The Division I Council has elected Jim Phillips, Northwestern University vice president for athletics and recreation, as chair. Phillips will also serve as the representative athletics director on the Division I Board of Directors.
In the newly redesigned Division I governance structure, the Council is intended to conduct the day-to-day business of the division, composed of 345 colleges and universities. As chair, Phillips will guide the group in its duties, including building much of the division’s substructure and creating an effective relationship with the Board of Directors. The Council also will focus on championships, budgeting and benefits for college athletes.
“I’m humbled to serve the Division I Council, the NCAA and, most importantly, student-athletes across the nation in this role,” Phillips said. “The landscape of college athletics has dramatically been reshaped and will continue to adapt with the care and development of our young men and women as the paramount priority.”
A native of the Portage Park neighborhood on Chicago’s northwest side, Phillips returned home to become Northwestern’s athletics director in 2008. He now serves as the president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
Before coming to Northwestern, Phillips served as athletics director at Northern Illinois University. He also spent time as an athletics administrator at the University of Notre Dame; the University of Tennessee-Knoxville; Arizona State University; and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, his alma mater.
Phillips will serve a two-year term as chair. The Division I Council will elect a vice chair during its next meeting, set for Tuesday and Wednesday in Indianapolis.