Brig. Gen. Austin Renforth to headline NWCA CEO Leadership Academy keynote; Geiger, Koll also set to speak
Manheim, Pennsylvania — The National Wrestling Coaches Association is pleased to announce Brig. Gen. Austin Renforth of the United States Marine Corps will give the opening keynote at the annual CEO Leadership Academy in Daytona Beach, Florida on August 2-3.
Brig. Gen. Renforth will be joined by a distinguished panel of mentors and featured speakers throughout the two-day course.
“Our longstanding relationship with the United States Marine Corps has been phenomenal,” said NWCA Executive Director Mike Moyer. “To have someone with the level of experience and expertise in leading people, we just can’t say enough about how excited our board and membership are to have Brig. Gen. Renforth serve as our keynote speaker.”
The CEO Leadership Academy consists of 10 online educational modules that address general concepts that are important to know when developing an educationally based intercollegiate wrestling program. An in-person workshop will also be administered whereby coaches will work with their peers to adapt the general concepts to meet the unique needs on their campuses.
The Leadership Academy curriculum is the result of a collaborative effort with Dr. Dan Gould of Michigan State University, a renowned leadership expert. The academy aims to promote and strengthen CEO leadership skills, align wrestling programs with similar educational values and insulate current programs from being eliminated.
Brig. Gen. Renforth is currently the Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and the Eastern Recruiting Region. A natural leader, Brig. Gen. Renforth has held command at every level — rifle platoon, machine gun platoon, and dragon platoon commander at 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines and participating in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
At the battalion level, he commanded the Maritime Special Purpose Force while deployed with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. Later, Brig. Gen. Renforth commanded 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and deployed twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He later assumed command of 7th Marine Regiment and deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Most recently, he was commanding general of Training Command.
He is a graduate of The Basic School, the Infantry Officer Course, Amphibious Warfare School, Armed Forces Staff College, NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy, and the High Command and Staff Course in the United Kingdom.
Athletically, Brig. Gen. Renforth was a member for the Marine Corps rugby team, has worked as the head coach for the Naval Academy sprint football team, and as an assistant coach for the Navy Division I men’s rugby team.
Joining Brig. Gen. Renforth as a keynote speaker is Convention and Leadership Academy veteran and Cornell head wrestling coach Rob Koll while First Nonprofit Foundation CEO Joe Geiger will also make a return appearance.
Geiger is the current Secretary of the NWCA’s Board of Directors. With 43 years of experience in the fields of education, human resources and non-profit and association management, Geiger is also an inductee into the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations Emeritus Society. Currently the President and CEO of First Nonprofit Foundation, Geiger has also served as adjunct faculty at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, teaching Leadership and Organizational Business Ethics.
Koll has led Cornell to 11 straight EIWA championships and has led the Big Red to 18 Ivy League titles, including the last 15 in a row. Under Koll’s tutelage, Cornell has crowned 14 individual NCAA champions and 63 All-Americans. He’s served as a past President of the NWCA as well.
The NWCA Leadership Academy will take place along with the NWCA Convention at the Hilton Daytona Beach Resort in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Mentors for this year include a distinguished list of legendary and highly respected current and formers coaches: Bill Racich (Ursinus), Brian Smith (Missouri), Dave Mitchell (Luther), Jim Miller (retired), Jack Spates (retired), Carl Murphee (Missouri Valley), Lee Miracle (Campbellsville), Marty Nichols (Ithaca), Paul Schmidt (Nassau C.C.), Donnie Stephens (U. of the Cumberlands), Jeff Swenson (Augsburg), Steve Garland (Virginia) and Steve Costanzo (St. Cloud State)
Helping facilitate the CEO Leadership Academy: Dr. Dan Gould of Michigan State; Dr. Dennis Johnson, the Program Reviewer for the Commission on Sports Management Accreditation; and Dr. Scott Westfall, sport leadership expert and current sports management professor at Adrian College.
This year’s 2017 Leadership Academy attendees are: Geneva Gray (Bacone), Cody Garcia (Baker), Dan Neff (Bucknell), Michael Hatcher (Cal Poly), Nicole Woody (Campbellsville), Joseph Duca (Castleton), Donald Vinson (Cornell), Jim Wertman (Delaware Valley), Steve Borja (Franklin & Marshall), Donald Henry (Gannon), Cody Caldwell (Grand View), TJ Moen (Grand View), Tyler Daffinee (Ithaca), David Kraus (Johns Hopkins), Andrew Blahut (Joliet JC), Travis Mercado (King), Julia Salata (King), Ashley Sword (Life University), Trevor Kittleson (Loras), Tyler Miller (Loras), Kevin Corbett (Lyon), Kevin Lake (Manchester), Joshua Malave (Mount Union), Brandon Gauthier (New England College), Jamie Miller (Penn College), Rob Tate (Queens), Alex Morang (St. Clair CCC), Eric Grajales (SIU Edwardsville), Jason Holder (Springfield), Asnage Castelly (Springfield Tech), Aaron Banko, Richard Dowdley and Jason Russell (Thomas More), Asia DeWeese (Umpqua CC), Boomer Fechko (Buffalo), Timothy Sykes (Houston-Downtown), Daniel Lovell (Jamestown), Ganbayar Sanjaa (Maryland), Jarrod Patterson (Oklahoma), Michael Morin (Southern Maine), Sarah Allen and Carlene Sluberski (U. of the Cumberlands), Mike Letts and Lloyd Rogers (Navy), Alexander Csontos (VAWA), Pankil Chander (Bloomsburg)