After 13 years on the department’s executive leadership team, Nina King was named Duke’s Vice President, Director of Athletics and Adjunct Professor of Business Administration on May 19, 2021. King succeeded Kevin M. White, who retired after 13 years in the post. In 2021-22, King will serve as the Chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee for the second consecutive year. The 10-person group's charge, among many duties, is the selection, seeding, and bracketing for the annual NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. King also serves on several ACC and Duke University committees and previously was a member of the NCAA Committee on Institutional Performance. In addition, King teaches a sports business course in Duke’s Fuqua School of Business as part of Duke’s MBA program. She also championed the creation and launch of the Rubenstein-Bing ACE program, a collaboration between Stanford and Duke for global civic engagement for student-athletes from both athletic departments. In her former role within the Duke Athletics leadership group, King facilitated daily operation and oversight of the department, had oversight responsibilities for the Human Resource operation, Recreation and Physical Education program, and all legal matters, including the development and execution of department contracts while serving as the liaison to the University Legal Counsel Office. She led the senior staff/sport administrator group that is responsible for administration of Duke’s 27 varsity sports. In addition, she assisted with oversight and planning for special projects within the department, coordinated strategic planning initiatives and is the primary contact between Duke Athletics and the university administration, including the Board of Trustees, President’s office, and senior administration. She also handled the primary administrative duties for Duke’s women’s basketball and football programs. In February of 2018, King was named to Sports Business Journal's Forty Under 40 Class of 2018. The annual list honors 40 executives for excellence and innovation in their respective careers, all before the age of 40. Later that year, she was tapped to the Leaders Under 40 Class of 2018, honoring sports business executives from around the world. In 2019, Sports Business Journal named King among the leading power players in college sports, while Adidas selected her to the "Next Up" class in 2016, which recognized senior-level administrators ready to take the next step as athletic directors. Born October 3, 1978 in Tampa, Fla., King received her bachelor’s degree in accountancy from the University of Notre Dame in 2000 where she served as a student manager and eventually the head manager for the women's swimming and diving program, and her juris doctor degree from Tulane Law School in 2005. She served internships in the Notre Dame Athletics Department, NCAA and Nike, Inc. Prior to joining Duke University, King served as the Director of Rules Education in the Notre Dame Athletics Department from 2005-08. King is a member of Women Leaders in College Sports, Sports Lawyers Association, University of Notre Dame National Monogram Club and the Florida Bar Association. Additionally, King serves on the Arizona State University College of Law Sports Law and Business Program Advisory Board as well as the Durham Academy Board of Trustees. King and her husband, Rick, reside in Durham and are the parents of Connor Stephan and Austin Casey.
Jaunelle White joined the IUPUI Athletics Department in May 2018 as Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Internal Operations and Senior Woman Administrator. White comes to IUPUI having served similar posts at Alabama State and Texas Southern prior to joining the Jaguars' staff. White's focus will be on internal operations while evaluating the department's efficiency and effectiveness in terms of student-athlete experience, budget maximization and internal processes. She'll serve as the primary administrator for the men's and women's soccer, volleyball and softball programs, while also overseeing the department's athletic training staff. In addition, she'll assist in donor cultivation. She currently sits on the NCAA D1 Council and Student-Athlete Experience and D1 Degree Completion Award Committees. She's also part of the IUPUI Chancellor's Diversity Cabinet and Office for Women Advisory Council. At Alabama State, White served as Senior Associate AD for Internal Operations and oversaw the department's compliance, business, sports medicine, strength and conditioning program and 16 varsity sports. Under her guidance, ASU increased its APR scores to exceed NCAA minimum requirements while she served on the SWAC Strategic Planning Committee, SWAC APR Committee and NCAA Division I Initial Eligibility Waiver Committee. While at Texas Southern, she revamped the compliance program and assisted in implementing protocols to elevate APR scores. She was an integral part of TSU's Curriculum Council and Financial Aid Compliance Committee while also serving on the SWAC APR Committee. White began her administrative career at LSU and has also worked at Middle Tennessee State and South Alabama. White began at LSU in June 2002 as Compliance Coordinator, and after two years she was promoted to Coordinator for Compliance, Championships and Special Events. In Baton Rouge, she handled all issues with the NCAA Clearinghouse and assisted with financial aid and housing for student-athletes, while in her final year at the school she helped the Tigers host NCAA regional events in women's basketball, men's tennis, track & field and gymnastics. White spent two years at MTSU, beginning as the compliance coordinator before being promoted to Assistant AD. She oversaw the Lady Raider soccer and softball programs and was involved in all aspects of compliance, approving official visits and monitoring practices and recruiting contacts and evaluation logs. She was a standout volleyball student-athlete at Auburn, earning four All-SEC honors and an NCAA Freshman All-American award. She was awarded the Leah Rawls Atkins Award as a senior, which is the highest award given to an Auburn female student-athlete. She earned her degree in 2000 and later earned her master's degree from Auburn in 2002. White is a Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., member, along with affiliations among Women Leaders in College Sports, Alliance of Women Coaches, Minority Opportunities Athletic Association (MOAA) and NACDA. In addition to her playing and administrative experience, White has always been surrounded by Division I athletics as her father was a head coach and her husband Marcus is a football coach. She and Marcus have four children - MaKiah, Jailyn, Layla and Marcus.
