Long-Range Planning With MEAC Commissioner Sonja Stills

Guest Sonja Stills, MEAC

18:45 min watch

Summary

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Commissioner Sonja Stills joins ADU’s Tai M. Brown at the 2024 Women Leaders Convention to reflect on strategic planning, realignment and expansion and the role of Athletics in shaping the culture at an HBCU. Stills introduces Brown to the concept of “long-range” planning, providing insight into her methods for cultivating collaboration among league CEOs and establishing buy-in from conference members. Stills: [Conference Presidents give me] “the freedom to push the conference in the right direction. We have a strategic and long-range plan… and we have all the stakeholders buy in. If we’re sticking towards that, they understand my vision because I wouldn’t be here if they didn’t buy into the vision that I have for the conference.” Stills emphasizes the importance of consistent evaluation and retooling of the plan to incorporate the ongoing changes and impacts of decisions such as the House settlement on conference members. Stills also discusses the development of the MEAC Foundation to strengthen the foundation of the Elite Eight as the league considers expansion and details the process for defining fit for potential future members.

The conversation is indexed below for efficient viewing (click the time stamp to jump to a specific question/topic).

- You've been with the conference for years, in various roles. Has your leadership style changed now that you're the one making the final decisions?
- Howard Deputy AD Chevonne Mansfield shared a story about how a program you developed earlier in your career introduced her to the concept of working in college athletics.
- You're in your third year as Commissioner. How do you manage your various constituencies?
- Long-range plan - is that something that was here when you took the Commissioner's chair or was it something you created?
- What I understand about strategic plans is that they constantly evolve.
- That's a lot to think about.
- What I understand about conference leadership is that sometimes it's the league presidents that decide the direction of the conference; sometimes the presidents want you to decide the direction of the conference; and sometimes it's a balance of the two. What was the situation when you became Commissioner and how has it changed since then?
- Over the years, do you find that university presidents understand the value of athletics to their institution?
- Negotiating contracts as a conference so the money can go to all of the schools.
- So sometimes, for every dollar that comes in, 25 cents goes to Athletics, but there's a history we're building...
- Tell me about the balance of collaboration and competition and how you that impacts the decisions you make for the conference.
- When people are vehement about their perspective and are on opposing sides of an issue... how do you talk them off the ledge?
- For the strategic and long-range plan - how far out do you plan?
- When you think about expansion, how do you include that in the long-range plan?
- So you work through that criteria and now you have a list of potential institutions that could fit the conference... now you have to go through the process.
- What advice do you have for the next generation of leaders?

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