Meet the Professionals
Friday, October 17
Meet the Professionals Lunch
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Available only to those attending in person.
This event is for students only. You must sign up for the lunch when you register for the meeting. Registrants are assigned to professionals on a first-come, first-served basis.
Student Member: $25
Student Non-Member: $30
This year's professionals are:
Sommer Christie, Ph.D., CMPC, University of Ottawa
Sommer Christie is a sport psychology professor, scientist and practitioner at the School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa. Her research specializes in performance psychology, applied mental performance, psychophysiology (biofeedback and neurofeedback), para-sport, culture, and safe sport.
Professor Christie, a Certified Mental Performance Consultant®(CMPC) and registered mentor, has a wealth of experience in consulting. Her clients include Olympic and Paralympic athletes, coaches, professionals, musicians, surgeons and performers. Her extensive experience at the high-performance level includes supporting athletes and teams during three Olympic and two Paralympic Games.
Christie’s personal experience also spans high-performance sports as a National-level rugby player who has competed for Canada in two World Cups, the World University Games, and several international test matches. She was also inducted into the Concordia University Sports Hall of Fame.
Alan Chu, Ph.D., CMPC, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Dr. Alan Chu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he mentors master's students in the Applied Sport Psychology Program. As a Certified Mental Performance Consultant and provider on both the USOPC Mental Performance Registry and ISSP Practitioner Registry, Dr. Chu primarily works with adolescent and college athletes as well as corporate leaders. He emphasizes an evidence-based, yet culturally responsive approach that honors each client's unique background and identity. Dr. Chu's expertise centers on motivation, mindfulness, and self-compassion—his SMART Program (Self-compassion, Mindfulness, & Athlete Resilience Training) has helped hundreds of athletes deal with setbacks and self-criticism. Drawing from his past experience as a five-sport athlete in Hong Kong and his continued competition in table tennis, Dr. Chu understands performance pressure and applies mental skills from both personal and professional perspectives.
Steve Cohen, MS, CMPC, KBR
Steve Cohen is a Cognitive Performance Specialist supporting the Special Operations service members at Fort Campbell, KY. In this role, he works with elite performers developing their mental toughness, resilience, leadership capabilities, and recovery strategies to optimize their performance and increase their career longevity. He has been working with the military since 2013, initially on the R2 contract before transitioning to the POTFF contract. Steve earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire in 2007 and a master’s degree in Sport Psychology from Miami University in 2011. After graduating from Miami, Steve completed a Summer internship at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, FL before returning to his home on Long Island to spend a season working in Minor League Baseball. These opportunities, his education, and mentorship from Dr. Robin Vealey and Dr. Robert Weinberg were essential to his development and achieving AASP CMPC status which he recertified in 2024.
Marc Cormier, Ph.D., CMPC, University of Kentucky
Dr. Marc Cormier is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director at the University of Kentucky. In addition to his faculty responsibilities, Dr. Cormier has a 50% appointment in UK Athletics where he coordinates all counseling and performance psychology services for the athletic department. In this role, Dr. Cormier has worked alongside numerous BCS Bowl, SEC, and NCAA championship teams, as well as All-American and Olympic athletes/champions. More recently, he has been invited to speak to audiences in various non-sport performance contexts such as surgeons, performance artists, emergency responders, and Fortune 500 leaders. He is an award-winning teacher and practitioner, the 2021 UK Outstanding Teacher Award, the 2021 Early Career Practitioner Award and the 2022 Teaching Excellence Award, both from the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. In 2024, Dr. Cormier was named a Fellow within the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and was invited to deliver a TED talk in 2025.
Dr. Cormier received his Ph.D. in Sport and Exercise Psychology from West Virginia University in 2014, is a certified mental performance consultant (CMPC), a member of the United States Olympic Committee’s Sport Psychology registry, and a Licensed Professional Counselor (Associate) in Kentucky. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Dr. Cormier is every bit the stereotypical Canadian. He enjoys cold weather, a good cup of Tim Horton’s coffee, maple syrup, being friendly, and hockey. He continues to enjoy recreational and semi-competitive sports such as hockey, cycling, golf, running, and triathlons. Outside of UK, he loves spending time with the brilliant women in his life: his wife and two young daughters.
Clare Fewster, MAST, CMPC, Canadian Sport Institute Alberta/Mount Royal UniversityClare Fewster is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant and Certified Counsellor, with over 25 years of experience supporting high-performance individuals and teams. Clare combines her expertise in mental health with an understanding of performance psychology to help athletes and professionals thrive in high-pressure environments.
Clare currently serves as the Mental Health Lead at the Canadian Sport Institute Alberta. Her experience spans national and international competitions, including the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships, and the Canada Winter Games. She has also played an integral role in advancing mental performance and mental health support at Mount Royal University, where she spent six years working with student-athletes and varsity teams.
