Joe Walsh became the GNAC’s first full-time commissioner in 2005. Prior to that he was assistant men’s basketball coach at Emmanuel College, head women’s basketball coach and athletic director at Emerson College, an assistant women’s basketball coach at Harvard University and he started his coaching career at Saint Columbkilles High School in Brighton, Massachusetts.

Walsh has spent over thirty years involved in athletics at the community level within the City of Boston as a coach and an administrator. He is immediate past president of the Brighton Board of Trade, Allston Brighton Kiwanis, the co-chair of the Brian J. Honan Charitable Foundation, has served on the ECAC Award of Valor Committee, and the ECAC Women’s Basketball Selection Committee and the board of directors at the West End House Boy’s & Girl’s Club.

Walsh is a member of the DIII Commissioner’s Association and The National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NADIIAA). Joe also serves as a teacher in the NAMI Family to Family education program. For more information visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness home page at http://www.nami.org/

Campagna, a native of Somers, Connecticut, graduated magna cum laude, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English Communications from Emmanuel College in 2007. He earned a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts - Boston in June of 2011. While pursuing his graduate degree, Campagna worked at UMass Boston, as both a Graduate Assistant and later the Interim Director of Sports Information for the Beacons. Campagna currently works full-time at Emmanuel as the Assistant Sports Information Director.

His duties include sports information, game management, site supervision, equipment management and athletic publicity. In addition to his full-time position at Emmanuel, Campagna has also severed as a volunteer Assistant Coach for the UMass Boston Women's Soccer Team. Campagna, who made his collegiate coaching debut in 2010, is primarily responsible for working with the Beacon goalkeepers. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Sports Journalism at Lasell College in Newton.

Campagna, a former collegiate goalkeeper for the Saints, helped build the foundation for the Emmanuel Men's Soccer program. During his playing days, Campagna enjoyed an impressive career as a four-year starter and two-time team captain. In 2003, he was in net for the program's first-ever victory and graduated holding every single goalkeeping record, including career wins, shutouts, saves and save percentage.

Campagna is a member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) and the Eastern College Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Association (ECAC-SIDA).

Ed Carpenter brings 35 years of sports information experience to the GNAC. Carpenter earned his bachelors degree in journalism in 1965 from Penn State University. After graduation he spent four years in the Air Force and in 1969 he left the Air Force as a Captain. He then spent two years as a sports writer for the New Haven Register before going to the University of Delaware where he was the sports information director for six years.

In 1976 Carpenter left the University of Delaware to take a position as a speechwriter for the Armstrong Cork Company in Lancaster, PA.  After one year he moved to Boston and became the sports information director for Boston University.

He spent 29 years at Boston University, retiring in 2006 as the assistant athletic director for communications. During his tenure at Boston University, Carpenter served as the CoSIDA President from 1992-1993 and was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 1996. In 2005, Ed was presented the Arch Ward Memorial Award by CoSIDA for “inspiring excellence in, and bringing dignity to, our profession through his relations to press, radio and television and his colleagues.”

Carpenter resides with his wife Suzy in Stoughton, MA and has five children and five grandchildren.

John Parente will join the Great Northeast Athletic Conference as a Special Reporter. Parente, who served as the Wildcats AD for many years, will periodically produce stories of interest both for general publication and as well as for use on the GNAC website.

Parente was recently honored at the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Professional Development Seminar, receiving the Commissioner’s Award for his longtime excellence and service to the conference.

Alex Elia is currently a Junior at Endicott College. A native of Somers, CT, he is working toward a bachelor’s degree in Sport Management. Elia is a 2010 graduate of Somers High School, and is on track to graduate from Endicott College in the Spring of 2014. Previously, Elia has worked with the Western New England University Athletic Department under the Sport Media department. Additionally, he has worked with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL, in the Marketing and Game Day Operations departments.

Elia is currently a member of the Endicott College Men’s soccer team, and is serving as a two-year captain. Additionally, Elia was a member of the Western Mass. Pioneers PDL soccer club, in the summer of 2012. Elia has worked with a variety of soccer camps across Northern Connecticut and Western Massachusetts.

Carl Geneus joins the GNAC as a Special Assistant to the Commissioner and Special Project Specialist. Geneus graduated from Boston University in 2008 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. In 2011, he earned a Masters of Sports Leadership from Northeastern University.

A native of Boston, MA, Geneus experiences includes serving as an athletic intern with the Boston Trinity Academy athletic department and currently working as the athletic director of the Academy of the Pacific Rim Charter School in Hyde Park, MA.

Along with his duties working for the GNAC, Geneus is entering his second season as the assistant basketball at GNAC member school Simmons College. 

Billie Weiss is a 22 year old Multimedia Journalist based in Boston, Massachusetts. He is currently an Assistant Team Photographer of the Boston Red Sox after previously completing two Major League Baseball seasons as the Assistant Team Photographer of the Baltimore Orioles. Weiss is also an official Photographer and Photo Editor for the US Open Tennis Championships in Flushing, New York and The Chamionships Wimbledon in London, England. 

