Alexandra Chalat
Alexandra joined US Soccer Federation in January 2025 to lead Soccer Forward, a new initiative developed to ensure everyone, everywhere has access to the transformative power of soccer, creating healthier individuals and stronger communities as a Legacy of the FIFA Men’s World Cup 2026.
Previously, she was at the Qatar Foundation (QF), where she joined in January 2021 as Director of Legacy and Community Engagement. In the lead up to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, she was part of a team responsible for coordinating the organization’s more than 50 entities across education, research, and community development to ensure that it holistically maximizes the world’s biggest sports tournament and enables long-lasting impact. This included spearheading the region’s first-ever performing arts festival; creating a program that shared first-hand the impact the World Cup has had on Qatar residents, delivering sports programming for thousands of Afghan refugees; and activating QF’s dynamic 12sqkm campus, Education City, through accessible and educational content.
With the successful tournament completed, she transitioned to the office of QF CEO and Vice-Chairperson, Her Excellency Sheikha Hind Bint Hamad Al-Thani, as Executive Director of Partnerships and Strategic Alignment to lead on priority projects, including the national women’s and girls’ sports strategy; national volunteering strategy; and strategy legacy plan for Education City Stadium. She also oversaw key partnerships and strategic initiatives for QF, from working with ConocoPhillips Qatar on a new invention education center, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on a refugee scholarship program, to FIFA on developing a worldwide school program.
Prior to life in Qatar, Lex was Managing Director of the Beyond Sport Foundation, which convenes, funds and supports organizations using sport as a tool for social change. After joining in 2008, Lex helped the organization grow from the ground up while also co-founding thinkBeyond in 2014, a sister advisory firm that provides ways for governments, companies and charities across the world to create positive social
change using sport.
For the last 15 years, she’s worked and lived in over 20 countries curating programs and partnerships around sport’s role in hard-hitting issues like the refugee crisis, youth gun crime and racial and ethnic divides. She’s led on projects that have included developing ESPN’s global community engagement approach, activating the International Olympic Committee’s Sport for All policies, crafting SAP’s vision and implementation to be a purpose-driven sport sponsor, and finding new ways BT Sport can engage younger, socially conscious fans. She’s developed global CSR, purpose-driven sponsorship strategies for brand giants like Unilever, Bloomberg, Virgin and Disney and been involved on various legacy projects from South Africa to London to Brazil to Glasgow. She’s helped advise influential entities from the Holy See to the US State Dpt to the World Economic Forum and spearheaded partnerships with MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS, NASCAR, the Premier League and Premiership Rugby. She’s also worked with greats like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, David Beckham, Muhammad Ali, Tony Blair, Michael Johnson, Tiger Woods and Billie Jean King.
She has appeared on BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, and Canada TV and has contributed to several academic journals and publications on the socio-economic impact of major sporting events. She also sits on the Board of Directors for Beyond Sport Foundation, Green Sports Foundation and the Brian Dawkins Impact Foundation.
A graduate of University of Pennsylvania and London School of Economics, she is an avid believer of the power that sport has to change lives for the better. She currently resides in NYC and is the mother to 2 year old twins, Saoirse and Sebastian.