Judith A. MacLeod is an American sports administrator and the current commissioner of

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. She previously served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...

. MacLeod is the first woman to commission a conference in the

NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS).

Early life and education

MacLeod was born to parents

Scottish American Scottish Americans or Scots Americans (; ) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in Scotland. Scottish Americans are closely related to Scotch-Irish Americans, descendants of Ulster Scots, and communities emphasize and ce ...

Kenneth A. MacLeod (father) and Wilma Couchman (mother): a secretary for both

Bumble Bee Foods Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, is an American company that produces canned tuna, salmon, other seafoods, and chicken under the brand names "Bumble Bee," "Wild Selections," "Beach Cliff," "Brunswick," and "Snow's." The brand is marketed as " Clover L ...

and the

Sons of Norway Sons of Norway (), founded in 1895 as the Independent Order of the Sons of Norway, is a fraternal organization principally representing people of Norwegian-American, Norwegian heritage in the United States and Canada. The organization includes i ...

Everett, Washington Everett (; ) is the county seat and most populous city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the Seattle metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett ...

chapter, and has an older sister named Kim. MacLeod grew up in

Edmonds, Washington Edmonds is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is located in the southwest corner of the county, facing Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains to the west. The city is part of the Seattle metropolitan area and is located ...

and went to

Meadowdale High School (Washington) Meadowdale High School is a high school in the Edmonds School District, located in Lynnwood, Washington, United States. The school has students in grades 9 through 12. Meadowdale competes 3A in the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Associatio ...

. MacLeod played

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

and

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

on the high school's girl's basketball team from 1980 to 1982, and also played volleyball and softball (as

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

). MacLeod earned Second Team, East Division Honors in her junior season. In MacLeod's senior season, she was the

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

and earned all-league 3A honorable mention honors in both basketball and softball. MacLeod graduated from Meadowdale High School as a

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in Armenia, the Philippines, Canada, Afghanistan and the United States to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. ...

in 1982. MacLeod attended the

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound is a private liberal arts college in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1888. The institution offers a variety of undergraduate degrees as well as five graduate programs in counseling, education, oc ...

as an undergraduate, where she, like in high school, played forward on the school's women's basketball team. MacLeod became team captain on during her senior year. MacLeod graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

in 1986. MacLeod graduated with a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Athletic Administration from The University of Tulsa in 1991.

Career

Early career

MacLeod began her career in

college sports College sports or college athletics encompasses amateur sports played by non-professional, collegiate and university-level student athletes in competitive sports and games. College sports have led to many college rivalries. College sports tra ...

coaching and administration at

Seattle University Seattle University (Seattle U or SU) is a private Jesuit university in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the largest independent university in the Northwestern United States, with over 7,500 students enrolled in undergraduate and grad ...

, where she spent four seasons as an assistant basketball coach under head coach Dave Cox. MacLeod was part of the 1987-88 Women's Basketball Team coaching staff: Which was inducted into the University's Athletics Hall Of Fame in 2011. She also worked as a sports manager at the

1990 Goodwill Games The 1990 Goodwill Games was the second edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held between July 20 and August 5, 1990. Following an inaugural edition in Moscow, the second games took place in Seattle, Unit ...

, which inspired her to pursue a career in sports management.

University of Tulsa

In 1990, MacLeod became a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

at The

the same year. After working in various positions for the university's athletic department, including as an intern (from 1990 to 1991), a ticket manager (from 1991 to 1994), assistant athletic director (1993–1994) and associate athletic director (1994–1995), MacLeod was promoted as athletic director in 1995, a position she held for the next ten years. During MacLeod's tenure as athletic director, Tulsa built the

Reynolds Center Donald W. Reynolds Center is an 8,355-seat multi-purpose arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Designed by HOK Sport (now known as Populous Co.), the arena opened in 1998 and is named for Donald W. Reynolds. Located on the University of Tulsa campus, it is ...

and several other new athletic facilities, and it moved its sports teams into the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

and later into Conference USA.

Conference USA

In 2005, MacLeod left Tulsa to become an associate commissioner of Conference USA. She was promoted to executive associate commissioner the following year. While serving in that position, she was also a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee from 2012 to 2015. After Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky left his position in 2015, MacLeod was named the conference's new commissioner. She was the first and is so far the only woman to lead an FBS conference. When MacLeod became commissioner, the conference had recently lost several teams to

conference realignment Since 2020 many college or university athletic programs have changed membership from one National Collegiate Athletic Association athletic conference to another. Announced future changes ;Notes * The "year" column indicates the calendar year ...

, and its revenue from media rights had declined considerably. MacLeod signed several short-term contracts with streaming platforms to stabilize the conference's media revenue, but by 2019 the conference made $450,000 from its media rights, less than half of the $1.1 million it had made before realignment. After three schools left the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

(AAC) in 2021, MacLeod proposed that Conference USA merge with the AAC and reorganize into two geographically compact conferences. The AAC rejected the proposal and instead invited six Conference USA schools to replace the three departing schools, sparking an exodus that left Conference USA with fewer than the required eight members needed to maintain its FBS status. C-USA would soon restore its membership to the needed level to maintain FBS status. First, four schools were announced as new members effective in 2023–24 – FBS independents

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

and

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

(respectively full members of the

ASUN Conference The Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN) is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Division I FCS level in 2022. ...

and WAC) and FCS upgraders Jacksonville State and

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two indi ...

. Another FCS upgrader, Kennesaw State, will join for 2024–25.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacLeod, Judy Living people Conference USA commissioners Tulsa Golden Hurricane athletic directors Puget Sound Loggers women's basketball players Seattle Redhawks women's basketball coaches American women sports executives and administrators Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women People from Edmonds, Washington American people of Scottish descent American people by descent University of Puget Sound alumni People from Snohomish County, Washington Women sports executives and administrators University of Tulsa alumni