Yulander Wells, Jr. currently serves as the University of South Florida Senior Associate Athletics Director for Development and Administration. Wells is responsible for major gift fundraising and strategic plan management, as well as football scheduling. In his current role, Wells helped USF Athletics reach all-time highs for total dollars raised in a single year, exceeding $14 million, Bulls Club donors over 3,800, and for the first time ever surpassing the 100 Iron Bull mark, which represents the highest annual giving donor level.

While at USF, Wells has also served as the Athletic Department’s Chief Financial Officer. During his tenure he has overseen all aspects of financial and business operations, human resources, game contracts, facility master calendars, information technology, and equipment management. Additionally, he has managed ticket operations, served as the direct management liaison for several third-party partners for ticket sales, corporate sponsorships, food and beverage, and arena management, while also serving as the sport administrator for Softball, Baseball, and Men’s Soccer.

Prior to USF, Wells served as the Assistant Controller for the University Athletics Association, Inc. at the University of Florida from 2008 to 2013. Wells’ experience also includes private industry work in sales and accountancy with Angie’s List and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

A native of Chicago, IL, Wells earned his Bachelors in Finance in 2001 and his MBA in Management from North Central College in 2005. While at NCC, Wells was a two-sport student-athlete as a member of the basketball and track teams. Wells and his wife, Janelle, have three sons and reside in Tampa, Fla.

Adam Haukap serves as Arkansas State University’s Senior Associate Athletics Director for Revenue Generation with oversight for all Red Wolves’ fundraising and ticket operations.

Since his arrival in 2014, annual fund and premium seating revenues have increased 184% and he has played a major role in raising over $60 million for two significant facility expansion projects at   Centennial Bank Stadium. The Stadium’s premium suites, club seats, and loge boxes are sold out, and A-State continues to enjoy an unprecedented number of naming commitments. Haukap also initiated a locker sponsorship campaign prior to construction on the Centennial Bank Athletics Operation Center that generated an additional $600,000 in new revenue.

Adam also manages the Learfield Sports Agreement, which provides record revenues for the Athletics Department. Subsequently, Athletics’ operating budget has grown from $16 million in FY 2016 to its current level of $43.1 million. Private funding has been instrumental in propelling Arkansas State Athletics growth. Recently A-State ranked 21st among Group of Five schools in self-generated revenue.

Haukap has placed an emphasis on enhancing the football game day fan experience by creating the Artents Tailgate Promenade, a family-friendly tailgate park at Centennial Bank Stadium. This unique venue provides fans with live pre-game music, The Hijinx Family Fun Zone, and interactive games with Red Wolves student-athletes.

Prior to joining A-State, Haukap spent seven years at Oklahoma State University. While there, he served as the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sales and Marketing developing a ticket sales and annual fund donation call center, a customer service department, and marketing plans for football and men’s basketball. He also helped increase season ticket sales from over 39,000 in 2008, to 50,000-plus in 2013.

Prior to working at OSU, Adam served as an account executive for Pacers Sports & Entertainment in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was responsible for servicing customer accounts and ensuring ticket renewals, creating sales proposals for prospective clients, and arranging appointments for the NBA and WNBA teams.

Before Indianapolis, Haukap served as a sports marketing intern at Miami (OH) University, also working for the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.

Adam is a native of Southern Illinois, and earned his Bachelor of Arts in History Education from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in 2003, and his Master of Education in Sports Administration from Xavier University in 2005.

With senior level NCAA Division I administration experience at Towson University, the University of Maine, the University of Connecticut and Hofstra University, Dino Mattessich is a highly skilled specialist in his field.  His expertise and accomplishments, spanning over 34 years in intercollegiate athletics, make him a leading authority in finance (CFO), resource planning and systems implementation. He is a proven professional with immeasurable skills in program assessments, policy development, strategic planning, organizational design, data analytics and event planning.

At every institution he has served, his proficiency in budgeting and finances produced the financial systems and business operations required to ensure practical management of resources, effective planning, data driven decision-making, and compliance with regulatory policies.  As a former Division I student-athlete, coach, and administrator, he maintains a keen awareness of the many stakeholders affected by institutional and intercollegiate athletics decisions.

Dr. Mattessich’s experience and volunteer service also includes committee work with intercollegiate conferences, the NCAA, and international governing bodies (FIL-World Lacrosse), with emphasis on budget analysis, strategic planning and organizational development.

Dino received a BS in Physical Education from the University of Maryland, an MS in Athletic Administration from Western Illinois University, and his Ed.D. in Education Administration from Morgan State University.

Jeff Hathaway has a demonstrated history of accomplishments in enhancing academic and athletic success of student-athletes, fundraising, student-athlete well-being, marketing, communications, university and community relations, strategic planning and fiscal management while serving and leading a diverse population of outstanding student-athletes, coaches and staff.

