Noreen Morris, now in her 16th year as Commissioner of the Northeast Conference. She is the fourth full-time Commissioner in NEC history.
During her tenure, Morris has worked extensively with the Council of Presidents and athletic administrators to implement the Conference’s Strategic Plans adopted in 2012 and 2019, which include initiatives to enhance the NEC’s overall brand, enhance the student-athlete experience as well as strengthen the marquee sport of basketball. A significant component of those initiatives includes NEC Front Row, a state-of-the-art, interactive webcasting/social media platform that highlights the NEC’s live event coverage, academic achievement and community service projects. Likewise, Morris developed and implemented a multi-year NEC Brand and Basketball Enhancement Fund. The most recent Strategic Plan adopted by the NEC membership also includes a conference-wide commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion education and programming. Morris has also overseen a change in the conference’s governance structure with the elevation of the Senior Woman Administrators into a more enhanced leadership role, and the creation of a Sports Management Committee that engages more athletic administrators from across the conference in the day-to-day business of providing the best student-athlete experience possible.
Since joining the NEC Morris has been actively involved at the national level. She currently serves on the NCAA Division I Council, Division I Strategic Planning & Vision Committee (chair) and NCAA Gender Equity Taskforce (chair). Previously she served as a member of the Division I Nominating Committee, Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP), a member of the NACDA Executive Committee, the Chair of the NCAA Division I Leadership Council and a member of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Officiating LLC Board of Managers. Prior to joining the NEC, Morris held several leadership positions including member of the DI Management Council, chair of the Division I Men’s Soccer Committee in 2006 and President of the National Association of Athletics Compliance Coordinators in 2001.
Morris has an extensive background in intercollegiate athletics that dates back more than 25 years. Prior to the NEC was the Senior Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator at Northwestern for five years, with oversight responsibilities in the areas of academics, compliance, athletic training, strength and conditioning, and equipment. She also served as the primary liaison to the Admissions Office, served on the Big Ten Joint Group and Administrator’s Council, co-managed the department’s Strategic Planning process and supervised five Northwestern sport programs, including the five-time defending national champion women’s lacrosse program.
Prior to her time at Northwestern, Morris spent eight years with Conference USA, overseeing the conference’s legislative and governance programs. She first served as Director of Legislative Services (1996-98) before being promoted to Assistant Commissioner (1998-02) and then Associate Commissioner (2002-04).
Before moving to Conference USA, Morris spent five years as Compliance Coordinator and Sport Administrator at the University of Connecticut.
In recognition of her professional accomplishments, she was honored by the ECAC in 2014 with its inaugural Commissioner of the Year Award as well as the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators (NACWAA) as one of eight national recipients of its 2009 Administrator of the Year award.
Morris graduated from Cornell University in 1987 with a Bachelor's degree in Consumer Economics and was a two-year co-captain and four-year soccer letterwinner for the Big Red. Morris went on to earn a Master's degree in Sport Administration from the University of Massachusetts in 1991.