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An elite-level gymnast in her youth, Lex Chalat has spent the last four years building Beyond Sport into one of

the most influential organisations in the sport-for-good space. As executive director of the London-based entity, which is now chaired by former British prime minister Tony Blair, Chalat is a driving force behind the organisation of the Beyond Sport Awards and the Beyond Sport Summit, events which raise millions of dollars of support annually for projects around the world and provide a meeting place for the various stakeholders within the movement. Chalat has played a crucial role in Beyond Sport’s ability to forge crucial partnerships with key players in the sports industry in recent years, with MLB, MLS, Nascar, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, and the WNBA all having signed up.

Before moving to London to study for her Masters, she was managing editor and an award-winning columnist at two newspapers in Philadelphia, and has written regularly on a wide range of topics for magazines and publications including the New Yorker.She currently sits on the advisory boards for PBS Colorado and the Urban Soccer Collaborative, and provides extensive pro bono consulting to sport for social change projects around the globe on a regular basis.

Landmark moment of your career so far?I have to say this summer. We had our most recent annual summit where we gather leaders from around the world to talk about how sport can address social issues and we actually got Muhammad Ali and David Beckham to award a young 19-year-old boy who was nominated by his organisation to receive our first ever Generation Ali Beyond

Alexandra ChalatExecutive Director, Beyond Sport, and Head of Social Innovation, Benchmark Sport International

What her nominators said about her:“Alexandra has played a vital role in Beyond Sport’s development over the past four years, leading a huge amount of its work on a day-to-day basis.”

Age: 29Location: London, UKEducation: Graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania before gaining a Masters in Media and Communications Research from the London School of Economics

Sport Award for overcoming adversity through sport. And he’s actually a refugee from Afghanistan who fled here after the Taliban killed most of his family, and he joined a cricket club and he now works as a translator for the cricket club. It’s a really cool story. That was amazing to see him celebrated by such a high-profile group of people – Muhammad Ali and David Beckham – in front of a global audience. It was very cool.

Sports industry idol? Julie Foudy. She’s a two-time football World Cup winner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and former president of the Women’s Sports Foundation and basically an all-round totally kick-ass woman.

Favourite franchise/team/athlete/brand in sport?I guess I’ll have to say the Philadelphia Eagles.

Where do you see yourself in ten years’ time? Hopefully in a position where I’m overseeing a much larger pot of support and funding to be able to provide

projects around the world with capacity-building and business support so they can create more change in their communities and work more effectively.

One piece of advice for someone looking to start out in the industry?Take an internship and make yourself indispensable.

iPhone, Blackberry, or Android?Blackberry, 100 per cent, and I hope they don’t go under.

Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or Foursquare? Professionally I’d say Twitter and personally I’d say Facebook.

Moët or Bud?That’s not fair. Can I do an alternative? Whisky.

One particular line you use to close a deal?Only TV things are coming into my mind right now. I’d say something very simple like, ‘Let’s work together’, or something like that.