Feb. 4, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern University Director of Athletics and Recreation Jim Phillips announced today that Janna Blais, most recently the senior associate athletics director/senior woman administrator at Bowling Green State University, has accepted the same position at Northwestern. She will begin her duties on Monday, Feb. 15.
As senior associate athletics director at Northwestern, Blais will lead and manage all student-athlete welfare departments: compliance, academic services, strength and conditioning, equipment and athletic training. She will serve as the department's liaison at Big Ten and NCAA meetings, and internally, will be the liaison to the admissions, financial aid and provost offices, as well as the committee for athletics and recreation (CAR). Blais also will serve as the sport administrator for men's and women's soccer and women's lacrosse, and serve as a secondary supervisor for women's basketball.
"To be certain, we are absolutely thrilled to add Janna and her significant wealth of collegiate athletic administrative experience to our Northwestern athletic family," said Phillips. "We are truly fortunate to attract such a strong and experienced administrator from a fantastic pool of candidates. Janna, her husband Mike, and their two sons Brady and Jace, are a terrific fit for Northwestern. Her career has afforded her the opportunity to be a student-athlete, coach and administrator.
"During her time at Bowling Green, Janna was involved in every single aspect of that program as their senior associate athletics director. In addition, she served as the school's interim deputy director of athletics in 2006 while a national search took place to hire a director of athletics, a position she did not pursue. With this experience and skill set, along with her own student-athlete background, Janna is the perfect hire for this position. Further, she served as the clear number-two in the department which put her in charge of the department when Greg Christopher (AD at BGSU) was away from the office."
Blais spent the past 10 ½ years at Bowling Green, where most recently, she was responsible for the supervision, evaluation and overall management of men's basketball, women's basketball, women's volleyball, women's gymnastics, men's soccer, women's soccer, softball, baseball and women's swimming. Her duties also included the administration of the athletic training and strength and conditioning areas; coordinating the development of travel, recruiting and operating budgets and approving expenditures for 11 separate sport and support areas; monitoring/evaluating the department's progress toward meeting the goals and objectives of both the five-year Gender Equity and Minority Opportunity plans; and approving and monitoring grant-in-aid recommendations and letter of intent forms.
Blais played an integral role in maintaining progress on BGSU's Minority Opportunities and Gender Equity plans. She also represented Bowling Green at Mid-American Conference and NCAA meetings and served a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Softball Committee. Blais chaired this NCAA Committee in her final year (2006-07). In addition, Blais was chair of the MAC Senior Administrators group and a member of the three-person MAC Executive Committee.
"I'd like to thank Jim Phillips and Northwestern for this wonderful opportunity," said Blais. "My family and I are thrilled and honored to join the Northwestern community. The academic and athletic reputation of the institution is second to none and I am excited to join the leadership team that strives for excellence in all respects.
"In all my interactions with members of the Northwestern family, I have found that my excitement about this position grows and reaffirms that Northwestern is a great career opportunity for me. I look forward to becoming a part of the great tradition at Northwestern."
Prior to her Bowling Green tenure, Blais served three years as the assistant director of athletics for institutional compliance/SWA at the University of Hartford. In that position, she established and managed the complete compliance program for the athletic department including interpreting NCAA legislation, maintaining NCAA squad lists, serving as the liaison with the NCAA Clearinghouse, and maintaining compliance with NCAA Division I and America East rules and regulations. She also was responsible for the operation of seven sports while coordinating the National Letter of Intent program and maintaining the athletic scholarship budget.
Blais also has experience in the coaching field. In 1995-96, she served as the assistant softball coach at her alma mater, the University of Connecticut. There she assisted the head coach in coordinating recruiting efforts for the highly competitive Division I softball program.
Blais is a graduate of the 2000 NACWAA/HERS Institute for Administrative Advancement, the 2005 DIA Athletic Director's Institute and the 2009 NACWAA Institute for Athletics Executives. She is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Society and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators.
A native of Lakeville, Mass., Blais earned her undergraduate degree in sports medicine/athletic training in 1993 from the University of Connecticut, where she played softball. She served as captain as a senior, helping the team to a fifth-place finish in the Women's College World Series. In her final two seasons, she was named East Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year while earning All-America honors. She also was named Big East Player of the Year three times in her career. In 1995, Blais earned her NATA certification in athletic training and in 1996 completed her master's degree in sport management from Connecticut.
Blais replaces Noreen Morris, who left Northwestern in December 2009 to accept a position as the commissioner of the Northeast Conference. She and her husband Michael have two young sons, Brady (7) and Jace (3).