Courtney Lovely Evans was named Palm Beach Atlantic University’s (PBA) Director of Athletics in April 2019. She is the first minority to serve in the role and is the third athletic director during PBA’s NCAA era. Lovely Evans is actively involved within the NCAA governance structure. She currently serves on the NCAA Division II Management Council as the Vice Chair and as the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) representative, NCAA Division II Administrative Committee, NCAA Division II Planning and Finance Committee and NCAA Division II Championships Committee. Lovely Evans also serves on the boards of the College Women Sports Awards (CWSA) and the YMCA of the Palm Beaches. She is an active member of Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly NACWAA), Division II Athletic Directors Association and a graduate of the NCAA and Division II Athletic Directors Association Women and Minorities Mentoring Program, Women Leaders in College Sports/NCAA Institute for Administrative Advancement and NCAA Leadership Institute. In 2020-2021, the Sailfish successfully competed in all 18 varsity sports programs during the global pandemic. The women’s basketball team competed in the SSC Tournament for the first time in program history and advanced to the championship game where they finished as the tournament runners-up. The Rinker Athletic Campus provided a championship experience for the first time, hosting the SSC Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championship where the Sailfish women had their best finish in program history by taking second place. In addition, the Sailfish golf teams each had an individual place in the top-10 of the SSC Championship. In all PBA brought home 20 All-SSC individual awards. Year one was highlighted by facility renovations to the Rubin Arena. Other Sailfish accomplishments include:
Lovely Evans joined the PBA Athletics Department in August 2015 as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations and Senior Woman Administrator (SWA). In that role, she oversaw gender equity and Title IX issues. She was also responsible for all mandatory reporting to both the NCAA and the Sunshine State Conference. In addition, she oversaw athletic training, strength and conditioning, human resources and business operations while also serving as a sport administrator for women’s basketball, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, softball and tennis. Lovely Evans has a diverse background within intercollegiate athletics administration and most recently worked at the NCAA National Office. As an Assistant Director in Academic and Membership Affairs, she was responsible for developing the Division II educational strategic plan, serving as a liaison to the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Division II Legislation Committee and the Division II Membership Committee. As an Assistant Director in Leadership Development, she was the primary administrator for the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum, NCAA Career in Sports Forum and NCAA Division II and III diversity grants. Before working at the NCAA Lovely Evans served as the Assistant to the Director of Athletics at Georgia State University in Atlanta. In this position she was a member of the athletic department’s senior staff and was responsible for managing the Georgia State University Athletic Association and the planning and coordination of athletics’ special events including activities with the University’s inaugural football season. Prior to her experiences at Georgia State, Lovely Evans worked in the not-for-profit sector as an event planner. She received her master’s degree in sports administration from Georgia State University and her bachelor’s degree in public relations from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia. Lovely Evans is married to Rick Evans. The couple has a daughter, Kyra, a sophomore at the University of Kentucky.
In ten years as the Denison of Athletics at Denison University, Carney-DeBord has made a definitive impact on the campus community with her brand of competitive excellence. She returned to her alma mater in 2011 as the Director of Athletics and faculty chair of the Health, Exercise and Sport Studies major and was promoted to Associate Vice President in 2016. Denison athletics’ foundation of competitive excellence is based on the values of trust, teamwork, integrity, leadership, growth mindset and diversity. Athletics teams at Denison consistently perform at the conference and national levels. In 2018, Denison was one of only 10 colleges nationally — and the only college in the Midwest — that is recognized in the top 50 of both the U.S. News and World Report National Liberal Arts rankings and the Learfield Director’s Cup D-III standings. Under her direction, Denison has won the North Coast Athletic Conference All-Sports Championship five times in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2019. Since her arrival in the fall of 2011, Denison has won 32 NCAC Championships, four Division III national championships and the college has completed its $38 million renovations and expansion to the Mitchell Center. In 2019, Carney-DeBord was named the Under Armour Division III Athletics Director of the Year by the National Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and was honored at the organization's annual convention in Orlando, Florida. In addition to her role as Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics, Carney-DeBord is a faculty member and chair of the Health, Exercise and Sport Studies (HESS) major, for which she provides vision and leadership. In the HESS major, students frame the sciences of health, exercise, and sports within the liberal arts, providing a larger context to understand the whole person. Carney-DeBord’s vision has led HESS into one of the fastest growing majors on campus. The athletic department has also grown considerably under Carney-DeBord, with assistant coaching positions and full-time faculty coaching positions added to numerous sports since 2011. Carney-DeBord ushered in the creation of the James T. Glerum Top-50 Honors Celebration in 2012 and since that time Denison has recognized the top-50 student-athletes in terms of grade point average along with a faculty member of their choosing. One of the highlights of each academic year, the cut-off point to be included in the 