Dr. Anthony P. Monaco
Tufts University, President
Anthony P. Monaco became the thirteenth president of Tufts University on August 1, 2011. An accomplished leader, scientist and teacher, Dr. Monaco brings to the Tufts presidency deep-rooted commitments to academic excellence, diversity, access and inclusion, a global perspective, and a keen awareness of the power of higher education to impact individuals and society.
Under President Monaco’s leadership, the university has identified strategic directions and key initiatives that will support and enhance Tufts’ longstanding commitments to innovation, collaboration, civic life and global perspectives. The recommendations of the comprehensive T10 strategic plan approved by the Board of Trustees in November 2013 are now being implemented across the university. Tufts is also actively engaged in long-term capital planning to support needed improvements in facilities and systems that sustain teaching, research and campus life. In concert with President Monaco’s commitment to broaden access to a Tufts education and contain costs, the university has successfully implemented a series of major initiatives to use its administrative and financial resources more effectively—a project known as Tufts Effectiveness in Administrative Management (TEAM)—and continues to enhance administrative processes to support student and faculty needs.
Major educational initiatives of President Monaco’s tenure have included the acquisition of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, enhancing the arts at Tufts. President Monaco is also deeply committed to the well-being of the campus community and currently chairs university-wide councils or steering committees dedicated to advancing diversity and inclusion, preventing sexual misconduct, and supporting sustainability at Tufts. Each of these efforts builds on a comprehensive assessment of how Tufts could best put its values and institutional commitments into practice.
From his first days at Tufts, President Monaco has been active in campus activities. He is a regular spectator at athletic events and routinely enjoys students’ music, dance, drama and other performances. He participates in training sessions for members of the Tufts community preparing for the Boston Marathon and supports them at the annual race. Many days he can be found swimming in the Hamilton Pool or joining students for a meal in one of the dining halls on the Medford/Somerville campus.
As pro-vice-chancellor for planning and resources at Oxford University from 2007 until his arrival at Tufts, Dr. Monaco developed and led strategic-planning initiatives for academic programs, capital improvements and budgeting and resource allocation. He was an active steward of programs to make an Oxford education possible for students from a range of backgrounds.
A distinguished geneticist, Dr. Monaco’s doctoral research led to a landmark discovery: the gene responsible for X-linked Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies. At Oxford, he led the Neurogenetics Group, a team of scientists investigating the genetic underpinnings of such neurodevelopmental disorders as autism, specific language impairment, and dyslexia. His research group was the first to identify a gene (FOXP2) specifically involved in human speech and language. Dr. Monaco directed Oxford University’s Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics from 1998-2007 and was then appointed as pro-vice-chancellor for planning and resources.
At Tufts, President Monaco holds faculty appointments as a professor of biology in the School of Arts and Sciences and as a professor of neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1981, and his M.D. and Ph.D. through Harvard Medical School’s Medical Scientist Training Program, where he specialized in the genetics of neurological disorders.
President Monaco was elected to the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2006 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018, and is a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (U.K.) and the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the Association of American Physicians.
President Monaco chairs the Steering Committee of the Talloires Network, whose more than 350 member institutions around the world are committed to advancing civic engagement in higher education. He has served as the Chair of the Board of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Massachusetts and the New England Small College Athletic Conference. He also serves on the boards of Cummings Foundation, the MacJannet Foundation, the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund, Tufts Medical Center, and WGBH, and sits on the board of trustees of the Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware, from which he graduated.
Dr. Tiffany Jones
X-Factor Performance, Owner & President
Dr. Tiff Jones is a Certified Mental Performance Coach (CMPC) and owner of X-Factor Performance Consulting. With over 20 years' experience working with professional, college, and youth athletes, teams, coaches, and clubs, Dr. Tiff uses theory and science to create mental skills training to help develop the tools necessary for mental toughness. Current clients include and are not limited to University of Florida, Alabama Gymnastics, University of Minnesota Duluth Women's Ice Hockey, Missouri University Women's Tennis, and many other D2 and D3 University and College Athletic Departments. Dr. Tiff has also consulted with the USA Women's U-20 Soccer Team, USA Women's Ice Hockey, the Women's Professional Soccer League (WPS), the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), True North Sports, and the Meghan Klingenberg Soccer Camp. She also consults with many Olympic and professional athletes in a variety of sports.
