she was named the 2001 NCAA Scholar Athlete of the Year.

After her playing career finished, Danielle went on to coach women’s soccer at Northwestern University and earned her Master’s Degree in Sports Administration. She then transitioned into the field of education while concurrently working as a television soccer analyst, broadcasting professional and college games, three Women’s World Cups, and three Olympic Games.

Danielle is passionate about using sports as a means for social change and serves on the board of directors for the U.S. Soccer Foundation. In addition, she is a co-founder of Bay Football Club (Bay FC), the National Women’s Soccer League’s 14th franchise. Danielle lives in California with her husband John, and their two boys, Johnny and Marcus.

Heather Dyche is the Head Coach of the U.S. Under-23 Women’s National Team and former head coach at the University of New Mexico, where she led the Lobos for 11 seasons.

A past President of United Soccer Coaches, she currently serves as a FIFA Technical Expert, CONCACAF Educator, and U.S. Soccer Instructor. Throughout her career, she has been committed to developing players, educating coaches, and advancing the game at the collegiate, national, and international levels. Dyche is passionate about leadership, learning, and creating environments where others can thrive both on and off the field.

Rosie is a former professional player in the WSL and NWSL who represented New Zealand over 100 times at three FIFA World Cups and two Olympic Games. Since retiring, she has coached, worked with neurodivergent children, and created movement-based educational programs tailored to their needs.

A lifelong advocate for girls and women in sport, Rosie now works with the Kang Women’s Institute at the US Soccer Federation to explore how we better support female athletes at every level of the game creating opportunities for players, coaches, and parents to understand their bodies and design environments where girls can truly thrive.

Mark describes himself as an above average mathematician and a (significantly) below average soccer player who has spent his entire life wishing it was the other way around. He is the CEO of Taka. Taka takes long form video and breaks it into personalized highlights for players, insight for coaches and dynamic video resumes for colleges and he will speak on the excitement of what Taka can bring to the Girls Academy.

Kassie Gray is the founder and CEO of Female Footballers. Female Footballers is a non profit organization that educates and empowers female athletes through mental skills training, mentorship and leadership development. She brings 18 years of experience in Social Emotional Learning, curriculum development and child/adolescent development. As a former U18 USYNT player and D1 UC Berkeley player and graduate, Kassie believes in holistic player development, helping players and coaches with the mental side of the game. Kassie has spoken at the United Soccer Coaches Convention, US Soccer’s She Champions Summit, Coach Con, South Texas ODP, Kentucky’s Soccer University, America Scores, Soccer Parenting and more.

Rachael Thomas is the Chief Program Officer at Female Footballers. She brings 20 years of experience in education, coaching and curriculum development to help create the programming at Female Footballers. She holds a BA and Masters in Athletic and Academic Achievement from UC Berkeley. She uses her experience as a D1 soccer player and student at UC Berkeley, her coaching background in multiple sports and her role as a parent of three adolescent female athletes to help guide her in her role at Female Footballers.

Rob Scotland serves as the Head of Brand and Communications for Veo Technologies.

As Head of Brand & Communications at Veo Technologies, he’s democratising AI pattern recognition in team sports, bringing elite-level tools to players at every level.

He led the People’s Puskas to 1.2m+ global votes, winning Clio Gold, Clio Silver, and Creative Moment’s Sports Campaign of the Year 2025.

Rob previously consulted for Ferrari F1, Nike, Xbox, McCann, and Leo Burnett and was featured in the IPSOS documentary “Everyday Elitism” and writes the cultural strategy newsletter No Gatekeeping.

In 2025, delivered his second TEDx talk, “The Generation That Eliminated Impossible.“