In her role as Chief of Health Operations, Annemarie Hill is responsible for the overall operations of the health programming across Special Olympics’ seven regions, as well as the headquarters and regional health teams.    

Prior to joining Special Olympics International in 2013, Annemarie served as the CEO of Special Olympics South Africa, during which time the Program grew by over 25% and played host to two international events. Preceding this role, Annemarie served in Special Olympics Africa’s regional office, where she was responsible for the rollout of the Healthy Athletes Program in 22 African states.

Dr. Decius Hikabwa Chipande heads the African Union Sport Council (AUSC), a Specialised Technical Office of the African Union responsible for sport. He supports the operationalization of AUSC Regions, sports development, organisation of the African Games, and leveraging sport and sport for development as an accelerator for achieving the African Union Agenda 2063 aspirations of “The Africa We Want.”

Prior to joining the African Union, he taught sports studies at the University of Zambia in Lusaka and is author of multiple academic publications on sport in Africa. Over his career, Dr. Chipande has held leadership roles in inter-governmental sports organisations and sports for development organisations. 

Dr. Chipande received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 2015. He has published multiple academic articles focusing on the relationships between sport politics and social change, emphasizing the transformative potential of sports in societal contexts.

Professor David McGillivray holds a Chair in Event and Digital Cultures in the Centre for Culture, Sport & Events (CCSE) at University of the West of Scotland (Scotland, UK). In recent years, his research has focused on sport events, politics, and social justice, with a focus on human rights. From 2018-2024, he was one of the lead investigators on the European funded EventRights project, exploring the relationship between sport events and human rights. He has also been involved in several large SSHRC projects with colleagues in Canada looking at how sport events for people with disabilities can be leveraged to produce more socially just outcomes. He is currently working with colleagues in Switzerland and Australia on projects that explore, respectively, sport integrity and human rights and how the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games are engaging with ‘outsiders in sport’ in their planning delivery and legacy processes. He is also conducting research on a new (co-created) model of legacy planning for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He is committed using creative and art-based techniques to translate research outputs into powerful stories, primarily through the medium of film.  He has published widely in the sport event field and is currently Deputy Editor of the Event Management Journal and sits on the Editorial Board of the Leisure Studies journal.