Dr. Tiff has been trained and is a consultant for Athlete Assessments, a sport profiling company that uses resources and tools to help clients reach their personal excellence in and out of sport. She is also a Certified Chopra Health and Well-Being Teacher, a Certified Chopra Meditation Teacher and Certified Chopra Coach. The Chopra Certification allows Dr. Tiff to also work and train her clients using Ayurvedic (holistic) techniques for the development of emotional consciousness.
Jenny Rearick
Fit To Speak, Founder | Twitter: @Jenny_Rearick
Jenny Rearick is the Founder of Fit To Speak, a company dedicated to helping fitness, sport, and health professionals create understanding and increase their impact through the development of their communication and speaking skills. Since 2017, she's helped thousands of professionals elevate their presence by teaching them concrete communication and speaking behaviors. Jenny believes that coaches who can organize and deliver information in a clear, confident, and connected way will be the coaches who thrive today and in the future.
Anthony Andino
The Center for Healing and Justice Through Sports (formerly We Coach), Lead Consultant and Trainer
Anthony Andino has worked in the non-profit sector for almost 15 years. He developed a strong passion for sports through playing basketball on the elite circuits in NYC in high school and in college. During the transition away from playing sports, Anthony went back to serve as a youth counselor in the program he attended as a child. This opportunity led Anthony to be enrolled in the Coaches Across America program with Up2Us sports that allowed him to bring together his love for the sport of basketball and his passion for providing positive and safe experiences for the young people in his community. Through his work as a Lead Consultant and Trainer for CHJS and his many years as a Youth Programmer at Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East side of NYC, he has helped with the development of coaches and youth workers using his wealth of knowledge as well as his ability to build strong and meaningful relationships to enhance the sport experience of youth across the country.
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Ethan Barron
The Center for Healing and Justice Through Sports, Trainer
Barron has served as the head coach of the men's track and field team at Williams College since 2015, and has led the Ephs to the NESCAC Men's Track & Field title in 2016 and 2017. In 2019, former Eph Aidan Ryan won the 1500m race at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, one of several All-American and All-NESCAC athletes Barron has mentored during his coaching career.
Barron arrived at Williams after a successful 10-year run as the head coach of men's track at field and cross-country at fellow NESCAC member Tufts University. The Jumbos won the 2015 NESCAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship and the 2005 and 2012 NESCAC Men's Cross Country titles under Barron's direction.
Barron and his Williams staff were voted as the NESCAC Men's Track & Field Coaching Staff of the Year in 2018 and his Tufts staff garnered the award in 2015. Barron was also named the New England Division III Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008 as well as the 2008 Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year accolade.
Barron is a 2001 graduate of Middlebury College where he earned an undergraduate degree in chemistry with a minor in mathematics. He earned All-America honors in both indoor and outdoor track & field as a member of the Panthers' squad. Barron earned a Master's degree in Educational Studies from Tufts in 2004.
Christine Bright
The Center for Healing and Justice Through Sports (formerly We Coach), Lead Consultant and Trainer
Christine Bright has worked in the field of sports-based youth development and coaching for over 10 years. She has coached a variety of sports, age groups and skill levels from introductory to the collegiate level as an assistant women's soccer coach at Colby College. In addition to her work as coach, she has done several years of work with Hardy Girls Healthy Women and their efforts around promoting feminism and activism for young women and gender expansive youth. She has been working with CHJS (formerly We Coach) since its inception and is especially happy to continue to learn and share about the intersections of gender, race, and sport.
Christine received her bachelor of arts degree in Sociology/Anthropology from Middlebury College, where she was captain of the women's soccer team and captain of the track and field team. She earned her MBA from the Heller School for Social Management and Policy at Brandeis University.
