NEW YORK — June 30, 2025 — Parity, the premier platform for professional women athlete partnerships, today announced the appointment of Risa Isard, Ph.D., as Director of Research and Insights. In her role, Isard will lead Parity’s research and data efforts, overseeing the development and execution of a comprehensive data strategy. Her work will focus on collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to produce high-impact reports that inform brand partners, the public, and internal stakeholders.
Isard will also manage Parity’s internal data ecosystem and collaborate closely with the product and technology teams to integrate data-driven insights into the company’s athlete- and brand-facing platforms.
“Risa brings a unique blend of academic rigor, practical experience, and a deep passion for advancing women in sport,” says Leela Srinivasan, CEO of Parity. “As we continue scaling our research capabilities, her leadership will be critical to identifying the most pressing questions facing the women’s sports marketplace and delivering the insights our partners need to drive real impact.”
Isard most recently served as a tenure-track Professor of Sports Management at the University of Connecticut, where she led both quantitative and qualitative research initiatives focused on U.S. and global sports. Her research has resulted in eight peer-reviewed publications and collaborations with leading organizations, including Wasserman’s The Collective, where she helped translate insights into actionable strategies for clients.
Earlier in her career, she was a Research Fellow at the University of Massachusetts’s Laboratory for Inclusion and Diversity in Sport, and previously spent five years at the Aspen Institute, where she was Project Director for the Sports & Society Program. During her time there, she hosted former First Lady Michelle Obama at the program’s flagship summit and led high-profile conversations with icons like Billie Jean King. Isard’s bylines and research have appeared in Sports Business Journal, NBC Sports, Adweek, Quartz, and espnW.
“Parity has played a critical role of championing women athletes and driving meaningful investment into women’s sports,” says Isard. “Their recent research has illuminated both the inequities and the immense opportunities in the space. I’m thrilled to join the team and build on this important work—leveraging data to tell stories, drive strategy, and fuel the growth of women’s sports.”
Over the past year, Parity has released three major studies that are now reshaping how brands and marketers approach women’s sports. The first, “From Moment to Mainstream,” was the largest-ever global fan survey on women’s sports, capturing insights from 14,000+ adults across seven countries. The second, “Beyond the Game: Exposing the Economic Realities of Professional Women Athletes,” exposed the financial instability many professional women athletes face, highlighting the urgent need for sustainable sponsorship and support. Most recently, in June 2025, Leela and her team released one of the most current and comprehensive analyses of U.S. women’s sports fandom and sponsorship impact, “US Women’s Sports Report 2025: Give the Fans What they Want”. This third study delivers actionable insights on where fan attention is trending, what builds consumer trust, and how brands can show up authentically to drive real-world impact and purchase consideration.
About Parity, a Group 1001 Company
Minority-founded in 2020, Parity is a sports marketing and sponsorship platform dedicated to closing the gender income and opportunity gap in professional sports. By developing high-impact collaborations between brands, professional women athletes, and their fans, Parity has proudly put millions of dollars in the pockets of women athletes, attracting dozens of brands to the movement in the process. The platform connects brands like Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, AdventHealth, and Superfeet to over 1,100 women athletes from 85 sports, including well over 300 Olympians and Paralympians. For more information on how to tap into the rapidly rising influence and popularity of women athletes, visit https://paritynow.co or follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook.