Steven Vanderpool

Steven Vanderpool, who helped organize two of the largest international sporting events held in the United States in recent years, and also worked with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Special Olympics, joined the Gooden School staff in July 2021.

Steven helped launch Major League Soccer as the league's first director of public relations and then served as the lead press officer for the organizing committee of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup soccer tournament. He then spent eight years as operations director with STATS LLC, helping build the company's successful television sports research business that counts FOX Sports, NFL Network and CBS Sports among its clients.

More recently, Steven served as senior vice president for the Special Olympics World Games (LA2015), the single largest event held in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympics. Before joining LA2015, Steven spent three years as chief communications officer with the second-largest chapter of Make-A-Wish and still serves as a wish-granting volunteer.

Steven holds a degree in journalism from Idaho State and began his career working as a sports publicist for Boise State, Illinois and USC. Raised in San Pedro, he and his wife, Jennifer, live in Pasadena and have one son, Parker, who is a Gooden School graduate.