Celine Cunningham
Bates College, Deputy Director of Athletics / Senior Woman Administrator
Celine Cunningham joined Bates as the Senior Associate Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator prior to the 2018-19 academic year. In 2022, she was promoted to Deputy Director of Athletics. Cunningham had been associate director of athletics at Stevens since 2011 and senior woman administrator since 2006. She had been head coach of women's lacrosse at the Hoboken, N.J., college since 2002.
Cunningham concluded her coaching career at Stevens by guiding the Ducks to their third NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018. She compiled 202 victories over 16 seasons, and won Empire 8 Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2009, 2011 and 2017.
As associate AD at Stevens, Cunningham maintained complete oversight of the men's soccer, field hockey, men's and women's cross country and track and field, men's fencing, and women's basketball programs, including budget management, student-athlete evaluations and coaching performance reviews. She was responsible for all aspects of NCAA compliance, including the education of staff and student-athletes in addition to NCAA compliance certification for over 500 students. Cunningham was also responsible for all aspects of staff and student-athlete education, including Title IX training, safe zone training, bystander training, hazing prevention and leadership training.
As a student-athlete herself, Cunningham played both field hockey and lacrosse at the University of Maryland. During her time as a Terrapin, Cunningham was a four-year starter, a captain of the field hockey team and won the 1981 national championship in women's lacrosse. She capped off her collegiate career by being named a first-team All-American and a member of the U.S. National Squad.
Cunningham earned a bachelor's degree in kinesiology at Maryland, followed by a master's degree in coaching and administration from Concordia University of Irvine, California. Prior to her time at Stevens Institute, Cunningham was the first head coach of women's lacrosse at Columbia University, from 1996 to 2002. Before that she was an assistant lacrosse and field hockey coach at Georgetown University.
Over her career, Cunningham has amassed an array of leadership experiences in college athletics. She has chaired both the NCAA Women's Lacrosse and Women's Lacrosse Rules Committees and served on the IWLCA Board of Directors. Cunningham is a member of Women Leaders in College Sports, the NACDA, the Alliance of Women Coaches and the NCAA DIII SWA Program, among many organizations.
Drew Galbraith
Trinity College, Athletics Director / Physical Education Chair
Trinity College appointed Drew Galbraith as director of athletics & chair of physical education on October 19, 2017, and he continues to make a significant impact on Bantam Athletics. Galbraith experience spans 30 years of NCAA Division I, II and III collegiate athletics administration.
At Trinity, Galbraith is responsible for Trinity's 30 varsity teams, over 700 varsity student-athletes, as well as 80 coaches and staff. In addition, he oversees all club and intramural activities and chairs the College's Physical Education Department, which offers dozens of classes each semester and plays a key role in the College's Wellness Curriculum.
The Trinity College Department of Athletics and Physical Education comprises three areas of interest for campus activities: athletics, physical education, and recreation. The department has a strong and storied tradition that prides itself on a broad-based program that sponsors 30 sports—15 men's and 15 women's. Sports have always been a part of the fabric of life at Trinity. Our students have played intercollegiate football for 139 years. In 1856, they created the College's first rowing club. They played their first baseball game against another organized team just three years after the Civil War. They have played basketball since 1896. In 1969, the College became a coeducational institution, and a women's varsity sports program blossomed. The varsity teams compete in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, arguably the toughest NCAA Division III conference in the nation. Bantam teams have captured 26 national titles in eight different sports, including 24 titles in the last 23 years. Trinity has earned 11 NESCAC titles over the past four years and 33 in the past 10 years, tied for third-most in the NESCAC during that span.
In an effort to create a sustainable financial future for the Athletic Department, Galbraith headed athletic fundraising initiatives leading to records for annual giving, new alumni donors and total athletic donors in 2020-21. In addition, the College has secured several new athletic endowments in the past four years. Building on success of athletic facility projects completed in the past decade, Robin L. Sheppard Field was replaced in 2018 and Oosting Gymnasium received a facelift and all new seating in 2019 and a new floor in 2021. Sheppard Field and Jessee/Miller Field received new seating, press box and VIP spaces in 2021. Trinity will showcase campus and its facilities by hosting four NCAA Championships between 2021 and 2025 with Division III Field Hockey (2021), Women's Basketball Final Four (2023), Men's Ice Hockey Frozen Four (2024) and Field Hockey (2025) all coming to campus.