A graduate of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, Weiss graduated Magna Cum Laude with honors in his Communications and Media Studies major and a minor in Spanish. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Chi Alpha Sigma academic and athletic honors societies and is currently working towards his Master's in Journalism from Boston University.

Weiss enjoys playing and watching sports, and was a four-year member, two-year captain, and two-time Academic All-American of the Goucher College Men’s Varsity Tennis team.

Ryan Hamblett joins the GNAC as a specialist in Championships & Special Events.  A Providence College graduate with a degree in Business Management and minor in Finance, Hamblett was an important member of the PC Intramural Athletic Board having proposed ideas for the Concannon Fitness and Recreation Center, assisted with the scheduling and supervision of intramural staff, officiated and evaluated intramural sports, and coordinated training for new staff members. 

Hamblett went on to further his education and received his Master’s Degree in Sport Management at Florida State University.  During his time at FSU, he was a graduate assistant with the Lifetime Activities Program as an instructor with the Sports Management, Physical Education and Recreation Management Department for undergraduate students in various sports.  Hamblett marketed the Lifetime Activity Program through Information Fairs, On-Campus Recruiting and the Student Newspaper increasing Summer enrollment by over 15%.  Hamblett interned with the Seminole Boosters, the leading fundraising source for Florida State Athletics.  He was responsible for coordinating the Annual Symposium for Estate Planning, and marketed the overseas Nike Basketball Tour for prospective donors.

Doug Chin graduated from Boston University in 2010, earning a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism. He joins the GNAC as a multimedia specialist and will responsible for video and multimedia projects for the conference.

While at BU, Chin was a sports broadcaster for WTBU, the student-run, on-campus radio station. He provided play-by-play and color commentary for various Terrier athletic teams including men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, and softball.

The Dedham, Massachusetts native has also interned in the Fox25 (WFXT) sports department. While there, Chin had the privilege of being involved in the station’s coverage of the Boston Celtics 2008 Championship run.

Chin is very involved in the Dedham Youth Soccer program as both a referee and a coach. He has coached multiple teams for the program and also helps coach at their clinics.

Jimmy Olsen joins the GNAC as a Sports Information Specialist. A native of Newburyport, MA, Olsen graduated from Northern Essex Community College cum laude in 2008 and then Lasell College cum laude in 2011. He received a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management and also minored in Coaching and Sports Communication. While in high school, Olsen started his baseball coaching career where he created and played for a fall baseball team that played in the Massachusetts RBI Baseball league. In 2006, Olsen returned to Newburyport High School to help coach the varsity baseball team. 

While attending Lasell College, Olsen served as an Assistant Coach for the varsity baseball squad at Xaverian Brothers High School where he would coach them to the State Finals in 2010 and Eastern Finals in 2011. After graduation, he was named Assistant Coach for Bunker Hill Community College softball team in their first season. Olsen currently serves as the Head Coach for a 13-15 year old baseball team in Newburyport as well as an Instructional Assistant for the Newburyport public school system. During the summer, he runs a baseball camp for the Minuteman Regional High School. 

Nick Avery joins the GNAC as a Communications specialist and will assist in some marketing duties as well. Avery is currently studying Sports Leadership in a master’s program at Northeastern. A former Division I athlete, Avery graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation Sports Management and a minor in Communications. While at IU, Avery wrestled for five years and was a two-year starter. Following his graduation, Avery served as the Strength and Conditioning Intern for Indiana University. He also served as a sales intern for Clear Channel Radio in Chicago. A Massachusetts native, Avery formerly played football and wrestled for Foxboro High School where he was named All-League in football while also being crowned the New England Wrestling Champion along with garnering the No. 18^th ranking in the country. Avery currently serves as the Head Wrestling Coach at Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School.

James Wenz graduated from Mount Ida College in May of 2012 with a degree in Sports Management. While at Mount Ida, he walked on to the basketball team as a freshman and was named a co-captain during his junior year. Wenz also walked on to the football team his senior year starting as a tight end. James was appointed the Vice President of Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at Mount Ida in 2011-2012 as well as the VP of GNAC SAAC. Wenz was also a Balfour Peer Leader his senior year, a program where he mentored three first year students.

Zachary Bright joins the Great Northeast Athletic Conference as the Baseball specialist. A member of the Golden Key Honor’s Society, Bright recently graduated cum laude from Boston College where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a minor in Philosophy. During his time in Chestnut Hill, Bright participated in a hand full of Baseball related activities, from producing research on the rhetoric of Hall of Fame Managers to manning the broadcast booth for 90.3 FM’s presentations of Eagles’ Baseball. In addition, he assumed the role of WZBC Sports’ Associate Sports Director, overseeing programming for the station’s AM sports-talk shows. A native of Los Angeles, CA, his summers similarly found him involved with the sport as a coach for the Westside Owlz Baseball Club. Ultimately planning to return to school for a Masters degree in Sports Administration/Leadership, Bright will be working to increase the desirability of our players to collegiate summer leagues and professional scouts by updating conference statistics and supplying player profiles.