July 17, 2012

CLEVELAND -- The members of the National Association for Athletics Compliance (NAAC) have elected Christian Spears, senior associate athletics director at Northern Illinois University, to serve as President during the upcoming year.     

"First, I want to thank Kate Hickey (Rutgers) for her efforts during her time on the Board, including the past year as President of our Association,” stated Spears. “NAAC continues to grow and prosper thanks to our members, sponsors and Board and I look forward to continuing that trend this year. This next year will be exciting with the changes that our Association is looking to implement and I look forward to helping make an impact for compliance professionals, while ensuring integrity is always considered as we look to better serve our intercollegiate athletics programs and specifically our student-athletes, coaches and university communities.” 

Also elected to serve as officers for the 2012-13 were 1^st Vice President Julie Cromer, senior associate athletics directors, Indiana University; 2^nd Vice President Josh White, associate athletics director external relations, University of Nebraska Omaha; and 3^rd Vice President Dan Bartholomae, associate athletics director/compliance & sport services at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Two compliance administrators, Ellen Ferris, associate VP for athletics compliance at the University of Southern California and Elizabeth Heinrich, associate athletics director, University of Michigan were added to the Board of Directors as voting members. Five administrators joined the Board of Directors as ex-officios – Brady Barke, assistant athletics director/compliance at Southeast Missouri State University; Kate Charipar, assistant athletics director for compliance at the University of Utah; Dustin Gray, assistant athletics director for compliance at Iowa State University; Lindsey McDonnell, assistant director of athletics, compliance at Towson University; and Zac Saunders, director of compliance at the University of Pittsburgh.

The seven administrators above join the following individuals on the Board - Joseph D’Antonio, senior associate commissioner – compliance and governance, Big East Conference; Jon Fagg, senior associate athletics director, University of Arkansas; Vanessa Fuchs, senior associate athletics director/SWA, Florida State University; Lynn Holzman, director of academic and membership affairs, NCAA; Tom Hosty, director of enforcement, NCAA; Erin Kido, assistant athletics director – compliance/SWA, Xavier University; Katie McGann, associate athletics director – compliance and student services, University of California San Diego; Shondell Reed, senior associate athletics director – internal and external operations, Colgate University; Lori Smith, assistant athletics director, University of Texas; Josh Snyder, associate director of athletics for compliance, University of Missouri Kansas City; Tricia Turley-Brandenburg, associate athletics director – compliance and student services, Ohio University; and Steve Waterfield, senior associate athletics director – strategic planning, University of Miami. 

Barke, Charipar, Gray, McDonnell and Saunders join Jen Condaras, associate commissioner – compliance/SWA, Big East Conference and Lindsey Hicks, assistant athletics director – compliance and student services, Northern Illinois University as ex-officios.   

About NAAC:  NAAC is in its 15^th year and serves as the professional and educational association of senior compliance administrators.  For more information on NAAC, please visit www.naaccompliance.com.  NAAC is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 48^th year.  For more information on NACDA and the 13 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.