Galbraith came to Trinity after 14 years at Dartmouth College, where he was the senior associate director of athletics and executive director of Dartmouth Peak Performance, a program that integrates services and resources to help student-athletes achieve excellence. At Dartmouth, Galbraith helped lead a comprehensive athletics program of 35 varsity teams, 33 club sports, and 24 intramural sports. He served as sport administrator for the Dartmouth Big Green football program, as well as for women's rugby and men's and women's cross country and track and field. Over the years, Galbraith has served as sport administrator for 13 other teams at Dartmouth, overseeing coaches and all aspects of their programs. He also served as a liaison to health professionals who work with student-athletes. Galbraith is active in NCAA committee service, having served previously on the NCAA Academics, Eligibility and Compliance Cabinet, the Division I Administration Cabinet, the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Committee (4 years), and the NCAA Men's and Women's Skiing Committee (6 years). He chaired the soccer committee for two years and the skiing committee for four years.
Galbraith earned both a bachelor's degree and a law degree from the College of William & Mary. He began his career in media relations and broadcasting at Virginia Commonwealth University. He joined Dartmouth in 2004 as associate director of athletics after serving in compliance roles in the athletics departments at William & Mary and at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Brandon Linton
Tufts University, Head Men's Basketball Coach
Brandon Linton, who has a wide range of coaching experience in Division I and III and in the NESCAC, was hired as the head coach of the Tufts men's basketball team on May 20, 2021.
Linton previously led the Nichols men's basketball team from 2019-21. He inherited a team coming off a conference championship season in which it advanced to the NCAA Elite 8. Coach Linton succeeded at the difficult challenge of keeping a team on top, guiding the 2019-20 Nichols team to 21 wins, another Commonwealth Coast Conference championship and an NCAA berth.
Prior to that, Coach Linton spent five seasons as an assistant on the men's basketball team at Army West Point from 2014-19. He had experience with NESCAC after spending two seasons (2012-14) at Bowdoin College.
At Army, Coach Linton was on the staff in 2015-16 when the team's 19-14 overall record represented the most wins for the program in the last 38 seasons. Among the many talented recruits that he helped bring to West Point was all-time assists leader Tommy Funk. In 2015, Linton was named one of the National Association of Basketball Coaches' Under Armour "30 Under 30" selections as a one of the top young coaches in the nation.
His first full-time coaching position at Bowdoin included 2013-14 when the Polar Bears' 19-5 finish was the winningest season in school history and they earned the program's first NCAA berth since 2008.
Originally from Queens (East Elmhurst), Linton is a 2010 Clarkson University graduate who is third all-time in assists (400), fourth in career blocks (80) and seventh in total steals (149) for the Golden Knights. He remained at Clarkson as an assistant coach from 2010-12.
Coach Linton has developed his coaching style from playing for Adam Stockwell at Clarkson, and in coaching roles under Zach Spiker and Jimmy Allen at Army West Point along with Tim Gilbride at Bowdoin.
Kevin Loney
Bowdoin College, Assistant Athletic Director for Facilities and Event Management
Kevin Loney was named the Assistant Athletic Director for Facilities and Event Management at Bowdoin in the spring of 2021. A 1999 graduate of Dickinson College, Loney had been a football coach for the last 20 years, holding numerous roles at every division of the NCAA.
Most recently, from 2011-13, he was the head coach at Nichols College before coming to Bowdoin in 2015. During his career, he has been an active member of the American Football Coaches Association and the Black Coaches & Administrators Association. Upon arriving at Bowdoin, Loney became a fixture in the campus community, supporting service efforts with Be The Match, Relay for Life and Big-Brother/Big Sister, among numerous others. Administratively, he has served as the Tournament Director for several NCAA Basketball Regionals at Bowdoin and has been an advisor to the Bowdoin Athletes of Color Coalition, as well as a member of the Bowdoin Athletics Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee and NESCAC Coaches of Color Consortium.
