Celebrating Title IX's Golden Anniversary

Jordie Lindley, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications, serves as the primary media contact and manages day-to-day communications for Utah’s football program. She also plays a key role in collaborating with the program's social media and creative team to produce compelling storytelling content across all platforms. 

Lindley, who has worked with the Utes’ football program for the past four years, is one of just nine women who currently serve as the primary football contact at a Power 5 program. She has also served as the primary media contact for Utah's women's basketball program for the past four years, in addition to managing communications for men's golf and men's & women's tennis.

Lindley joined the staff at Utah in 2017 as assistant director of communications after spending the previous five years at Northern Iowa, where she served as the primary contact for football, women's basketball, men's and women's cross country and men's and women's track & field. A 2010 graduate of Oklahoma State, where she was a women’s soccer student-athlete and a two-year student intern in athletics communications, Lindley began her career as a postgraduate intern at Oklahoma State (2010-11) followed by one year as a communications assistant at Oregon State (2011-12).

As associate athletics director for strategic communications, Kristina Petersen oversees the communications strategy for Penn State's 31 sports and a staff of 12, while also serving as the communications point person for Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft and Head Football Coach James Franklin, as well as the primary spokesperson for the athletics department as a whole. In addition, she is the sport administrator for the softball program and secondary sport administrator for the men’s and women’s gymnastics programs. Petersen is currently in her 17th year at Penn State, having served five seasons as the primary football communications director and nine seasons heading the communications efforts for the Nittany Lions’ women's basketball team before taking her current position in 2019. 

Prior to coming to Penn State, Petersen spent two years at the Mid-Continent Conference (now Summit League), three years at the Patriot League and one year at the Big East Conference. Petersen coordinated conference communications efforts, serving as the media director for various championships along the way. Petersen also assisted the communications staffs at six NCAA Women's Final Fours and the 2015 Big Ten Football Championship Game.

A native of Rochester, New York, Petersen was a four-time letter-winner as a catcher for the Mansfield (Pa.) softball team. She was a two-time NFCA Scholar-Athlete and three-time PSAC Scholar-Athlete. Petersen graduated with a degree in broadcasting and public relations from Mansfield.

Paige Shinberg joined Temple as its head football equipment manager in January 2019 after a three-year stint in the same role at Northern Illinois. She is one of five women in the FBS to hold the position of head football equipment manager. In January 2022, Shinberg was named the District 2 Equipment Manager of the Year by the Athletic Equipment Managers Association.

At NIU, Shinberg began managing the equipment needs for baseball, softball, gymnastics and wrestling. She remained in this position from January 2015 until May 2016 when she was promoted to managing equipment needs for the football team, including inventory reporting, issuing gear, fitting equipment, ordering and providing laundry services.

Shinberg worked with NIU football previously as an undergraduate student equipment manager for over four years until she graduated and was hired full-time. Shinberg graduated from Northern Illinois in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in management with an emphasis in leadership and management.

Mary Vander Heiden, Associate Athletics Director for Sports Medicine at UCF, has served as the Knights’ Head Football Athletic Trainer since 2007. She began her tenure at UCF in 2001 as a graduate assistant trainer for the football team while completing her Master’s of Arts degree in exercise physiology.

Vander Heiden served as the associate head athletic trainer for the annual Gridiron Classic from 1999-04. In addition, she was an instructor in the NATABOC Accredited Athletic Training Program at UCF from 2001-04, teaching Intro to Pharmacology and Field Applications and assisting with Biomechanics and Modalities as a lab instructor. Vander Heiden remains a clinical preceptor. 

In 2022, Vander Heiden became the first woman to win and only the second athletic trainer overall to receive the Dr. Robert Cade Sports Medicine Person of the Year by the Athletic Trainers Association of Florida (ATAF). Named in honor of Dr. James Robert Cade, a nephrologist at the University of Florida College of Medicine who invented Gatorade, the award is given to a sports medicine professional, regardless of field, who has demonstrated an outstanding dedication and devotion to the profession of athletic training in the state of Florida and has supported and participated in the advancement and employment of athletic trainers throughout the state.

Vander Heiden currently represents the American Athletic Conference on the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) Intercollegiate Council for Sports Medicine (ICSM) Division I Subcommittee, as well as the AAC’s COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group.

A 1998 graduate of Wisconsin Eau-Claire, Vander Heiden earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in kinesiology with a minor in exercise management and a concentration in sports medicine. During her studies, she worked with the Minnesota Golden Gophers as a student athletic trainer for its football program. Prior to graduation, the native of Port Washington, Wisconsin attended Wisconsin-Stout, where she played softball from 1993-97.