2018 Top-50 was a 3.65 GPA. Prior to accepting the post to guide Denison's athletic department, Carney-DeBord was one of the winningest coaches in Division III women's basketball history, posting a career record of 433-227 while guiding Ohio Wesleyan to six NCAA Division III Tournament berths. The Battling Bishops captured five NCAC championships and she was a seven-time conference Coach of the Year. In 2001, she guided her team to the national semifinals of the NCAA Division III Tournament and was named the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division III National Coach of the Year. In 2009, Carney-DeBord became only the 33rd coach in Division III history to reach the 400-win mark. In addition to her time as the head women's basketball coach at Ohio Wesleyan, she spent six seasons (1985-1990) as the head field hockey coach at OWU where her teams posted a .714 winning percentage and began a streak of seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances that would eventually conclude in 1993. At Ohio Wesleyan, she also served as assistant athletics director from 1987 to 1993 and associate athletics director from 1993 through 2003. Carney-DeBord was a four-year letter winner in basketball and field hockey at Denison. A wing and point guard in basketball, she was a team captain and was named the team's Most Valuable Player as a senior. As a back on the Denison field hockey squad, she was a three-year captain and helped lead the 1979 team to a 12-3-1 record. In 1998, she was inducted in the Varsity D Association Athletics Hall of Fame at Denison. In addition to her bachelor's degree in physical education from Denison, Carney-DeBord earned a master's of arts in athletics administration from Kent State University. Carney-DeBord and her husband, Jack, reside in Granville and have two sons, Tyler and T.J.
Louise McCleary joined the NCAA national office as the director of Division III in February 2012. In 2017, she was promoted to Managing Director and in 2021, she became the interim Vice President. She oversees the division’s governance committee structure (particularly the Presidents and Management Councils), develops and implements the division’s strategic plan and manages the division’s operating budget, among other assignments. A 20‐year veteran in athletics administration, including 15 years at Division III institutions, McCleary was Director of Athletics at Elms College for 10 years (2002‐12). During her tenure, she guided 15 intercollegiate programs, added 11 full‐time coaches, and oversaw a $1.7 million field‐improvement project. McCleary also implemented programs that improved student‐athlete academic performance, boosting graduation rates above those of the student body. Prior to Elms College, McCleary was at Vassar College (1997-2002), first as an associate athletics director and then as interim director of athletics her final year. She worked at Tri-State University (Ind.) from 1991 to 1997, serving as an assistant basketball coach, sports information director and assistant director of athletics. McCleary has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and American studies from Wellesley College and a master’s in sport management from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes has distinguished herself as an outstanding professional, community servant and mentor. She assumed the leadership role, athletic director, in Dillard’s athletic department in 2006. She simultaneously held the position of head coach of the women’s basketball team until March 2013. Her initial responsibility was to facilitate the return of the athletics program after it was shuttered following Hurricane Katrina. She has not only resurrected the program, but she has also grown the program into a national model of student-athlete success and community service. Since taking the helm, Dillard’s athletic program has seen the establishment of new sports teams and the university's first endowed athletic scholarship. A leader in sports administration, she also serves as Interim Commissioner for the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). This is not her first stint with the GCAC as she was elected and served as President of the GCAC from 2009-2018, directing its growth after several universities departed for other conferences. Dr. Barnes has become a national expert in strategic planning, organizational management and program revitalization leading her to serve on national and local boards.. She is President/CEO of Kiki Baker Barnes, LLC a coaching and speaking business focused on helping college athletic programs and administrators improve their operational efficiency, productivity and organizational management through strategic planning and leadership development. She is also the founder of So You Want A Career in Athletics™ a professional leadership development program professional leadership development program designed to expose girls and young professional women to career opportunities in sport. A trailblazer as well, Dr. Barnes is the only intercollegiate athletic director in the state of Louisiana and was the first female and first African-American president of the GCAC and first African-American female commissioner in the NAIA. On June 11, 2019, Dr. Barnes was awarded the industry's highest award, the Under Armour Athletic Director of the Year Award. In 2015, Dr. Barnes received the prestigious "Administrator of the Year Award" presented by the Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly known as National Association of College Women Athletic Administrators - NACWAA). In 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2021 her peers voted her GCAC Athletic Director of the Year. In 2018, she was honored during Black History Month by the New Orleans Pelicans and named to the 2018 Class of New Orleans CityBusiness Woman of the Year, 2014 Class of New Orleans “People to Watch” and was honored by the Girls Scouts of Louisiana Southeast as a 2014 Woman of Distinction. Dr. Barnes also received the Gambit’s Top 40 under 40 of New Orleanians making a difference in the community in 2013. Barnes completed her dissertation research on the relationship between coach’s influence, student engagement, and student-athlete success. She is married to Dr. Marc Barnes and they have two children, Caitlin and Marc Jr. Positions Held:
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