Most recently, Hathaway has been working as a consultant for higher education and intercollegiate athletics clients including a number of outstanding institutions and conferences.  He has also taught Sports Management classes at the graduate level.

Hathaway served as the Special Assistant to the President for Athletics at Hofstra University until June 2019.  Hathaway was the Vice President / Director of Athletics at Hofstra University for the past six years (2012-18) in which he served and lead an outstanding athletic program that enjoyed tremendous success in the classrooms, competitive venues and in the personal development of their student-athletes.

Hathaway represented the Colonial Athletic Association on the inaugural NCAA Division I Council while also serving as the Chair of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee.  Hathaway was selected to serve on the “Commission on Basketball” chaired by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.  He is also served a five – year term as a member of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Committee and was selected by his Committee peers to be the Chair in 2011-12.

During his six-year tenure at Hofstra, there were 15 teams that qualified for NCAA Tournaments, eight CAA postseason championships, 10 regular season CAA titles and four other postseason tournaments including their first NIT appearance in nine years.  Hofstra’s student-athletes established a single semester athletic department record by posting an average GPA of 3.3 and an academic year record of 3.29 average GPA in 2016-17.Hofstra’s program established an athletic department record for Academic Progress Rates (APR) with 13 of their 17 teams earning perfect 1000 single year scores, twice in the last three years.

As the Director of Athletics at UConn, Hathaway and his staff negotiated the university’s first ever department – wide apparel contract resulting in a $46 million agreement with NIKE.  Hathaway also negotiated UConn’s first ever multimedia / corporate partnership contract with IMG which guaranteed more than $80 million with the opportunity for additional revenue sharing.  Nine national championships were won during his tenure – five in women’s basketball, three in men’s basketball and one in men’s soccer.  The UConn football program was the first university to transition from Division IAA to participation in a Bowl Championship Series game when they accepted an invitation to play Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.  In UConn’s first eight years of being a BCS member the football team played in five bowl games and won two Big East Football Championships. Hathaway also served on the NCAA Football Post-Season Committee which had the responsibility to manage the annual certification of all bowl games. The Huskies consistently attained a 99% academic retention rate among their student-athletes.

During the last capital campaign of Hathaway’s UConn tenure, the athletic program generated over $71 million before his departure – more than any other campus entity at this time.

As the Director of Athletics at Colorado State University, Hathaway had oversight for 15 sports.  Seven of the 15 sports were represented in post-season play during both of his years at CSU.  The Rams were Mountain West Champions in football, men’s basketball, softball and volleyball.  The men’s basketball team made their first trip to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 13 years.  During that time, the football program played in two bowl games and the women’s basketball team advanced to the WNIT semi-finals.  The athletic program secured a record $15.2 million gift for football stadium renovations and the first-ever contract to outsource the athletic department’s multimedia rights and corporate sponsorship was initiated and continues to this day.

Hathaway worked at the University of Maryland for eight years as the Assistant Athletic Director/Marketing and Communications, Acting Assistant Athletic Director/Business Affairs, Business Manager and Head Basketball Athletic Trainer. Prior to beginning his tenure in college athletics, Hathaway also served as the Director of Community Relations for the Chicago White Sox.

Hathaway has been selected three times by the National Association of Collegiate Director of Athletics (NACDA) as an Athletic Director of the Year honoree.  He was also one of four finalists for the Sports Business Journal’s national Athletic Director of the Year Award in 2008.

Hathaway received both a Bachelor’s of Science (Athletic Administration) and a Master of General Administration from the University of Maryland.  He also earned a Master of Arts (Education Administration) from the University of Connecticut. Jeff’s impressive education is further complimented by participation in a Management Development Program at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education; the Sports Management Institute (consortium of University of Notre Dame, University of North Carolina & University of Southern California); and Division I-A (now LEAD1) Athletic Directors Institute.

Eileen Korey has provided strategic communications counsel to leadership of organizations for more than 20 years, including preparing them to handle threats to reputation, allegations of wrongdoing, ethics violations and other potential crises.  After a respected career in print and broadcast journalism, Eileen earned the trust of both media and organizational leadership in streamlining communications to advance reputation and brand, implementing crisis communications plans that help to protect reputations, and preparing executives to face the media.

Korey has a deep understanding of the dynamics between university administration and athletics programs, advising athletic directors, coaches, trainers and university presidents on the management of messaging when confronting difficult issues, including NCAA infractions and Title IX violations.  In her career, she has helped organizations and individuals facing allegations of sexual assault, bribery, white collar theft, criminal misconduct, health and safety violations, and labor disputes.

Korey is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University, and spent most of her career in Cleveland, Ohio, where more than a decade after leaving the media industry, she was inducted into the Journalism Hall of Fame by the Press Club of Cleveland.  She has her own consulting practice, now based out of Portland, Oregon.

