Willett Named Associate Commissioner for Compliance and Governance
NEW YORK – Katie Willett, NCAA Associate Director of Academic and Membership Services Affairs, has been named Associate Commissioner for Compliance and Governance at the BIG EAST Conference, it was announced today.
At the BIG EAST, Willett will be responsible for the conference’s rules compliance program and matters involving NCAA governance and will serve as the liaison to the league’s Senior Woman Administrators. As a member of the conference’s senior leadership team, she will be the lead contact for various conference committees and working groups, including Compliance Directors, FARs, Academic Advisors, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and Academic Collaborations. Willett also will coordinate the conference’s academic/athletic awards and grant programs.
“We are very pleased to welcome Katie to the BIG EAST as a member of our senior staff,” said BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman. “Her significant expertise in a wide range of compliance and governance matters and her familiarity with the inner workings of the NCAA will be an invaluable resource to the Conference and consistent with our goal of providing top-notch service to our member institutions.”
Willett has worked at the NCAA’s headquarters office in a variety of roles since 2008. She served as primary liaison for the Division I Accelerating Academic Success Program and the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, assessed and evaluated D-I APR Improvement Plans, and supported the recent work of the D-I Values Based Revenue Distribution Working Group. As a member of the Academic Membership Affairs Interpretive Leadership Team, she provided interpretative assistance across all three NCAA divisions, and she has functioned as primary AMA liaison to the DII Membership Committee, Championship Committee and Management Council.
Willett previously served as Assistant Commissioner for the American East Conference, where she administered compliance programs and served as the liaison with the NCAA Membership Services and Enforcement staffs. Willett also worked as Assistant Commissioner/Senior Woman Administrator at the Great Lakes Athletic Conference.
A Summa Cum Laude graduate of Providence College in 2002, she was the captain of the Friars’ field hockey team and was an NCAA Woman of the Year State Awardee. Willett earned both an MBA and a Masters of Sports Administration from Ohio University.