On October 1, Southern University alumna Laronica Conway will take her seat in Birmingham, Ala. as the new assistant commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. Conference Commissioner Mike Slive announced September 12 that Conway’s duties will include overseeing many of the 12-member conference’s championships.
Slive said that Conway’s background in media relations and event management made her an ideal person for the position.
The 1991 graduate worked in Southern’s sports information department as an undergraduate.
“The SU Sports Information Department was where it all began for me. I received my first taste of working in athletics and I gained real-world, hands-on experience,” Conway said. “I did everything from tagging credentials to recording defensive stats at football games to manually typing play-by-play for basketball games.”
Conway said that during the time she was at Southern, the department did not have statistics software and almost all stat keeping had to be done by hand. She said that although her work in the office was voluntary, she was glad she did it.
After leaving Southern, she worked in Grambling State University’s Office of External and Alumni Relations as a graduate assistant and received her master’s degree in 1993.
In 1994, she was the Media Relations Assistant in the Southland Conference and then went on to become the Assistant Sports Information Director at the University of South Carolina.
Since 1999, she has served as the Assistant Director of Media Relations for the National Collegiate Athletic Association. At her post at the NCAA, Conway participated in the management and organization of major events including the past four NCAA Women’s Final Four.
“I’m thrilled to begin another phase of my athletics career. I’m going from public relations to championships and I’m excited about this new challenge,” Conway said. “As an assistant commissioner for the SEC, I will be a part of the executive-level decision-makers who help shape policy for the conference. To be able to add my input and become involved in major issues at such a powerful conference is exciting and challenging all at the same time.”
Through her multifaceted career, Conway said that she has always looked back to her roots on The Bluff and Southern’s membership in the Southwestern Athletic Conference as a start to her blooming career. “It was the perfect start to my career and I’m extremely proud to say that my athletics career began at Southern University.”
