Julie assists athletes and families with the Virtus and Paralympic eligibility process and provides nonprofit governance and administrative leadership to the organization including serving on the board from 2009-2023. Since co-founding the organization in 2009 she’s managed and lead all of AWL’s National team trips to Virtus International World Championships and Global Games and has helped hundreds of athletes and families (accross 13 sports) through the U.S. Paralympic and Virtus eligibility process.

In addition to her leadership role as Athletes Without Limits Eligibility & Executive Director, Julie is a freelance communication and graphic designer with a focus on nonprofits. Prior to co-founding Athletes Without Limits, Julie worked on a long term project for the MacCarthur Foundation’s Models for Change juvenile justice reform website and for the US Green Building Council, where she oversaw projects promoting the LEED Rating System and the Greenbuild Conference. She was also a writer and designer at local newspapers in Central Oregon, a researcher at the Advisory Board Company in DC, a Camp Counselor at Girl Scout Camp Archbald in PA, and a Library Assistant at Princeton University Library.

Julie’s love of sports began at a young age and by high school she was a member of the cross country team, a state champion softball team, and a national champion fitness team and a volunteer skier with Special Olympics – a formative experience particularly as she was often partnered with high level skiers. She began college playing softball but fell in love with the sport of rowing and became a member of one of Princeton University’s undefeated Eastern Sprints Champion Eights. After college she competed in triathlons for 7 years, dabbled in Cyclocross and currently enjoys walking, paddle boarding in North Carolina and Nordic Skiing in beautiful Bend, Oregon.

A seasoned traveller, Julie has organized and lead all of Athletes Without Limits major trips to competitions including the Virtus Global Games in the Czech Republic in 2009, Italy in 2011, Ecuador in 2015, Australia in 2019 and France in 2023 — as well as many others. She has also directed the hosting of numerous events for high-performance athletes with Intellectual Impairment in the United States including the 2016 Virtus World Tennis Championships in Delaware, the 2017 and 2018 AWL National Swim Meets in Atlanta, and the 2022 Virtus World Cross Country Championships in San Diego.

Julie’s passion for sport inclusion comes from being a former nanny to founding athlete and Virtus World Champion in cycling Syd Lea, whose family was instrumental in the startup of Athletes Without Limits. Her inspiration comes from her father, a truck driver who created higher educational opportunities for young women through his Lehigh Valley Panther Softball legacy, and whose infectiously positive team-building mantras included “there are a lot of ways to help!”