Kelli Pugh, who is Associate Athletics Director for Sports Medicine at Virginia, serves as the primary care provider working with the Cavaliers’ football program, having worked closely with the team since 2002. Pugh is responsible for all aspects of UVa football’s athletic training regimen, including evaluation, treatment and rehabilitation of injuries. In her administrative role, she oversees a staff of 22 athletic trainers, while serving as the athletic department’s Drug Testing Coordinator and assisting with developing the department’s COVID-19 protocols, which allowed all varsity teams to compete in the 2020-21 academic year. In 2010, Pugh was honored by the Virginia Athletic Trainers’ Association (VATA) as its College/University Athletic Trainer of the Year.

A native of Springfield, Virginia, Pugh received her Master’s degree in athletic training from Florida in 2002, where she also worked with the Gators’ football team as a graduate assistant athletic trainer and was assigned as the primary athletic trainer for Florida women’s golf. Pugh earned her bachelor’s degree in sports medicine from UVa in 2000 and spent four years as a student athletic trainer, including two with the football program.

Pugh is a certified athletic trainer by the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) and was invited by the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society as a collegiate athletic training guest to the 2016 NFL Combine. In addition to her athletic training experience, Pugh is a certified massage therapist by the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork after graduating from the Suncoast School of Massage Therapy in Tampa, Florida, in 2001. She has volunteered as a massage therapist with the USA Women’s Lacrosse team and the Canadian National Women’s Rowing team. In additional, she is also a Certified CPR/AED Instructor for the American Red Cross.  

Heather Marini is in her third season on the coaching staff at Brown, including her second season as the Bears’ quarterbacks coach. She joined the program as an Offensive Quality Control Assistant ahead of the 2019 season, before being promoted in March 2020 to her current position and becoming the first woman position coach in Division I history.

In her time on College Hill, Marini has helped Brown’s offense and quarterbacks develop into one of the most potent and high-scoring units in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), led in 2021 by senior All-American EJ Perry who was a finalist for the Walter Payton Award and won the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League’s Offensive Player of the Year. Perry also was named MVP of the East-West Shrine Bown and became just the second Brown student-athlete in program history to be invited to the NFL Combine.

As a quality control assistant in 2019, Marini helped Brown’s offense average 30.0 points per game, doubling their scoring output from the previous season. She worked with Brown’s talented quarterback group, led by Perry, who earned First team All-Ivy honors after leading the nation and setting an Ivy league record for total offense.

Prior to joining the coaching staff at Brown, Marini worked as a summer scouting specialist for the New York Jets. She also worked with the Monash University Warriors Gridiron Club as the head coach for three seasons and quarterbacks coach/coaching development for three years. Marini has received invitations to attend the NFL Women’s Careers in Football Forum in 2017, 2018, and 2020, as well as the NFL Rookie Coaches Clinic in 2018.

Marini still plays football competitively. She was selected to play on the Australian National Team at the 2022 IFAF Women’s World Championships in Finland. Marini currently plays for the Boston Renegades of the Women’s Football Alliance, serving as a quarterback and punter, and was on the team’s league championships squads in 2021 and 2022. She previously played for the Gridiron Victoria Women’s Tackle Football team where she was the Rookie of the Year and First Team All-State, and Monash Warriors Women’s Gridiron, where she was the team’s offensive MVP, captain and quarterback.

A native of Australia, Marini earned a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at Deakin University in 2009 and a Bachelor of Emergency Health from Monash University in 2014.

Milan (Mimi) Bolden-Morris is in her first season at Michigan as the Wolverines’ graduate assistant coach working with the quarterbacks. The native of Belle Glade, Florida, is the first woman graduate assistant coach at a Big Ten school.

Bolden-Morris earned her master’s degree in sports management in May after completing her career as a guard for the Georgetown women’s basketball team. Last season, she started all 29 games for the Hoyas, averaging a team-high 35 minutes per contest. Bolden-Morris led the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game, with 83 of her 123 baskets coming from beyond the three-point line. She also topped the Big East with 83 three-point field goals on the year. After joining the team in January 2021, Bolden-Morris appeared in 15 games, starting in 13. She was the Hoyas’ second-leading scorer with 9.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, while knocking down a team-best 24 three-pointers.

Before transferring to Georgetown, Bolden-Morris played three seasons at Boston College, where she appeared in 85 games, including 31 starts, and averaged 7.5 points and 2.7 rebounds per contest. She earned All-ACC Freshman honors after setting a Boston College freshman record with 80 three-pointers that season.

Danielle Bartelstein Tyler, who currently serves as director of team operations at the College Football Playoff, came to the CFP in 2019 after a four-year run as Virginia Tech’s senior director of football operations. In that role, she oversaw the daily administrative and operational duties for the Hokies’ football program. Tyler was the first woman to hold such a position for a Power 5 FBS program. 

