ADU’s Steph Garcia Cichosz moderates the Women Leading The Way panel at the 2025 PACnet conference, a wide-ranging conversation featuring Women’s Sports Foundation CEO Danette Leighton, Baylor Deputy AD/CRO Jovan Overshown and Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall Executive Director Elizabeth Gray. The panel discusses building a career in sports and performing arts; the tangible skills that administrators in external and revenue generating units should hone; momentum for women’s sports; how motherhood has made them stronger leaders; and more.
On finding female leaders to look to early in one’s career: Overshown – “Looking across the department coming in, there weren’t that many females in leadership at the time but I was so appreciative of the males that were willing to take a chance [on me].”
On the power of mentorship: Gray – “It’s not only what a mentor can show you to do right but it’s also how you can see a mentor fail as well.”
On thinking strategically about your career: Overshown – “I think part of the strategy in your career is being in tune enough to recognize is that spark ignited? Is there something in you that even on the bad days still fires you up and makes you want to continue to dive into more… do intentionally listen to that inner voice.”
On must-have qualities for success in external and revenue-generating units: Leighton – “Resilience. It’s the intangible in sports. When you learn how to lose, you’re incredibly resilient and when you apply that to the business world… I can’t tell you how many times I get told ‘no’ every day.”
On momentum for women’s sports: Leighton – “This movement in women’s sports is not a coincidence – it’s decades and decades and decades of work. Both men and women of Gen X have grown up watching women and men play sports, which is a really big part of what you’re seeing right now in this movement and investment in women’s sports… this room is so critical for college women’s sports right now. The external side of women’s sports in college is going to be more important than ever before because we need to create best practices… I can’t tell you how exciting a time it is at the top of the ecosystem but the middle part of college is incredibly important and because of all the challenges and the changing landscape of college, people in the external roles need to put a priority and a focus on creating these great moments for building fandom.”
On motherhood and leadership: Leighton – “I was never the PTA mom, I was never the cupcake mom, I was never the mom that was in the classroom, I had tons of regret that I was screwing up my daughter but my biggest regret is I only had her… every female that comes to me and asks about motherhood is, ‘You’re going to be a hot mess. You’re going to be a cluster. It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be perfect, for both men and women in their careers and their families. But if it’s what you want, you need to go for it.”
Tangible advice for external and revenue-generating administrators:
Gray – “Be bold – within the confines of the law.”
Overshown – “Take up space.”
Leighton – “Pay it forward to both men and women. Pass the torch and do it the way you wished someone had done for you.”
The conversation is indexed below for efficient viewing (click the time stamp to jump to a specific question/topic).
