I am pleased to announce that Melissa M. Reilly (pictured below) has accepted our offer to serve as Conference Commissioner of the Skyline Athletic Conference, effective July 1. The appointment follows a comprehensive search that began in February of this year and included several excellent, highly qualified candidates.
Melissa is currently Senior Associate Commissioner with the East Coast Conference (ECC) where she also held positions as Associate Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner and Senior Woman Administrator. During her 13 years at the ECC, she increased the reserve fund, developed strategic relationships to secure sponsorship deals, and increased ticket sales, while working to elevate the ECC through marketing and brand management, strategic planning, and establishing annual reporting and metrics for the President's Council. In her current role she serves as Director of Compliance and is responsible for all facets of conference finances, student life programming, conference championships, and managing institutional and constituent groups. The committee was particularly impressed by Melissa's philosophy as a conference administrator, and her focus on fostering strong relationships both on and off the field, court, track and pool, and the potential impact on productivity, competition and sportsmanship conference-wide.
Melissa will replace Linda Bruno, who is retiring after serving as Skyline's Commissioner for the past 12 years. Linda became the first female commissioner of a major college conference when she was hired in as the fourth commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference in 1994. Prior to that appointment, she served as an associate commissioner at the Big East for 12 years, during that conference's rise through the 1980s.
We look forward to building on Linda's legacy, and working together with Melissa to create a shared vision for Skyline that leverages our solid foundation and enhances the athletics experience among all our members.
Please join me in welcoming Melissa to Skyline and thanking Linda for her service.
Cristle Collins Judd
President of Sarah Lawrence College
Chair of the Skyline Conference Presidents Council