The members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) have chosen a new set of officers and Board of Director representatives to serve the professional athletic communications asssociation for the 2016-17 academic year and beyond.
The passing of the presidential gavel and the announcement of the new officers and Board members took place on Wednesday, June 15 on the final day of the 2016 CoSIDA Convention (June 12-15) which took place at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. CoSIDA holds its annual convention in conjunction with NACDA and Affiliates Convention Week.
Andy Seeley, UCF Assistant Athletics Director for Communications, will serve as the 61st President of CoSIDA for a one-year term in 2016-17.
Seeley was CoSIDA's first vice president during 2015-16. He arrived at the Orlando, Florida campus in May, 2012 and serves as UCF Athletics' primary spokesperson while overseeing the strategic communications efforts of the Knights' athletic program.
Seeley succeeds Judy Willson, Mountain West Conference Associate Director of Communications, who led CoSIDA as
2016-17 CoSIDA Board and staff: clockwise, top row left to right: CoSIDA staff Will Roleson, Laurie
Bollig, Doug Vance, Barb Kowal; Board members Jay Stancil, Ira Thor, Sam Atkinson, Tyler Cundith,
Amy Yakola; Danny Barnts, Bill Dyer, Diane Nordstrom, Aaron Sagraves, Jessica Poole; officers Herb
Vincent, Rob Carolla, Andy Seeley, Rob Knox, Judy Willson.
2015-16 president. Willson will serve a year as the organization's past president as she completes her work on the Board during the upcoming academic year.
Also elected to serve the 3,100-member CoSIDA organization for the 2016-17 term and in the presidential rotation are first vice president
Rob Carolla, Big 12 Conference Director of Communications; second vice president
Rob Knox, Towson University Athletic Media Relations Associate Director; and third vice president
Herb Vincent, Southeastern Conference Associate Commissioner for Communications.
Jeff Hodges (North Alabama Assistant Director/Communications) continues as secretary of the organization and rounds out the officers.
“I am humbled and honored to serve the CoSIDA membership as our organization's 2016-17 president," stated Seeley. "I look forward to representing our dedicated, driven and passionate professionals who tell the compelling stories on our campuses. We anticipate another great year of assisting our members as we celebrate our 60th anniversary of our organization. The year will culminate with our annual June convention, and I look forward to hosting everyone again in UCF's city with the Orlando World Center Marriott serving as our 2017 convention site."
In addition to the officers, the following were elected to serve terms of three years on the CoSIDA Board of Directors.
Representing the university (Division I) division as new at-large representatives are:
Jessica Poole, Ole Miss Assistant Director of Media and Public Relations; and
Amy Yakola, Atlantic Coast Conference Senior Associate Commissioner/Chief of External Affairs. Newly elected as at-large college division representatives are
Danny Barnts, Point Loma Nazarene University Assistant Athletic Director for Communications (West Region)
; and
Jay Stancil, Union College (Ky.) Director of Strategic Sports Communications (South Region).
All these terms run through 2019.
The slate of 2016-17 candidates were nominated by the membership during the spring semester and were selected by the CoSIDA Nominating Committee, comprised of the organization's past presidents and out-going Board of Director members. That Committee was chaired by
Eric McDowell, Union College (N.Y.) Assistant Athletics Director/Sports Information, who served as CoSIDA's past president during 2015-16.
Those currently serving on the Board of Directors and reappointed to their positions are: at-large representatives
Bill Dyer, Virginia Tech Strategic Communications Associate Director and
Diane Nordstrom, University of Wisconsin Associate Director of Athletic Communications, along with College Division at-large representatives
Sam Atkinson, Gallaudet University Assistant Athletic Director for Communications and
Tyler Cundith, Johnson Community College Director of Sports Information.
Rounding out the college division board members are
Aaron Sagraves (Cornerstone University Assistant Athletics Director for Communications), Central Region and
Ira Thor (New Jersey City University Director of Sports Information), East Region.
Ex-Officio members are CoSIDA
Executive Director Doug Vance,
Director of External Affairs Barb Kowal,
Director of Internal Affairs/Treasurer Will Roleson and
Director of Membership Engagement Laurie Bollig.
More on 2016-17 CoSIDA President Andy Seeley
Joining the UCF staff in June, 2012 as the Assistant AD for Communications, Seeley serves as the Knights' chief spokesperson, is responsible for the creation and implementation of a strategic communications plan, coordinating media relations, supervising
Andy Seeley - UCF
the athletics communications office and managing
UCFAthletics.com.
See Seeley's full UCF bio HERE.
Prior to his arrival at UCF, Seeley spent four years as the associate director of athletic communications at the University of Minnesota where he managed Minnesota's social media channels and served as the primary media contact and communications manager for the Golden Gophers' football and men's gymnastics programs. Previous athletic communications experience included four years as Utah associate SID and seven as the sports information director at his alma mater, NCAA Division II Northwest Missouri State University (1997-2004).
Married to the former Jill Draper, they have two children - Bryant, who is currently serving in the United States Navy and Morgan, who is in elementary school. Seeley and his family reside in Orlando.