LEDWIN ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AS AMCC COMMISSIONER

After 23 years as the first commissioner of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference, Donna Ledwin will be stepping down at the end of June.

"It's been a tremendous run," said Ledwin, who took the reins of the conference in the summer of 2002.  "I am so grateful that the presidents, chancellors and athletic directors of the AMCC trusted me to lead the league from the early days of NCAA membership to the mature organization it is today.  We've been through a lot together."

"Donna has been instrumental in shaping the AMCC into the thriving conference it is today," stated Dr. Ralph Ford, Penn State Behrend Chancellor and Chair of the AMCC Presidents Council.  "As our first and only commissioner, her vision and leadership over the past 20+ years have been invaluable. We are deeply grateful for her dedication to our student-athletes and their holistic development."

Ledwin's career has spanned positions at five institutions and conferences in two NCAA divisions along with numerous committee appointments.

A cum laude graduate of Fordham University where she was a member the volleyball and tennis teams, Ledwin earned her MBA at Boston University.  Her first professional position in intercollegiate athletics was at Yale University.  From there she was hired as the Director of Athletics at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland (now Notre Dame University of Maryland), growing the department into a regionally competitive program for nearly a decade.

"That's when I knew Division III was where I belonged," she said.

After a one-year stint at the College of New Rochelle, she was recruited to be the first commissioner of the New Jersey Athletic Conference, one of the few full-time leadership positions in Division III at the time.  Ledwin is currently the longest serving commissioner among all Division III conferences.

From the NJAC she advanced to her current role at the AMCC.

"When I applied for the opening I was told it would be part-time, which was not necessarily a bad thing because I was working from home with a toddler at the time," Ledwin shared.  "By the end of the first Presidents Council meeting, when I heard their expectations and explained the responsibilities of the 'modern' commissioner, they quickly pivoted to a full-time offer.  And off we went."

During Ledwin's tenure, the conference gained full active membership in the NCAA.  Ledwin recognized the importance of NCAA committee service to the development of the conference, and it became a priority, for both herself and for conference members.  Committee representatives have spanned all roles in athletics:  ADs, SWAs, FARs, coaches, presidents and chancellors, and student-athetes.  This has included representation on both the Presidents and Managment Councils; numerous sport and sport rules committees; and both Division III and association-wide committees and working groups.

"The more involved we became as a conference at the national level, the better we could develop by sharing that knowledge and experience, and the stronger we could grow," she said.

Ledwin, who is currently the chair of the Division III Committee on Infractions, has served on 11 different NCAA committees and working groups during her intercollegiate athletics career.  She is also a trained facilitator for the Division III OneTeam and GameDay the DIII Way initiatives.  Ensuring all AMCC members were trained in both of these programs, which emphasized both inclusion and sportsmanship, was a hallmark of her leadership.

Growing sport sponsorship was another important element of her time with the AMCC.  Since 2002, the AMCC added eight championship sports.  Among them was women's bowling, which was the first Division III conference to sponsor a championship in the association-wide sport.  The newest additions are men's and women's wrestling.  Ledwin knew that championship opportunities are important to student-athletes, so if the conference could not add a sport from within, she worked diligently to ensure that members found a home for their teams as affiliate members.

"She was determined to help make the entire conference improve year in and year out," noted longtime Penn State Behrend Director of Athletics Brian Streeter.  "These have been challenging years, and despite member schools coming and going, and administrators and directors frequently changing, she never stopped educating all of us to improve at our own campuses.  We are a better conference because of all her efforts.

"But I really believe her greatest contribution to the AMCC was her dedication to our student-athletes," said Streeter.  "Through her guidance,  our student-athletes were introduced to many leadership experiences that will benefit them throughout their lives.  From our student-athletes' experiences at the NCAA conventions, to her handling of our conference SAAC meetings she was so dedicated to our student-athletes."

Ledwin's efforts have been honored by the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (2024 Richard Rasmussen Lifetime Achievement Award);  the Division III Commissioners Association (2020 Meritorious Service Award) and the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators, now Women Leaders in Sport (1998 Division III Administrator of the Year).  She is also an inductee of two athletic halls of fame:  The College of Notre Dame of Maryland (1999) and Nardin Academy (2016), where she was a member of the inaugural class of inductees.