Tyler’s first foray into college football came as a student at the University of Illinois, where she worked in the recruiting office and assisted with summer camps on campus. Upon graduation with her bachelor’s degree in education, she moved to the Bay Area, becoming an elementary school teacher and helping administer summer football camps and assisting with game-day logistics for the Stanford Cardinal. 

After nearly five years as an educator, Tyler started her full-time career in college football as TCU’s assistant director of football operations from 2010-12. She then moved on to become the director of football relations at Texas Tech from 2013-15, where she was responsible for the day-to-day recruiting operations including coordinating all official and unofficial visits, developing seasonal recruiting campaigns and evaluating and organization all off-campus recruiting activities. 

Olivia Mitchell, who served as the College Football Playoff’s team operations intern for the 2016-17 season, is in her third year as director of operations for the Notre Dame football program. In her role, she is responsible for the day-to-day operations of Irish Football, coordinating a variety of administrative details including team travel, preseason camp and practice arrangements, summer camps and the annual coaches clinic. 

Mitchell’s appointment makes her the first Black woman to assume such a role for a Power 5 FBS program. She is the second woman to serve in such a role at Notre Dame and one of seven women among Power 5 FBS programs to hold the title of director of football operations.

Mitchell graduated from Notre Dame in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. As an undergrad, she worked as a senior recruiting assistant for the Irish football program. Mitchell also interned for Athletes First, LLC., and the Chicago Bears.

Judy MacLeod became the third Commissioner of Conference USA with her appointment on Oct. 26, 2015. She is the first and only female commissioner of a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference, making her the first and only female member of the College Football Playoff management committee.

MacLeod joined C-USA in September 2005 and served as the Executive Associate Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer beginning in April 2006. She took over the role as Interim Commissioner in September 2015, when Britton Banowsky officially stepped down from the position to transition into his current role as executive director of the CFP Foundation. 

MacLeod is currently sitting on the NCAA Division I Council, serving as chair for the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Oversight Committee and a member of the NCAA Name, Image and Likeness (NLI) Legislations Solutions Working Group. Having served on numerous other NCAA committees, she was the first chair of the NCAA Nominating Committee, completing her two year term in August 2017. In June 2012, MacLeod was appointed to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee and ended her term following the 2014-15 season.

In September 2020, MacLeod was recognized by Women Leaders in College Sports as the Conference Nike Administrator of the Year.

MacLeod came to Conference USA after 15 years at the University of Tulsa, including the last 10 as its Director of Athletics. The Golden Hurricane transitioned into the Western Athletic Conference and then established membership in Conference USA under MacLeod's watch. In addition, the Tulsa athletic department added women's basketball, softball and women's rowing to its list of sponsored sports.

MacLeod was recognized in June 2004 as the Central Region Athletics Director of the Year as selected by the National Association of Collegiate Athletics Directors (NACDA).

MacLeod earned her bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Puget Sound, where she was a women's basketball student-athlete, and her Master's degree in athletic administration from Tulsa.

Andrea Williams served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the College Football Playoff from August 2018 to October 2021, making her the first woman to serve in that role since the CFP's inception in 2014-15. In that position, Williams was responsible for managing the national championship game and all affiliated events. She also served as primary liaison with the New Year's Six bowls that participate in the CFP arrangement.

Williams came to the CFP after two years as commissioner of the Big Sky Conference, making her the first Black woman to assume a commissioner role at the helm of a Division I conference. She had also been a member of the CFP's advisory committee and national championship game week stadium operations team.  

She transitioned to the Big Sky from the Big Ten Conference, where she spent 16 years, including 10 as associate commissioner and director of the league's football championship game and men's and women's basketball tournaments. Under her leadership, the 2011 Big Ten football championship game received the 2012 SportsTravel Award for "Best New Sports Event." She has also been recognized with honors that include the 2017 Shadow League Leadership Award, 2014 SportsBusiness Journal Class of Game Changers (Women in Sports Business) and 2014 CEFMA Event Manager of the Year.

In her career, Williams has also served as director of the NCAA Division I women's basketball championship and also had a previous stint on staff at the Southern Conference office. 

Williams currently serves as Chief Experience Officer (CXO) for the Utah Jazz. Her role is a newly-created position that focuses on delivering world-class experiences for guests, partners, and employees of the organization. She also leads all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within the organization and shares responsibility with the People & Culture department to attract, develop and retain diverse talent.

Williams also has served on a number of national committees, including the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Board, John McLendon Minority Scholarship Foundation, NCAA Sexual Assault Prevention Commission and NACDA FCS Athletic Director of the Year Selection committee. 

Williams earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in speech communication from Texas A&M, where she was the first Aggie to letter as a women's volleyball and women's basketball student-athlete in the same season. She also holds a Master's degree in sport administration from Ohio University.