Thornley Hired As ISU Sr. Associate AD For Internal Operations

NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State Interim Director of Athletics Dr. Jeri Beggs has added another key piece to the department's senior leadership team, with the announcement of the hiring of Senior Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations Allison Thornley.

In her new role at Illinois State, Thornley will oversee the department's business office, which includes the personnel, facilities and game operations units and all athletic department budget areas. She will also coordinate with the University's legal, purchasing, facilities planning, budget and comptroller's offices as a liaison for the Athletics Department.

"Allison brings a wealth of experience to this role at Illinois State and will do a great job in leading our internal operations," Beggs said. "Her athletics experience, along with her time at another public university in Illinois, will be an asset to our department as we continue to prioritize our goals moving forward."

Thornley comes to Illinois State after spending the past 13 years working in the University of Illinois Springfield athletics department. Since 2020, Thornley has served as the Associate Athletics Director for Strategic Planning and Finance and was also the Athletics Department Senior Woman Administrator at UIS.

"Thank you to Dr. Jeri Beggs, Paul Kabbes, Leanna Bordner, and all the Redbird staff and coaches," Thornley stated. "I am honored and excited to join the incredible team at ISU Athletics and am eager to contribute to the pursuit of excellence. I am grateful for this opportunity and look forward to making a positive impact." 

In addition to her finance and planning background, Thornley spent a lot of her time at UIS performing various functions associated with student-athlete welfare and discipline. She served as an institutional representative to the NCAA and GLVC, as well as a member of the UIS Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Committee. She also oversaw gender equity planning and compliance with Title IX, while advising and acting as a resource for female coaches, staff, and athletes. UIS has had a lot of recent postseason success, so she also directed host operations for NCAA baseball, women's golf, men's soccer, and softball regionals. Thornley also served as a liaison with key constituents across campus and in the community as needed.

Thornley came to the Prairie Star Athletic Department from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she was the Resource and Policy Analyst for the Department of Animal Sciences. In that capacity she managed human resource processes, visa processing, purchasing and the graduate student program. She helped develop fiscal reports and budgets for the Research Farms as well as training secretarial and management staff with business operating systems.

A native of Arrowsmith, Ill., Thornley earned her bachelor's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2004 majoring in Agribusiness, Farm and Financial Management. She will be joined in Normal by her husband, Seth, and children Anniston, Moxon, and Pippon.

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