Michael Ghika Named GNAC Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations

BOSTON, Mass. – Michael Ghika has been named as the first-ever full-time Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations at the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, as announced by Commissioner Joe Walsh on Thursday. His duties will officially begin July 1 with the beginning of the 2014-15 academic year.

Ghika has worked at the NCAA Division II Northeast-10 Conference the past three years, serving in a full-time capacity each of the last two as the league’s Assistant Director for Strategic Communications.

“I am grateful and excited for this newly created opportunity at the GNAC,” said Ghika. “Commissioner Walsh has helped raise the profile of the conference throughout his tenure the past decade, and our league office can now focus on enhancing the student-athlete experience at championships and furthering our multimedia and communications efforts over the next year and beyond.”

“We are thrilled to add Michael to our conference structure in a full-time capacity,” said Walsh. “As a conference, we are excited about the new position and to gain someone with league office experience in our collective efforts moving forward, which will also include new office space in Winthrop, Mass. this summer.”

Ghika (pronounced JEE-ka) will be responsible for the maintaining and updating of the GNAC website and will oversee the site’s redesign process with PrestoSports over the course of the summer and fall. He will oversee one member of the GNAC Specialist Program for the 2014-15 academic year, and work directly with Doug Chin, the GNAC’s Assistant to the Commissioner.

“Both Joe and Doug’s talents and commitment to the GNAC are immeasurable and I find myself very fortunate to join such a dedicated and hard-working team,” added Ghika. “I would also like to thank the league’s search committee for its time, energy and diligence this spring throughout the hiring process.”

At the Northeast-10, Ghika handled all website maintenance and launched the conference’s Student-Athlete Blog Initiative, while traveling across the region to help successfully execute 23 championships for 15 full-time member institutions.

A Saugus, Mass. native, Ghika, 25, graduated from Southern New Hampshire University in 2011 with a B.S. in Sport Management and a minor in Communications. In his time as a student, he worked four years as an Athletics Communications assistant in the school’s athletic department.

Previously, he served as Director of Media Operations for the North Shore Navigators, a summer collegiate baseball team located in Lynn, Mass., where he oversaw operations for separate television and radio broadcast crews as well as game day press box operations.

A member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Ghika will represent the GNAC next week at the 2014 CoSIDA Convention in Orlando, Fla.