Associate Commissioner - External Communications

Specific Responsibilities: •Oversight and planning for all conference marketing, select conference championship ticket sales, branding and communications strategies to include all championship(s), (with appropriate emphasis on men’s and women’s basketball) marketing campaigns, logo usage and licensing, social media, media cultivation and coverage. Goal setting, benchmarks and evaluations of campaigns and sales strategies will be completed to advance the conference. •Primary communication oversight for the planning, coordination and implementation of men’s basketball media coverage and branding to include strategic media planning focused on maintaining and increase national exposure. Duties include oversight of the annual basketball media day, regular season coverage, men’s basketball championship planning, cultivation of media, increasing social media awareness and followers, post-season media strategies, feature stories and videos, and consistent communications with campus SIDs and other duties related to the promotion of men’s basketball. •Evaluation and updating the current marketing, communications and digital conference strategies and procedures for servicing the membership, the media, and fans of the A-10. Create and implement overarching communications and public relations strategies to optimize Atlantic 10 visibility. Ensure the communications department is utilizing conference partnerships with national media partners, live event broadcast and non-traditional outlets to deliver the message, news and stories of the conference. Provide oversight for annual evaluations, staff meetings, goal setting, effectiveness, and adherences to conference strategies and campaigns. Oversight and monitoring the effectiveness of the Atlantic 10 website, apps, television quality control, and all social media efforts. Implement any new policies and/or procedures deemed necessary to enhance the conference performance in this area and expand the league’s social media presence through available technology. Develop effective evaluation tools/processes to benchmark the A-10 effectiveness in digital and social media content distribution. Establish points of accountability within the communications/media relations staff for accuracy, meeting deadlines and creative design-distribution and results. •Oversight of the conference marketing committee comprised of marketing representatives from the 14 member schools. Provide leadership and guidance to include staffing quarterly conference calls, frequent communication memorandums, benchmarking strategies, campaigns, implementation of marketing, ticket sales and branding commercials (evaluation & participation in creative direction) and advertising platforms, and coordination of yearly in person meetings to share ideas, conference initiatives, goal setting, etc.

•Oversight and management of the Multi-Media Rights (MMR) holder and assigned general manager, to include weekly meetings, coordination of sponsor development packages, cultivation of sponsors, adherence to terms of contract, adherence to sponsor use of A-10 marks, implementation of sponsor promotions and advertising, updates of contracts and pitches developed for potential conference partners. Facilitate the annual financial reconciliation with the MMR and the conference business office. •Administration of conference logos, trademarks and licensing program with the multi-media rights holder to include approval of all apparel, gear, merchandise bearing any A-10 marks, gifts and awards, in addition to communication of the A-10 logo usage policies to membership on an annual basis. •Coordination and oversight of conference television and digital contracts to include adherence, fulfillment, monitoring of broadcasts, conference commercial inventory, talent approval, rights fees distributions, and member school digital productions. Oversight of the membership sublicensing agreements as needed. •Ensure use of traditional media, social media outlets and digital distribution of information is occurring in real time, effectively, accurately and in a ‘cutting edge’ fashion. Prepare short term and long range strategic plans for a robust external communication, distribution and branding presence. •Operate within the approved budget assuring the communications staff is doing the same by routinely monitoring and benchmarking cost of services versus ROI. Additionally, monitor and maintain a culture that adheres to A-10 business operational procedures. •Respectfully maintain and enhance the current positive working relationships with internal and external constituents of the conference; and build upon it through fostering staff networking with media/communication/constituent partners.