Dr. Jen Welter

DR. JEN WELTER became the first female to coach in the NFL when she joined the Arizona Cardinals as a linebackers coach in the summer of 2015. That experience and the leadership insight she’s gleaned through a career of “firsts” is chronicled in the new book Play Big: Lessons in Being Limitless from the First Women to Coach in the NFL, out now from Seal Press. Welter is also the first woman to play running back in a men’s professional football league, and the first to coach men’s professional football, helping lead the Texas Revolution through the most successful season in franchise history. In women’s professional football, Welter won four National Championships and two gold medals as a member of Team USA in the 2010 and 2013 International Federation of American Football’s (IFAF) Women’s World Championship. Welter has been recognized at the United Nations as Sports Pioneer of the Year, and ESPNW named her one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Sports in 2015. Welter earned a doctorate degree in psychology, an MS in sport psychology, and a BS from Boston College. She has been a guest on the NFL Network, ESPN, NBC, ABC, FOX and many other outlets. Welter runs football training camps for women and girls in association with the NFL alumni network, and makes presentations to organizations and conferences including Intel, MGM, S.H.E. Summit, and many others. @jwelter47