Loney oversees game management operations and coordinates facility scheduling, contracts and event management with outside organizations using Bowdoin athletic facilities, in addition to his continued work with the AoCC and DEI committees on campus. Loney graduated from Dickinson as a Religion major and History minor and attended graduate schools while coaching at Notre Dame and Southern Connecticut State University.
Lisa Melendy
Williams College, Director of Athletics
On April 4, 2011, Lisa Melendy was named the Athletic Director at Williams College after serving as the Interim Athletic Director since August 2010, while the College embarked on a nationwide search for an Athletic Director.
Melendy served as the Associate Athletic Director from 1998-2009. She served as the head women's soccer coach from 1985-2001 and has coached women's lacrosse and women's squash during her tenure. During the 2006-07 academic year, Melendy was the Acting Athletic Director for the Ephs.
Under Melendy's direction, the Ephs won the Directors' Cup while she was Acting AD (2006-07), Interim AD and as the AD in 2011, helping extend the Eph streak of Cup wins to 13 straight and 15 out of the 16 awarded.
In her 17 years as the Eph head coach, Melendy compiled an impressive record of 195-55-21 (.758). She recorded 13 consecutive seasons of double figure wins to close out her Williams coaching career.
Under Melendy, the Ephs won the 1989 Northeast Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title, the 1990 & 1997 ECAC-New England titles and were a NCAA semifinalist in 1999.
Melendy coached 19 All-Americans and one Rhodes Scholar at Williams.
Melendy's primary responsibilities as Associate Athletic Director included compliance, budgetary oversight, championships, faculty evaluations, and departmental policy advising. Melendy has also sat on the Williams Advisory Group on Admissions and Financial Aid and has served as a member of the NCAA Division III Women's Golf Championships Committee.
On a sabbatical leave in 2005, Melendy studied in the University of Massachusetts' Social Justice Department and continues to serve on college and conference-wide committees to increase both diversity and inclusion in athletics.
Deidre Pierson
Hamilton College, Associate Athletic Director / Senior Woman Administrator
Deidre Pierson was named Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator in August 2021. Pierson most recently coached in the Liberty League for four years, and she has more than 20 years of experience working in the legal, compliance and financial services fields. Pierson, who had been the Continentals' assistant women's basketball coach since September 2020, also serves as the department's NCAA Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Designee (ADID) and director of compliance.
Prior to joining Hamilton, Pierson worked as a compliance project assistant at Union College from 2017 to 2019. She helped the senior woman administrator with roster management, compiling federal graduation rates and Academic Success Rates (ASR) as a voluntary reporting institution. She also provided risk assessment evaluation on the basketball/volleyball facility to the assistant director of athletics for facilities.
In the spring of 2018, Pierson spearheaded a Capstone sponsorship project with the University at Albany's Athletics Department where she assessed marketing, ticket sales, sponsorship relations and business operations. Pierson was an assistant women's basketball coach at Skidmore College for the 2019-20 season after working at Union in a similar role. She was also Union's assistant women's golf coach and the team's recruiting coordinator.
Pierson is a member of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport and has presented her research on Diversity and Inclusion in Intercollegiate Athletics at annual conferences. She is also a member of the North American Society for Sport Management, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and the WeCoach association. She is a current member of the NESCAC Coaches of Color group.
Pierson, who hails from Montreal, Quebec, played college basketball at Division I Boise State University from 1992 to 1996. She was a sophomore point guard on head coach June Daugherty's 1993-94 team that posted a 23-6 record and received an at-large bid to the NCAA championship. The Broncos shared the Big Sky Conference regular season title that season with a 12-2 league record and were nationally ranked. Pierson was a three-time member of the conference's all-academic team.
Pierson graduated from Boise State with a degree in political science and a paralegal studies minor. She has a certificate in continuing education in environmental law and regulations from the University of Washington, and a master's of science in sport management with a concentration in intercollegiate athletics from SUNY Cortland.