Clare has worked with athletes across all stages of development, including during her time at the National Sport School, and she continues to provide individualized care through her private practice in Calgary. Known for her empathic, humanistic, and client-centered approach, Clare builds strong, trusting relationships and delivers tailored, evidence-based interventions to meet the unique needs of each client.
As a dedicated advocate for winning well in sport, Clare is committed to fostering safe, inclusive environments where individuals can reach their full potential both on and off the field. Clare is passionate about growing the field in Canada and has volunteered for the Canadian Sport Psychology Association for the past 8 years. She currently the chair of the organization. In addition to her professional accomplishments, Clare is also a parent to two children who are actively involved in high-level sport—giving her a personal understanding of the challenges and rewards that come with sport.
Eddie O'Connor, Ph.D., CMPC, Atrium Health
Dr. Eddie O'Connor is the Chief Sport Psychologist at Atrium Health in Charlotte, NC, where he provides psychological services to elite performers including Charlotte FC (Major League Soccer), the 23XI Racing Team (NASCAR), and Queens University of Charlotte (Division I – ASUN Conference). A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. O'Connor integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Process-Based Therapy in his work, offering both mental health care and mental performance consulting. His clinical specialties include performance anxiety, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and pain and injury rehabilitation. He is a Fellow of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC). Dr. O'Connor is also the author and host of The Psychology of Performance: How to Be Your Best in Life by The Great Courses.
Margaret Ottley, Ph.D., CMPC, West Chester University
Dr. Margaret Ottley is a Professor of Sport & Exercise Psychology at West Chester University (WCU) and a former Clinical Visiting Professor at Denver University, Denver, CO. She received her Ph.D. and MA degrees from Temple University in Sport & Exercise Psychology, a second MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (WCU), and a BA degree from Spelman College in Child Development & Family Studies. She completed her post-doctoral training at Purdue University, focusing on Curriculum and Instruction in physical education. She is the 2022 Coleman Griffith Awardee and keynote speaker of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). Her lecture was titled, "Ain't I A Legend - A Story for SanKofa and the Comfort Zone." She is also an AASP Fellow and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC). Dr. Ottley is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Head of the WCU Athletic Department's Mental Performance Program. Currently, Dr. Ottley serves as the mental performance Consultant for the Nike Elite and Development Program, which supports high school track & field athletes. Dr. Ottley competed in field hockey at the Caribbean regional and international levels for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for over 14 years. She is the Chair of SanKofa HP (HyPower Performance, LLC), tailoring specific mental performance needs to an eclectic group of athletes and sports practitioners. She implemented two 3-year national sport psychology programs for Trinidad and Tobago's sport administrators and coaches and served on three Olympic teams for the country. She also represented Team USA at the Olympics, the World Junior Championships, the Youth Olympics, and the Pan American Games. She recently helped launch the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee’s LA 2028 Olympic initiative.
Dr. Ottley’s research focuses on the phenomenological embodiment of expressive individualism and mastery, as well as the re-examination of the comfort zone. The work, rooted in African movement aesthetics and spirituality, exceeds the understanding of form and function in elite sport performance. Dr. Ottley is a co-author in Fisher's (editor) "Social Justice Intergenerational Voices and an Embodied Approach,” Poczwardowski and Aoyagi's (editors) "Expert Approaches to Sport Psychology: Applied Theories of Performance Excellence,” and Volkwein-Caplan (editor) "Capoeira Angola: A symbol of cultural resistance and survival, in Culture, sport and physical activities." She practices energy medicine, and her favorite pastime is playing Capoeira Angola.
Penny Werthner PhD. OLY, CMPC, University of Calgary
Werthner is recognized as one of Canada’s most distinguished practitioners in the field of sport psychology and leadership behavior. She has worked with many Olympic and Paralympic athletes, coaches, and teams through summer and winter Olympic Games from 1988 to the present – sports such as Speed Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Athletics, Canoe/Kayak, Diving etc. She is a founder and past Chair of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association (CSPA/ACPS), a founding member of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, now called Canadian Women and Sport, and has been named one of the Top 20 Most Influential Women in Sport and Physical Activity. Werthner is also a former Olympic athlete in Athletics.
She is a Full Professor, University of Calgary, and served as interim Provost and Vice-President (Academic) (2022-2024), and as Dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology (2012-2022), which has been ranked #1 for schools of sport science research in North America and #10 globally. Her own research is in the area of life-long and social learning, particularly in the area of high-performance coaches, with a SSHRC funded investigation of the promotion and assessment of social learning with parasport coaches and their organizations; leadership, particularly women’s leadership experiences and learning; psychological health and wellness; and heart rate variability biofeedback and neurofeedback for optimal performance in high performance sport.
