The Ivy League has found its new leader.
Almost a year to the date after Jeff Orleans announced that he'd step down as Ivy League executive director as of June 2009, the Council of Ivy Group Presidents announced yesterday that Robin Harris will replace Orleans effective July 1.
Harris, the Senior Counsel and co-chairwoman in the Collegiate Sports Practice at Ice Miller, LLP, worked for the NCAA from 1993 to 2002. Her last position was associate chief of staff for Division I.
"Robin Harris is a dedicated and talented athletics administrator and attorney, with a keen understanding of the importance of academics in intercollegiate athletics," Penn President and Ivy Group chairwoman Amy Gutmann said in the announcement.
Unlike Orleans., who received both a B.A. and a J.D. from Yale, Harris has no direct connection to Ivy League schools. She graduated from Duke University and Duke Law School.
Orleans leaves after serving as executive director since Sept. 1984. He was the first person to hold that position full-time.
"Robin Harris will be a great executive director and I look forward to assisting her in this transition," Orleans said. "We have worked together in many ways and I'm very pleased that she now will be representing the Council and Ivy League athletics."
