ABOUT ALISHA
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For 24 years, Alisha Greenberg has been at the forefront of sports philanthropy, shaping how leagues, athletes, and brands harness sports for social impact.
A trusted expert, she has spoken at Engage for Good, SXSW and other industry conferences and has been featured in global media outlets such as ESPN, The New York Times and Sports Business Journal.
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As a well respected industry trailblazer, she has spent over two decades sharing her experience with organizations such as Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, NIKE Global Community Impact, the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the U.S. Tennis Association, and Women’s Sports Foundation.
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She formed Rounding Third LLC in 2009 to advise on strategy, partnerships, and evaluation for prominent clients including Athletes for Hope, Wins for Warriors (founded by MLB All-Star Justin Verlander), Kids Play International (founded by 3x Olympian Tracy Evans), Positive Tracks, the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, Sports Business Journal, and The Skatepark Project (founded by Tony Hawk).
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For over two decades, Alisha has served as a key subject matter expert for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the nation's largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health. Early in her career, Alisha oversaw sports partnerships for the RWJF funded Sports Philanthropy Project (SPP), followed by 18 years as the director of prestigious award programs for the Foundation. RWJF has benefited from her valuable thought leadership, extensive industry network, and talent to develop and execute opportunities for learning and convening. She has remained an essential partner to the Foundation and currently serves as the RWJF Sports Culture Advisor where she uses sports and culture as a platform to amplify the mission and message of RWJF.​
Alisha regularly leads guest lectures at prominent institutions including Cal Poly, Georgetown, Indiana University, Michigan, Michigan State and Yale. She is dedicated to education and training for emerging and current leaders in the field and serves as co-founder and co-director of the Sports and Entertainment Impact Collective (SEIC). SEIC's Certificate Program, Custom Facilitation and Speaker Series events are designed to elevate expertise and inspire action.​
Alisha graduated from Indiana University, earning a degree in Sports Marketing and Management with a minor in Business. She holds a Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate from The Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership at Georgetown University.
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She is a dedicated board member for Doc Wayne and Leveling the Playing Field.
EXPERT ADVISING
Bringing a perspective few others can offer, Alisha combines experience as a funder, academic, and practitioner to guide your strategy and impact. She brings a rare ability to identify connections and opportunities across sports, philanthropy, and culture that others may not see. With deep cross-sector insight and a network built over decades, she can help you or your organization achieve lasting impact.
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Awards & grantmaking
Alisha has spent decades designing and managing award recognition programs allowing her an unparalleled understanding of the sports landscape.
She is currently advising Sports Business Journal on the Celebration of Service award that annually honors organizations who have led the way in exemplifying how sport is a catalyst for social change.
Previously, Alisha spent 18 years as the director of prestigious award programs for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that honored teams, athletes and organizations using sport to build healthier communities.
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In the past, Alisha has been asked to serve on grant review committees including the Sports 4 Life grant presented by espnW and the Women's Sports Foundation, and the Pat Tillman Foundation Scholar selection committee. She has also been a "Wise Head" for 100&Change and Lever for Change on behalf of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
thought leadership
Alisha is the go-to expert on sports philanthropy for many top brands. She has spoken about industry trends & innovations with NIKE Global Community Impact leaders and presented on measurement and evaluation to the National Basketball Association (NBA) team foundation leaders.
At SXSW, she was invited to speak on a panel with Booz Allen and Samsung to discuss immersive experiences in health, particularly how sports organizations can use immersive technology to improve health outcomes.
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The U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) invited Alisha to co-develop and co-lead a session titled "Leading from Within - Leadership Skills for Sports Impact Professionals" at the USTA Foundation Impact Conference.
Alisha co-developed and led a session at Engage for Good titled "Beyond the Photo Op: Engaging sports in effective and meaningful partnerships" featuring Major League Baseball, the San Francisco Giants and Wintrust Financial.
Campaigns & Partnerships
With long-standing relationships across sectors, Alisha helps clients build thoughtful partnerships and identify trusted organizations aligned with their goals.
While working with the President's Council for Fitness, Sports & Nutrition (PCFSN), Alisha was instrumental in leading initial collaborative efforts between league offices, PCFSN and the Let's Move campaign (led by First Lady Michelle Obama). Multiple high profile public events for the White House resulted from her connections.
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Working with Athletes for Hope (AFH), Alisha served as a content expert as the organization developed tools, resources and support for individual athletes, leagues, teams and sports organizations. She leveraged her extensive network to connect AFH with new partners.
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During her time at the Sports Philanthropy Project, she directed sports outreach efforts for a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation social marketing campaign. Alisha led a partnership with Major League Soccer that reached over 1.2 million fans about the availability of health care coverage for kids.
Athlete Foundations
Working with 3x Olympian, Tracy Evans, and Kids Play International, Alisha identified key areas for growth which included developing new mission/vision statements, examining program curriculum design and identifying potential revenue sources.
As founding executive director for Wins for Warriors, founded by MLB All Star Justin Verlander, Alisha led the creation and launch of the organization. The startup phase included conducting a needs assessment, creating grant guidelines, directing fundraising events, securing national media attention, and cultivating relationships with key funders and stakeholders including the White House.
evaluation
In partnership with Dr. Kathy Babiak (University of Michigan) , Alisha has served as an external, third party evaluator for nonprofit organizations.
Alisha and Kathy completed an evaluation report for The Skatepark Project (founded by Tony Hawk) to help direct and guide future strategic development, assess program growth and impact, uncover fundraising opportunities, and to help foster strategic partnerships.
Positive Tracks, a nonprofit empowering youth to give back through athletics, partnered with Alisha and Kathy to conduct an extensive evaluation of program outcomes and impact. View the final report here.
"Working with Kathy and Alisha on the evaluation process guided internal and external growth and success. It is in part because of their findings that we were selected a winner of the Beyond Sport Global Award for Best Partnership or Collaboration in Sport For Good."
--Mary Margaret Sloan, COO of Positive Tracks
Facilitation & training
Alisha regularly leads guest lectures at prominent institutions including Cal Poly, Georgetown, Indiana University, Michigan, Michigan State and Yale.
She is dedicated to education and training for emerging and current leaders in the field and serves as co-founder and co-director of the Sports and Entertainment Impact Collective (SEIC), alongside Meredith Wolff.
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The Sports & Entertainment Impact Collective (SEIC)'s Certificate Program, Custom Facilitation and Speaker Series events are designed to elevate expertise and inspire action.​
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Strategic Message Amplification
Alisha is a trusted advisor to organizations that use sports as a platform for social impact. She played a key role in developing a playbook for narrative change through sports, led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). She has extensive experience guiding organizations on how to use sports to amplify their mission and message. Her work with RWJF includes advising on research, managing athlete partnerships, exploring educational video games, and cultivating opportunities to amplify messaging during major sports moments throughout the year.