05/29/15 – KHSAA Adds Marketing Director, Fills Two Openings On Support Staff

May 29, 2015 2014-2015 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 29, 2015

KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett announced today the addition of Leah Little as the Association’s new Marketing Director, effective June 15. Little comes to the Association from Brain Box Intelligent Marketing (formerly iHigh, Inc.), where she was the organization’s most recent liaison to the KHSAA and its external corporate partners.

Little’s past professional background includes seven years as a member of the national marketing and events team with iHigh, Inc., and one year as the membership services/club event director for The Club at Spindletop Hall. She has over 25 years of experience in event production and is the owner of Elle Events.

“We are so grateful for the many years of committed service by iHigh, Inc. to the student-athletes and programs of the KHSAA as our external marketing agent,” Tackett commented. “When we made the decision to transition our marketing duties to an internal staff member, it was a natural fit to discuss the opportunity with Leah, who had become extremely familiar with our operations and needs, and whose enthusiasm, particularly as a former state champion, is undeniable. Rick Ford and his great staff at iHigh laid a great foundation for us with our external partners and we can now consolidate our internal, external and other specialty marketing efforts. Leah will be able to hit the ground running and ensure that the foundation laid by our past internal efforts, and iHigh’s great efforts, are taken to new heights.”

Little’s extensive background in athletics includes 28 years as the head coach of the University of Kentucky’s gymnastics team (1974-2003). She was the first gymnastics coach at Kentucky, joining the program in 1974, and helped the GymKats transition from a club sport to NCAA Division I varsity status. A two-time SEC Coach of the Year (1988 and 1996), Little was named the NCAA Regional Coach of the Year in 1996, served on the NCAA women’s gymnastics committee for seven years and was a two-time past president of the NCAA Gymnastics Coaches Association.

A standout athlete as a prep, Little led Tates Creek to a pair of KHSAA state championships in girls’ gymnastics (1969 and 1971) and won an individual state title in the vault. Little went on to compete at Eastern Kentucky, where she captured the AIAW regional title and was a national qualifier. She was inducted into the Tates Creek HS Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 and was honored as a Distinguished Citizen of Lexington, Ky. by mayor Teresa Isaac in 2003.

The KHSAA has also filled two openings on its support staff, with the additions of Jeanie Molloy and Larrecia Williams. Molloy, a graduate of Sayre, comes to the KHSAA from Bluegrass Sotheby’s International Realty where she currently works in advertising and marketing after previously serving as a receptionist. Williams, a graduate of Southern HS, currently serves as the executive assistant for Natalie L. Bailey, CPA, PLLC in Lexington.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 277 member schools both public and private. The KHSAA sanctions 43 state championships in 13 sports and 4 sport-activities, licenses and trains over 4,000 officials, provides catastrophic insurance for its more than 70,000 member school student-athletes, as well as overseeing coaching education and sports safety programs.