CLEVELAND - The National Association for Athletics Compliance (NAAC) has announced its 2021 award winners:

• Frank Kara Leadership Award – Matt Burgemeister, Atlantic Coast Conference;
• Mike Cleary Organizational Leadership Award – Grace Calhoun, Brown University;
• Rising Star Award – Brittney Anderson-Duzan, UCF & Hannah Delph, Florida Southern College;  
• Division II Excellence Award – Jessica Harbison Weaver, PacWest Conference; and
• Creative Education Award - UNLV

For the second year in a row, the award winners will be honored virtually in the upcoming weeks.

"We are excited to welcome these individuals to our growing list of award winners," stated outgoing Membership and Awards Committee Chair and Assistant Athletics Director for Compliance at the University of Connecticut, Eric Schneider. "On behalf of the NAAC Board and Awards Committee, we want to congratulate all of our winners on their admirable achievements. We are fortunate to have so many deserving individuals nominated annually and want to thank those who took the time to nominate deserving compliance professionals."

The Frank Kara Award is NAAC's premier award. It is the highest honor that may be bestowed upon compliance professionals. This award, given annually, is named in honor of former University of Minnesota Director of Compliance Frank Kara who was a leader in the compliance field and best known for hosting the inaugural NAAC Workshop in 2006. Sadly, Frank lost his battle with cancer at the age of 40.

Matt Burgemeister is the associate commissioner for compliance & governance at the Atlantic Coast Conference. He is a primary contact for conference members on compliance, governance and legislative issues. He regularly collaborates with other conferences and NCAA staff on legislative and governance issues, and has served as chair of the Collegiate Commissioners Association Compliance Administrators (CCACA) since 2016. His NAAC involvement includes terms on the Legislation & Governance Committee, the former Strategic Initiatives Committee, and as an ACE program mentor. To see his complete bio, click here.

The Mike Cleary Organizational Leadership Award is named after former NACDA Executive Director, Mike Cleary, and is given to an organizational leader (i.e., athletics director, general counsel, provost, president, commissioner, NCAA executive) who has demonstrated NCAA compliance leadership and a strong commitment to fostering a culture of compliance to NCAA rules within their organization.

Brown University's Grace Calhoun, has been at the helm of the NCAA Division I Council since June 2019, helping the NCAA through one of its most tumultous times. She represents the Council on the DI Board of Directors and NCAA association-wide Board of Governors representing the membership perspectives on key issues confronting college athletics. In addition, she has also co-chaired the Legislative Solutions Group addressing Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) strategies leading guided discussions around transfers, financial aid and the infractions and enforcement landscape.  Additional biographical information on Calhoun may be found here.

The Rising Star Award recognizes young compliance professionals who are considered to be emerging leaders within the compliance profession.

Brittney Anderson-Duzan, who serves as the assistant athletics director of compliance at the University of Central Florida (UCF), has been in that role since December 2018 and oversees the day-to-day operations of the office along with the agenda program and personnel. Prior to UCF, she worked at Utah and South Carolina. To learn more about her journey, click here.

Hannah Delph joined Florida Southern College's department in 2016 and currently serves as the directors of compliance and academic services. Delph oversees all areas of compliance on campus, while also serving as the department's academic advisor and the staff liaison to Florida Southern's SAAC. In addition to serving on NAAC's Membership Committee, Delph also serves on the NCAA Student Records Review Committee. Delph's complete bio may be found here.

The Division II Excellence Award is a prestigious annual award given to a compliance professional who is a leader in the compliance field at the Division II level.

Jessica Harbison Weaver, a NAAC Board member and chair of the DII Reasonable Standards Committee, joined the PacWest team in May 2020 and serves the conference as the associate commissioner and SWA. Nationally, she also chairs the Division II Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee and is a member of the NCAA Standardized Testing Task Force. To learn more about Harbison Weaver's path to her current position, click here.

The Creative Education Award, a new award in 2020, is given to an athletics compliance department for their commitment to creativity and ingenuity in rules education throughout the academic year. The department must be able to demonstrate how its educational document is creative and helpful in explaining pertinent rules education to the selected group.

The recipient of the 2021 award is UNLV and its Compliance Cup competition. The Cup is a great rules education platform that the coaches and administrators look forward to competing in each year. This bracket-style tournament is fierce and it is great to see everyone get involved and excited to put their NCAA knowledge to the test. The trophy and belt create department-wide bragging rights for months to come. Check out the winning video here.

About NAAC: NAAC is in its 24^th year and serves as the professional and educational association of compliance administrators. For more information on NAAC, please visit www.naaccompliance.com. NAAC is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 55^th year. For more information on NACDA, the 17 professional associations and/or three foundations it manages, please visit www.nacda.com.