College Sports Information Directors of America

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• 2020 Special Awards Announcements and Features
• #CoSIDA2020 Convention Home
• Past Warren Berg Award Recipients

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Cindy Potter – Columbia College (Mo.), Associate Director of Athletics - Director of Media Relations & Compliance
CoSIDA 2nd Vice President

Warren Berg Award
Presented annually to a college division member who has made outstanding contributions to the field of college sports information, and who by his or her activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession. Voted on by the Special Awards Committee.
 

by Mary Ann Mitchell, University of Missouri-St. Louis Associate Director of Athletics for Communications

It’s no surprise that Columbia College’s Cindy Potter was named recipient of the 2020 Warren Berg Award, which is presented annually to a CoSIDA College Division member who has made outstanding contributions to the field of sports information.
 
From a career which saw her begin as an undergrad student at Columbia College (Mo.), where she remains today, to being the first representative from an NAIA school to step into CoSIDA’s officer rotation, Potter has done nothing but better the profession for those around her.
 
Currently, Potter is the Associate Director of Athletics – Director of Media Relations and Compliance. She became Columbia College's first associate athletic director in the summer of 2011 and also served as interim Director of Athletics during 2019. Managing her multi-faceted job requires overseeing compliance and administrative duties, directly coordinating all operations for the softball, women's basketball, athletic training, men's lacrosse, women's bowling, men's and women's cross country and men's and women's indoor and outdoor track and field teams.
 
 
The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native is scheduled to serve as the organization’s president (and will be just the fifth female to do so in CoSIDA’s 62-year history) for the 2021-22 academic year. Currently CoSIDA’s Second Vice President, Cindy has been an active member of both CoSIDA and NAIA-SIDA throughout her career. In fact, Potter’s CoSIDA president role will actually be her second such title as she held that leadership position for NAIA-SIDA from 2015-18. 
 
Yet with all the leadership titles she has held, Potter doesn’t consider herself a leader in the traditional sense of someone who is vocal and outspoken, but more as a silent leader.
 
“I’m honored to be the recipient of the Warren Berg Award. It’s because of the relationships I’ve built that I’ve been able to accomplish things,” she said. “You can be kind and build great relationships without being vocal and that’s what I feel is important in some of these positions. I’m a leader in the sense that I’m one of few females and NAIA members to hold leadership positions. I want to make sure people know we exist in the NAIA and help champion the fact that there are females who can do and are doing outstanding work in this profession.”
 
Potter’s original life plan was to move back to Canada after college and teach second grade. She went to Columbia College on a softball scholarship and got her undergrad degree in education and a masters in teaching. But then, in her junior year, she began working on game days for former Assistant Athletics Director Amber Cox, running the scoreboard at soccer and handling the stat board at basketball. During the spring that year, Potter tore up her knee and ended up in the softball dugout, unable to play. That’s when the stat-taking started and when her passion for sports information began evolving.
 
Cox then needed additional assistance during Potter’s senior year, which she was eager to do. And by in the second semester of her fifth year, Cindy had taken over all SID duties for the Cougars after Cox took a job with the WNBA Phoenix Mercury franchise.
 
“That was really the start of it,” Potter said. “I realized it was way better than any second grade teaching job!”
 
Potter has been involved with both CoSIDA and NAIA-SIDA since she took over the SID role at Columbia. Her initial desire to be active in these organizations stems from conversations with her former Athletics Director Bob Burchard.
 
“Bob told me about CoSIDA right away and pushed me to go to convention,” Potter noted. “He told me about the importance of professional development and where it had taken him. I was excited to be involved in things and wanted to better myself.”
 
Potter attended her first CoSIDA convention in 2006 in Nashville where Scott Cummings of McKendree University (Ill.) was the only person she knew there. Yet by the end of the convention, she had created a network of people and built some great relationships that remain today.
 
It was also at that first convention that Potter learned about the CoSIDA Board – back when board members still sat up on a stage at the luncheons. Seeing those leaders sitting up there made her want to be a part of that group.
 
“I really wanted to be someone that knew a lot of people in the profession and someone that people knew because of my involvement,” Potter said. “Being new to the profession, working at Columbia College and having a Visa, I also felt I needed to build a network of people so if I ever had to leave Columbia or the United States, I would still have people to tie me back to this profession.”
 
After being the first NAIA female to serve on the CoSIDA Board and being President of NAIA SIDA, it only seemed like a matter of when, not if, Potter would assume the role as CoSIDA President.
 
“The NAIA had been underrepresented on the CoSIDA Board and definitely in the officer rotation and I felt like we needed to make a push to have someone represent those members,” Potter continued. “We have some amazing NAIA members and I don’t think we get the same notoriety and recognition that maybe some NCAA members do because we’re not as well known. So, I really wanted to put myself out there.”
 
Even with all she’s accomplished professionally, Potter’s greatest title may in fact be Mom to daughter CJ, six-years-old, and son Chase, five-years-old. She doesn’t claim to be the poster child for work-life balance, but enjoys the life lessons her career provides them.

“I want my kids to see and live in a world where mommy and daddy both work hard and are respected for what they do. That’s really how I grew up. I want my kids to know that as long as they work hard, they can be and do whatever they want.”
 
Managing her job - which remember, also entails overseeing compliance and administrative duties – and being a mom can be overwhelming at times, but it’s the relationships and friendships (shout out to the ‘Blue Chair Group’ of close colleagues!) that have kept her in the business.
 
“I don’t know if there’s any other profession out there that has amazing relationships like the ones we’ve all built in the SID profession,” Potter concluded. “There’s nothing better than knowing I can reach out to someone at any time and my call will always be answered.”