Tommy Verdell
Williams College, Associate Athletic Director for Inclusion & Compliance
Tommy Verdell was named the Williams College Associate Athletic Director for Inclusion and Compliance in June 2019.
Verdell came Williams after serving as an assistant athletic director and assistant men's basketball coach at Bates College over a five-year span. He was the head coach of men's basketball and assistant athletic director at Johnson State College for two years as well.
Verdell's primary duties at Williams center around working closely with Admissions and Financial Aid in recruiting and supporting under-represented students that are representative of the broader community, developing recruitment strategies with coaches to broaden pools and increase out-reach to traditionally under-represented populations, and creating and delivering educational programming for teams and department members to create an inclusive environment for faculty, staff, and students. In addition, he will assist the department in recruitment of staff and faculty from under-represented groups.
Verdell also coordinates all compliance requirements for Williams, NESCAC, and the NCAA and he will develop and teach each 6-week long activity classes in physical education.
Verdell is a 2003 graduate of UMass, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in coaching. He completed his Master's degree in coaching and athletic administration at Concordia University Irvine in November of 2018.
Alice Wiercinski
Bowdoin College, Associate Athletic Director / Senior Woman Administrator
In the spring of 2013, Alice Wiercinski joined Bowdoin as the Associate Director of Athletics. In the summer of 2019, she added the title of Senior Woman Administrator.
Wiercinski oversees several athletic programs at the College, serves as a member of the department leadership team and is responsible for athletic department operations including budget oversight, event management and facilities administration and planning.
A 1996 graduate of Yale University, Wiercinski was previously the Associate Athletics Director and Director of Advancement for the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) from 2008-2013. Previously, she served as the Senior Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator at Colgate University following stints in the Athletic Departments of San Diego State and Brown University.
At UIC, Wiercinski managed the Advancement program within athletics that included major gift development, corporate and foundation giving, annual giving, special development events, and alumni and donor relations. She helped establish the first Athletics Development Leadership Board and also served as the liaison to Athletic Communications and UIC's Office of Public Affairs to publicize and recognize athletic development successes and donor stories.
Prior to joining the UIC staff, Wiercinski spent three years as Senior Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator at Colgate University where she oversaw corporate sponsorship, marketing and promotions, and personnel management for athletics. She also served as the administrative liaison for the faculty liaison program for varsity teams, ECAC Hockey and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. In addition, her duties included the administration and supervision of men's soccer, women's ice hockey, women's lacrosse, men's golf, and men's and women's tennis.
While at Colgate, Wiercinski was appointed to serve as a member of the NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Committee. Wiercinski was a member of the Steering Committee during the school's NCAA re-certification process.
Wiercinski came to Colgate from San Diego State University, where she was the Assistant Director of Marketing and Corporate Sales for the Aztecs. At San Diego State, she oversaw marketing and event management initiatives, group sales and corporate sales. Before joining the Aztecs, she worked at Brown University assisting with sports marketing, advertising and event management for their athletics department.
Denver Williams
Trinity College, Assistant Football Coach (Recruiting Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
Denver Williams began his 15th year on the Trinity staff as wide receivers coach in 2022 and boasts 20 years of coaching experience at the Division II and III levels. He also serves as the team’s recruiting coordinator and handles the Bantam kick return and punt return units. Trinity wide receivers have received All-NESCAC honors 17 times under Williams’ tutelage, including 13 in the last 10 seasons. Most recently, Jonathan Girard '22 graduated as Trinity’s all-time leader in pass receptions, receiving yards, and touchdown catches.
Williams played for Youngstown State University where his team won the NCAA Division I-AA National Championship in 1997. An All-State running back at Cadiz High School and a 2012 inductee into the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame, Williams holds the school's record for rushing yards as well as several state records for track and field. Williams has also served as the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Ashland University, and the receivers coach, offensive coordinator, and recruiting coordinator at Ohio Northern University. He is an associate professor in the Trinity athletic department and has been a track and field assistant coach for the Bantams. Williams is a member of the Trinity Athletics Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
