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Gina Lehe – NCAA, Managing Director of Communications, Brand and Strategy

CoSIDA Hall of Fame Class of 2022

• Six-Member CoSIDA Hall of Fame Class of 2022 Highlights Special Awards Honorees

by Debbie Harmison White – CoSIDA Special Awards Committee member

Native Californian Gina (Chappin) Lehe always knew that sports would play a role in her life, most likely as an athlete. However, after a career-ending knee injury in high school she knew she had to find a way to stay involved and follow her passion. After directing communications teams at college football bowls, the College Football Playoffs and now the NCAA, she is poised to become one of the youngest inductees into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame at age 43.

As the Managing Director of Communications, Brand and Strategy at the NCAA, Gina oversees a department that has its fingers in every facet of the NCAA and has been reinventing itself following the pandemic.

In her “spare” time, she is most importantly wife to her husband Adam, and mother to daughters Adrianna, 4, and Natalia, 7.
 

“It really has been the most challenging period in our history. Because of that, everything looks very different, as we worked remotely and we’re now seeing people for the first time that we only saw on Zoom. The interpersonal connections have been challenging,” says Gina about the challenges her NCAA staff has faced over the past two years. “We’ve also had to learn about how we do our job, collaborate, how we gather information, and then what platforms we deliver that information. We’ve dealt with big heavy issues.”

To appreciate Gina’s journey, one has to begin with her family’s love for everything sports and her persistence as a college freshman at the University of Arizona. Her father was a referee, coach and physical education teacher. As a child, Gina would read his referee manuals to absorb the rules of the game.

But when it came time to select a college, she had her own set of criteria.

“Funny story, when I was looking at schools, I wanted to see schools’ football and basketball venues. I had seen Lute Olson coach a game when I was in high school and loved how he approached coaching. That played a part in my decision to go to Arizona, and I wanted to work with him,” Lehe noted.

“I called the basketball office and left a message for one of his assistant coaches, a complete cold call, and I probably called him four or five times over two weeks. We finally connected and I told Coach Olson I wanted to be a manager. He told me to come by and ended up letting me keep stats. We won the national championship that year — and I kept stats for four years,” Gina says with pride.

Following graduation, Gina landed an internship at the Insight Bowl in Tucson, which led to a full-time position as Public Relations manager for that bowl association. A seven-year stint at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl followed, and then she served as the Director of Media for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, Rose Bowl Game from 2007 to 2014.
 
Lehe was named the Senior Director of External Relations and Branding for the College Football Playoff in 2014, and her impact was immediate. While at the CFP, she was also recognized as a “Game Changer” in 2017 by Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal. 

Lehe has been in her current position at the NCAA since the fall of 2019.

Throughout her career, CoSIDA has played an important role and Gina gives special thanks to the mentorship of Dave Plati at Colorado and Tim Tessalone at Southern California – both CoSIDA Hall of Famers in their own right (Tessalone was inducted in 2016, Plati in 2019). 

“I have so much respect for the organization, so many people who mentored me and so many people who opened the door for me,” says Gina. “I applaud the CoSIDA leadership who understand the industry is evolving. How we term ourselves needs to evolve as well and this honor for me, which is so humbling, reinforces my commitment to the next evolution of CoSIDA.”

Speaking of being future-focused, Lehe currently is serving a vital role on CoSIDA’s 21-member brand identity working group to explore a refreshed brand identity for the national association, including pursuing a new association name and logo. This rebranding strategy reflects both the evolution of the organization as well as its vision for the future.

Gina also appreciates the role she has played and will continue to play as a woman leader in collegiate athletics.

“In college football there are not a lot of women, and 20 years ago I was often not just the only woman, but often the youngest,” she remarked. “Talking to these legendary coaches about their media commitments was daunting, but it did not intimate me.

“To attract young women into the business, we need to be open and pay it forward. We are still not doing well at creating an environment to welcome more women and we haven’t done a good job stewarding our female colleagues. “

She shared a story of a young woman who wanted to work in the field, but also wanted to get married and was afraid she couldn’t do both.

“I thought, I hope that’s not what people think. It’s true that at some point you do have to make a choice. But if it is something you want, you can make it work.

I care deeply about my work and my professional life. I am very competitive. When I had my oldest child, I never went to Bill Hancock (Executive Director of the College Football Playoff) and said, ‘I can’t travel’, as I felt it would expose me to not being able to execute. It became harder when I had two children and breast feeding — I was even competitive about breast feeding and pumping!. Life always has hurdles, but you can find a way to make it work if you are passionate about it,” she concluded.

Like CoSIDA Hall of Famers before her, Gina knows a strong supportive cast has played a large role in her recognition.

“I am grateful to so many people who gave me the seat at the table, and for letting me talk once I was seated. I wish my mother was still here, but the support of my husband, and my mother-in-law, my rock, has been invaluable. I am also grateful of the work I have put in, and my evolution as a mom and mother. You can have it all — and you can make it happen.”