Sunil Gulati was sitting inside his office at Columbia University late Monday morning when a student walked in and began to cry.
This, Gulati later explained, was not particularly unusual this time of year.
Since 2006, when Gulati was voted president of the United States Soccer Federation, his public profile and his professional commitments have steadily risen. In 2013, he was elected to the executive committee of FIFA, the powerful governing body of world soccer, and he began to distinguish himself as a reformer. Among his professional goals, he harbors a desire to bring the World Cup back to the United States.