A League of her own

Robin Harris wasn't looking to change jobs.

She was more than content chairing the three-person Collegiate Sports Practice at Ice Miller, LLP, and raising 3-year-old twin daughters with her husband in Kansas City.

Then last fall, the phone rang.

"When someone representing the Ivy League calls, you need to listen," she said. "And I listened, and I was intrigued by the position and what it entailed."

Harris was intrigued enough to apply, and skilled enough to beat out 31 other candidates to become the Ivy League's new executive director. On July 1, she will officially take over the post from Jeff Orleans, who is retiring after a quarter-century at the helm.

"It's a culmination," she said of her new position after spending a decade climbing the NCAA ranks to associate chief of staff, and another six years working on NCAA matters at an Indianapolis law firm. "If I could end up staying in this job for 25 years, that would be wonderful. This is not a stepping stone. This is a destination, truly."

The journey is, in some ways, a trip home. The league office is based in Princeton, N.J., and Harris, the daughter of two attorneys, grew up in the Bronx. (Her father was general counsel to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, presiding over the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.)

On the other hand, she is stepping into uncharted waters, replacing the only full-time leader in Ancient Eight history. And while the graduate of Duke University and Duke Law said that "it would be premature" to talk about her vision or possible policy changes, there will be no shortage of issues on her plate come summer.

Penn President and Ivy Group chairwoman Amy Gutmann - who met with Harris several times during the search process - wrote in an e-mail that the newcomer's greatest challenge will be "maintaining and promoting the Ivy concept of the scholar-athlete." That presumably involves coping with the institutions' financial aid arms race and the overall economic downturn.

Steve Bilsky, Penn's athletic director, said that Harris' new job has two components. First, there are rules, legislation and compliance, which he believes Harris is well equipped to handle. Then there are questions of league imaging and promotion, the part of the job about which he had more uncertainty.

Orleans "didn't gravitate to that area, for whatever the reasons were, so I think we're anxious to see what [Harris] feels about that," Bilsky said. "That's everything from the competitive levels of the league, football - whether they should be in the playoffs, how to get officiating better, which is one of my interests. . We're all hoping that that's an area that she really gets more involved in."

For now, Harris is biding her time, declining to promote her ideas until she can consult league and school officials. She and Orleans - who said that he was not involved in the naming of his successor, and that in retirement, he will help Harris in whatever role she and the Ivy presidents see fit - are close friends and have communicated at least daily throughout this transition phase.

Orleans has pledged to involve her on decisions that will carry over into her tenure so that she can enter at full speed.

Harris is, by nature, a jogger; that's how she met her husband. When it comes to managing a half marathon - which she has done several times - full speed is not so impressive ("I'm a slow runner," she said). When it comes to managing an office, though, good luck keeping pace.

"She doesn't sit still very much. So if you're not ready to go, you can get left behind" said David Berst, NCAA vice president for Division I and a longtime friend and colleague of Harris. "There are so many things that are demanded by that position that I think she could do with one arm tied behind her back. . She's very energetic, very bright ... [and] can juggle a lot of balls and can multitask very well."

That, coupled with her leadership style, has left colleagues optimistic about her success.

One person with Ivy League experience who asked not to named put it this way: The key to being executive director "is that you understand that you're in the center of the circle rather than on top of the pyramid."

"That's what Robin's experience is about. Her whole career is about getting people to come together. . That, to me, is more important than whether she was on a campus at any time or in a conference office."

- Sports Editors Zach Klitzman and Noah Rosenstein and Staff Writer Kathy Wang contributed reporting to this article.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.