NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Duquesne Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator Sherene Brantley has been named chair of the NCAA Division I Volleyball Co, and seven other Atlantic 10 Conference administrators, coaches and a student-athlete have been appointed to serve on key committees. All 14 Atlantic 10 institutions have representatives that now serve in the NCAA governance structure, a league first.
 
Two A-10 Athletic Directors have been selected to prestigious committees. La Salle's Brian Baptiste was named to the Minorities Opportunities and Interests Committee (MOIC) in the spring, and Brad Edwards of George Mason was selected to the Division I Competition Oversight Committee. The Atlantic 10 also had two Faculty Athletic Representatives (FARs) named to key academic committees. Dr. Patricio Meneses was chosen for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee, and Dr. Dominique Banville of George Mason will serve on the Division I Progress Towards Degree Committee.
 
In addition to Brantley, A-10 Senior Associate Commissioner Debbie Richardson, who has served on the Division I Women's Basketball Committee since 2016, was extended for a year while Richmond Head Swimming and Diving Coach Matt Barany, who also serves on the Swimming and Diving Rules Committee, was selected to the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Committee and. Cody Shimp, a St. Bonaventure baseball student-athlete, was named as the Atlantic 10 representative to the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
 
"National committee appointments are important for conferences to have a voice impacting relevant issues and contributing to sport committee policy decisions," stated Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade. "The A-10 is proud and honored to have a truly diverse group of administrators serving the membership and providing leadership for the future!"
 
Brantley, was named to the NCAA Volleyball Committee in 2018, and she will complete her four your term at the end of the 2021-22 academic year. Duquesne's program administrator for volleyball and women's basketball, was a four-year volleyball letterwinner for the Dukes from 1998-01. Still ranked in DU's Top 10 for career kills, Brantley (then Lemonias), an outside hitter, was named First Team All-Atlantic 10 and Academic All-Conference as a senior. She joined Duquesne's athletic department as a graduate assistant in 2002. She also has chaired the NCAA Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee.

"I am both humbled and honored to serve as chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Committee. I look forward to continued collaboration with an incredible group of committee members and coach representatives, as we celebrate, highlight and advance the great sport of women's collegiate volleyball."
 
Baptiste, who joined La Salle as Athletic Director in 2019, continues the A-10 representation on the MOIC. Duquesne President Kenneth Gormley had served on the MOIC since 2018. Together, Gormley and Baptiste also Co-Chair the Atlantic 10 Commission on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Baptiste joined the Black AD Alliance as it formed in 2020, and in April was named to the Philadelphia Business Journal's 40 Under 40 List.
 
Edwards has chaired the Atlantic 10 Sport Competition Committee for the past four years. Edwards has served as Mason's athletic director since 2014. He had previously worked at Jacksonville, Newberry and his alma mater, South Carolina. Edwards had a nine-year career as an NFL defensive back, including serving as the defensive Co-Captain on the Washington Football Team's 1991 Super Bowl XXVI winning team.
 
Banville is an Associate Professor in George Mason University's College of Education and Human Development and has served as the Patriots' FAR since 2016. She has worked at George Mason for over 20 years and is a graduate of the Mason's Leadership Legacy Program. Banville's research centers around the instruction of physical education in schools, including the preparation and professional development of physical education teachers.
 
Meneses is in his 10^th year at Fordham, serving as an Associate Professor and the Department Chair of the Biological Sciences. He has been Fordham's FAR since 2017, and his college athletics ties date back to his time as a soccer player at New York University. He holds degrees from SUNY-Stony Brook and Weill-Cornell Medical College and a post-doctoral degree from Harvard Medical. His research interests focus on the Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, which is estimated to cause one-third of the 1.5 million cancers attributed to viruses.
 
Richardson is in her 13^th year at the Atlantic 10 where she serves as the league's Senior Woman Administrator and oversees Women's Basketball. She began her career in athletic administration at Campbell University after a coaching career at ETSU, Georgia Tech and North Carolina. Richardson graduated from North Carolina, where she was a women's basketball student-athlete.
 
Barany has led Richmond to 12 A-10 Swimming and Diving titles, including seven straight from 2011 through 2017. He is a nine-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year. He has coached five NCAA qualifiers, had a pair of All-Americans, and seven Olympic Trials qualifiers during his tenure at Richmond. He is a graduate of James Madison, and in addition to UR, he's served as the head coach at JMU and Randolph-Macon, where he started the swimming program.