This is the next profile Q and A in a series entitled
Communicators Outside the Lines: Better Yourself, Better Your Community produced by the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee. Read past profiles at
CoSIDA.com/CommunicatorsOTL.
HAVE IDEAS OR MEMBERS TO NOMINATE FOR THIS SERIES?
If you have any ideas for this series, which will revolve around CoSIDA member volunteerism and health and wellness, please contact Goodwill and Wellness Committee chair
Chris Mitchell, Washington University in St. Louis Assistant AD for Communications, at (618) 560-9280 or
mitchell@wustl.edu.
Q&A with Ryan Davis
Assistant Commissioner for Communications, Missouri Valley Conference
by Jeremy Rosenthal, Assistant Director of Media Relations, Indiana University
CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee member
Ryan Davis is in his first year with the Missouri Valley Conference as Assistant Commissioner for Communications. Prior to his current role with the MVC, Davis spent the past decade as Assistant Commissioner for Communications at the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. At the MVC Davis is the primary media relations contact for baseball, volleyball, men’s soccer and women’s basketball. Davis has been a key contributor to the Goodwill and Wellness Committee and coordinated the committee’s service project last year in Dallas. In his free time Davis enjoys traveling and spending times with his two kids, Nolan and Caroline and wife, Kristin.
Q: Last year you planned the Goodwill and Wellness Committee service project in Dallas. Discuss that experience leading up to it, the planning and what memories you have from the event?
DAVIS: The Goodwill and Wellness Committee was searching for a charity to have the CoSIDA service project with in Dallas since it was our first convention down there. I reached out to an old SID friend of mine, Greg Weghorst former Assistant Commissioner of the American Southwest Conference, to see if the charity he now works for (Keeper of the Game) would be interested in partnering. I felt it would be a perfect fit since we could have an event centered around baseball and tie our annual service project into sports. It was great to work with him once again and plan an awesome event down in Dallas to help provide unique baseball experiences to kids and young adults with special needs and disabilities. The event was a blast and we sold out all our volunteer spots with over 50 CoSIDA attendees taking part in the service project. It was a great memory presenting Keeper of the Game with a check for a CoSIDA record of over $4,000 on the field at the Frisco Roughriders game, making the event a true success.
Q: How did you get involved with the Goodwill and Wellness Committee and how did you get involved with the planning of the service project the last couple of years?
DAVIS: I was talking with Chris Mitchell following the 2015 Convention in Orlando and he asked if I would be interested in joining the committee. At the time, I was looking for more ways to get involved with CoSIDA and thought this would be a great committee to get involved with. Leading into the convention in Dallas, we were brainstorming ideas of what charities to serve and, with my connection to Keeper of the Game, I decided to take the lead and plan the project. This year, we will be partnering with Samaritan’s Feet at Frontline Outreach. We will be distributing new shoes to over 250 local kids in Orlando and will also have a basketball skills camp. I developed a great relationship with Samaritan’s Feet and CEO Manny Ohonme while I was with the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. We were the first conference in America to have a conference-wide distribution event with Samaritan’s Feet, raising over $8,000 annually via our football programs. We would invite our All-HCAC football team along with coaches to participate in the distribution annually in Indianapolis.
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Related: Learn more and register for this year's community service event at the 2017 CoSIDA Convention.
Q: Tell us about your family and how you find a balance between work and spending time with family?
DAVIS: My wife Kristin and I have two amazing kids we adopted locally in St. Louis. Nolan will turn five in May and Caroline will turn two in June. They are full of energy and keep me and my wife extremely busy. Nolan loves everything involving trains and could tell you everything you need to know about diesel or steam trains. Caroline is developing quite the personality and there is nothing better than coming home after a long day at work having her run into the kitchen saying “daddy” as I come in the door.
It is hard at times to find the balance between work and family, especially when I am traveling a lot during The Valley basketball season. On the road, we try to find time to Facetime with each other and when I am home on the weekends we try to do as many family activities as possible. We even worked in some time for them to come visit on the final day of Arch Madness so they could see exactly what daddy does for work.
Q: What community initiatives are you involved with back home?
DAVIS: My wife and I try to speak at various educational seminars our adoption agency provides locally to educate prospective adoptive families on the importance of openness in adoption. We once sat in those chairs not knowing that fact and we want to share our experiences and let them know it isn’t as scary as it may seem going in.
Q: What do you like to do in your free time?
DAVIS: Working in sports, I’m naturally a sports fan. We like taking the kids to Cardinals games during the spring and summer and I try to watch as much basketball as possible. We also enjoy traveling as a family and try to get to the beach and mountains as much as possible. I’m always up to travel!
Q: How do you prioritize health and wellness in your daily life?
DAVIS: I try to run as much as I can. Of course, that is more difficult during the busy season and once I get home from work it is tough since I’d like to spend as much time as possible with the kids. I enjoy running with my dog through our community when I get the time to run. Commissioner Elgin is also turning a room in the basement of our conference office into an exercise room so I’m excited to use that most days here at the office before heading home.
Click here to learn more about CoSIDA's Goodwill and Wellness initiatives and find out how YOU can get involved.