For Kristie Cowan, this season marks her 12th campaign of directing the operational aspects for the growing and successful Panther basketball program.
As the director of operations, she also focuses on travel arrangements and community service activities among the many critical behind-the-scenes duties she performs for the program.
Cowan came to Georgia State University during the 1996-97 academic year as a graduate student, working for the athletic department’s director of development.
When the Panthers hosted the Trans America Athletic Conference (now Atlantic Sun Conference) Tournament in 1999, Cowan served as its tournament director. Since her arrival in Atlanta, she has also worked at numerous other events, including the Sarazen World Golf Championship, Atlantic Coast Conference Volleyball Tournament, Mizuno Golf Invitational (a former Georgia State event) and the Summer Olympic Games in 1996.
In March 1997, Cowan assisted at the first and second rounds of the men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament in Charlotte, N.C.
Prior to Georgia State, Cowan worked in 1995 for Heard and Associates, an advertising agency in Durham, N.C., with clients like L’eggs, Gerber Childrenswear and Remy Martin Cognac.
From 1991-94, Cowan served a three-year stint as assistant sports information director at Davidson College in North Carolina. She was responsible for the 10-sport women’s program there and worked to help rebuild a basketball program that had been dropped in the 1980s.
Cowan also performed marketing and promotions tasks such as corporate sponsorship sales, game program advertisement sales, ticket sales and event promotion.
She played a big role in bringing the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship to Davidson in both 1992 and 1993. As DC became the first neutral-site host for the tournament, Cowan worked with then-athletic director Terry Holland and the athletic department’s director of marketing to obtain sponsorships and build ticket sales while also handling some media relations activities.
She was also part of the media relations staffs at three other men’s NCAA Basketball Tournaments, including the Final Four at Charlotte in 1994.
Cowan received her bachelor’s degree in public policy studies at Duke University in 1991 and master’s from Georgia State in 2001. At Duke, she was on the soccer squad for two seasons.
A current member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, Cowan was also part of the College Sports Information Directors of America from 1991-94.
Born July 14, 1969, in Minneapolis, Minn., Cowan grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa. She and her husband, Scott, presently live in Smyrna, Ga., with their daughter, Camryn (born Jan. 24, 2001), and son, Caden (born April 21, 2003). In her free time, Cowan enjoys reading and playing golf.