Beginning his tenure at Oklahoma State University Athletics in 2006, Jesse Martin has proven himself in various capacities – as Associate Ticket Manager, Assistant Athletics Director for Development, and currently as OSU’s Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs. Since 2009, Martin has also been a lecturer for the Spears School of Business in sports marketing.

Prior to joining the Cowboys, Martin spent five seasons with the Mississippi Sea Wolves professional hockey team of the ECHL. Named the eighth general manager in team history, Martin also served for three seasons as Mississippi’s Assistant General Manager. During his time with the Sea Wolves, he was selected as the 2004 ECHL Ticket Executive of the Year.

A native of Madison, Kansas, Martin received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Fort Hays State before completing an internship with Walt Disney World Resorts in Orlando, Florida.

Expert content and copy editor Jennifer Olson Hyatt, holds dual-undergraduate degrees in English and Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she played NCAA Division I volleyball for the Panthers. She subsequently earned an MBA at the University of Cincinnati while working in the UC Department of Athletics. She spent several years with USA Volleyball, Junior Achievement International, and in ‘corporate America’ before becoming an independent business owner, grant writer, and communications consultant.

Beyond CarrSports, Jennifer contributes to her community as an eleven-year elected member of the Cumberland Board of Education, a founding member and site coordinator for Cumberland Food Distribution, and a long-time youth volleyball coach.

As the James Madison University Associate Athletics Director for Compliance, Student-Athlete Services, Student-Athlete Leadership, and Senior Woman Administrator, Jennifer Phillips oversees all NCAA compliance and student-athlete academic services for JMU’s 18 sports. Jennifer is also the lead administrator for two of JMU’s consistently successful sports: Women’s Basketball and Women’s Swimming / Diving.

The breadth of her responsibilities also includes the design and implementation of the groundbreaking JMU Athletics Student-Athlete Leadership Development Program, Dukes Lead. She also chairs another one of her initiatives, the Athletics Eligibility Working Group, which meticulously monitors the academic progress of every JMU student-athlete. Jennifer’s Presidential appointment as Co-Chair of the campus-wide University Task Force on Inclusion, demonstrates that she is held in high regard by JMU peers.

Beyond the campus, Jennifer served on the NCAA Division I Amateurism Fact-Finding Committee. Her leadership role within the Colonial Athletic Conference has encompassed chairing the CAA SWA Committee as well as representing JMU on several CAA standing committees.

Prior to JMU, Phillips served as a Compliance/Financial Aid Coordinator at the University of Colorado before taking her first JMU position as an Assistant Director of Compliance. She also assumed a similar role at West Virginia University for two years before becoming the Assistant Athletics Director for NCAA Compliance at Gardner-Webb University. Phillips was at Gardner-Webb for four years before returning to JMU in 2008 as an Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance.

Phillips graduated from West Virginia University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management and went on to receive a Master of Science in Sport Management from WVU the following year.

Dr. Michael Sagas currently a Professor and Chair in the Department of Sport Management at the University of Florida. He also serves as the University’s Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA and Southeastern Conference.

Dr. Sagas has distinguished himself as an industry-leading expert in sports management by providing theoretical and practical research utilized by scholars, policy makers, and managers of intercollegiate athletics and youth sports programs worldwide. Sagas has authored or coauthored over 100 refereed journal articles and is a Research Fellow of the North American Society for Sport Management. His research interests are in Athlete Development, Intercollegiate Athletics, and Identity Development in Sports Organizations.

Sagas received his doctorate and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University in Sport Management, where he also served as a faculty member prior to his arrival to UF. Michael earned his Bachelor of Science in Exercise and Sport Science-Coaching from the University of Utah.

Helen Grant provides proven expertise with all aspects of Title IX compliance, as well as intercollegiate athletics Gender Equity and Diversity planning. She has a diverse background in athletics, having started her intercollegiate career at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she coached for eleven years before serving as Assistant and Associate Athletic Director. Helen’s breath of experience in intercollegiate athletics allows her to effectively assist administrators with the practical application of Title IX compliance. She offers workable solutions for managing the impact on budgets, facilities, personnel, competitive excellence, and sport sponsorship options.

Following her tenure at Southern Mississippi, she served in the Membership Services Department at the NCAA, working directly with the Division I Athletics Certification Program and NCAA Title IX Workshops Planning Committee. From 2001-2006 Grant served as the Compliance Coordinator and Director of Championships for the Sun Belt Conference. She has also been a member of the NCAA Division I Management Council, Membership Subcommittee, Legislative Review Subcommittee, Administrative Review Subcommittee, and the NCAA Postgraduate Awards Committee.

In 2009 Grant founded Helen Grant Consulting, LLC.  Since then she has been privileged to work with almost 100 intercollegiate athletics departments, including many members of FBS Power Five and Group of Five Conferences, numerous FCS and Division I Without Football institutions, and colleges/universities at all levels of NCAA membership. Her diverse experience also encompasses assisting junior colleges and high schools. Helen’s long list of returning clients is truly a testament to her impressive qualifications.