Innovative Lives: Gary Brantley

On October 21, meet Gary Brantley, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the National Football League (NFL). Working with numerous technology partners, Brantley and his team develop data-driven solutions that power various aspects of the league’s operations, including television, radio, and streaming broadcasts, secure coach-to-coach communications, instant replay, NextGen Stats and historical record-keeping, the NFL’s extensive media archive, and player health and safety analytics. Since joining the NFL in October 2022, Brantley also established the NFL Innovation Hub, a think tank in which the league and its 32 teams evaluate emerging technologies such as generative AI and augmented reality to understand how they might enhance game play and the fan experience. For example, the Innovation Hub has tested Hawk-Eye’s optical ball-tracking solution as a possible replacement for the traditional chains that officials use to determine the first-down line-to-gain. The conversation will be moderated by Dan Kaufman, managing director for sports technology at Sports Business Journal.

Brantley is the author of The Art of Organizational Transformation: 7 Steps to Impact & Influence (2019). Prior to his tenure with the NFL, Gary worked for big tech companies such as IBM and MCI WorldCom, founded his own faith-based media site, led technology initiatives for a home construction company, Beazer Homes, and served as the CIO for Georgia’s DeKalb County school district, the state of Ohio, and the city of Atlanta. This latest event in our Innovative Lives series extends the Lemelson Center’s programming associated with , a new bilingual, interactive, family-friendly exhibition that explores the intersection of invention, technology, and sports

Host or Publisher Smithsonian's Lemelson Center