![Richard Ensor MAAC Commissioner Richard Ensor, Esq. is the next featured presenter for the ֱ Business Leadership Series. (Courtesy Photo)](/sites/default/files/styles/news_image/public/RichardEnsor1.jpg?itok=2xcT66DH)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 19, 2023
For More Information:
ֱ
Public Relations & Marketing
(304) 462-4115
GLENVILLE, WV – Richard Ensor will be the featured presenter in the next installment of the ֱ Business Leadership Series, which is sponsored by the University’s Department of Business. Ensor will present on Friday, January 27 at 12:00 p.m. in the Heflin Administration Building Presidents’ Auditorium. His presentation will center on a look inside the world of college athletics.
Ensor is currently serving as Commissioner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC). He is also the longest serving active NCAA Division I Commissioner.
A 1975 graduate of Saint Peter’s University, Ensor has served in many administrative capacities in college sports. In 1982, Ensor was awarded a Master’s degree in sports management with honors from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. An attorney, he graduated from Seton Hall University’s School of Law in 1987 and was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in June of that year. He has taught as an Assistant Professor in Sport Management at UMass, where his concentration was on sports marketing and sports law, and as an adjunct at Seton Hall School of Law. In 2017, Ensor was first elected Treasurer of the Sports Lawyer’s Association. He has published in the areas of Sport Law and Sport Marketing.
Ensor has been involved in NCAA governance since 1999 when he began a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Management Council, a segment of the new national governing system for the intercollegiate sports association. Since 2016 he has served on the NCAA Nominating Committee. He previously served on the Division I Championships Cabinet where he chaired the exempted events subcommittee. Ensor has also served on the NCAA Division IAA Governance Committee and on NCAA committees dealing with playing season exemptions, athletic certification, and the regulatory culture of the NCAA, governance restructuring, and antitrust issues. In 2020, he was named as a member of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions which is committed to preserving fairness and credibility within college sports.
In 2016, he was honored by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame for his leadership in basketball and contributions to the game. The WBCA has honored Ensor twice for his contributions to women’s basketball with the coach’s association’s Presidents Award in 2014 and as its Administrator of the Year in 2015. In 2004 Ensor received a Mousecar award from Walt Disney World for his efforts to make dreams happen for the MAAC’s student-athletes participating in championships at ESPN Wide World of Sports. In 2001 Ensor was named by the American Football Foundation as its Commissioner of the Year. In 1999 he was presented a Distinguished Service Award from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers. In 1998 he was inducted into the Saint Peter’s University Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Monsignor Donovan High School Hall of Fame.
In 1996, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Sport Management Program named Ensor as the recipient of the VanderZwaag Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 1989, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities named Ensor as one of the “Leaders of Service” in its Bicentennial Series publication. In 1993, Ensor was honored by NACWA as a “Good Guy” for his efforts regarding gender equity.
Ensor and his wife Deirdre, who are the parents of four children, reside in Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (304) 462-6104.