HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky Athletics is excited to announce the addition of Conner Leonard as the Norse's new Assistant Athletic Director of Marketing and Fan Engagement, and the promotion of both Madison Kalb to Coordinator of Athletics Marketing and Fan Engagement and Calib Adams to Marketing Assistant, made official on Wednesday.
 
Leonard joins the Norse after a near two-year stay as the Director of Marketing and Digital Media at the University of Connecticut. While at UCONN, he led efforts for the first ever post season sell out for a NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament game, led the marketing efforts for seven of the top-45 highest attended games in NCAA women's basketball during the 2021-22 season and served as the lead for football marketing efforts, growing game to game attendance by 29 percent and a student increase of 205 percent.
 
The team at UCONN also won 10 NACMA awards during his time in leadership, which includes seven awards in 2021-22.
 
"I would like to thank Christina Roybal and Matthew Schaefer for this amazing opportunity," Leonard said. "I am excited to work with the marketing team to create an exciting experience at our Norse events, engage with our passionate fan base and creating an exciting environment for our student-athletes to compete in."
 
To go with his work with the Huskies, Leonard also had stops as the Director of Athletics Marketing and Promotions at the University of South Carolina Upstate and the Athletics Marketing Assistant at Florida Atlantic University.
 
The West Palm Beach, Florida native is a dual graduate of FAU, with both a Bachelor of Business Administration and Marketing and a Master of Business Administration.
 
Kalb has continued her rise through the ranks at NKU and has been elevated to the role of Coordinator of Athletics Marketing and Fan Engagement for the 2023-24 campaign. The Augusta, Kentucky native began working for the Norse as a marketing intern during the 2019-20 season and transitioned into her past role as the marketing and promotions graduate assistant in 2021.
 
Kalb is a dual graduate from Northern Kentucky University with a Bachelor in Sports Business and Marketing and a Master of Business Administration. She also has experience working for the Cincinnati Bengals in Gameday Corporate Partnerships and the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.
 
Adams rounds out the Marketing and Fan Engagement staff after a promotion to Marketing Assistant. Adams spent the past two as a marketing intern before being elevated into his new role.
 
Adams is currently finishing his bachelor's degree at NKU as a Sports Business and Marketing major.
 
The NKU athletics external unit is now set for the next academic year as Matthew Schaefer was elevated into the role of Associate Athletics Director for External Operations. In his new role, the Buffalo, New York native will oversee the Norse communications, creative content team, marketing and fan engagement, and ticket operations.
 
"We are very excited for this year here at NKU Athletics, especially in external operations where we have built a stellar team," Schaefer said. "We are pumped to have Conner lead our marketing staff, with his successful stops at both large and small institutions, and the promotions of Madison and Calib were well deserved. On the communications side, Devon Lucal and Seth Cooper are rockstars and Aaron Luken is doing a great job entering his second year as the Director of Ticketing."
 
"We would also like to welcome four more members to the NKU Athletics team," Schaefer added. "Violet Lewis and Jensen Linder are huge adds to our creative squad and both Emma Gugel and Matthew Hoskins have been killing it since joining the ticketing team as Sales Assistants this summer."
 
 
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