Dan Mara, an award-winning administrator and a hall-of-fame coach, is in his fifth year as Commissioner of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. Mara arrived at the CACC Office after 11 years as the Associate Vice-President for Athletics and Fitness at CACC-member Post University.

            During his tenure at the CACC, the conference has grown  from 12 members in 2006 to the current 14 members. The addition of Chestnut Hill College (2007) and Concordia College (2009) ranks the CACC as 6th largest conference in Division II. The CACC trails only the Northeast-10, Pennsylvania State Atheltic Conference (16), West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Great Lakes Valley Conference and Lone Star Conference (15) in number of members. In 2010, the CACC was awarded a grant from the NCAA Division II Membership Fund to explore possible conference expansion.

          In December, 2006, the CACC was established as a Non-Profit (501 C 3) Organization and in 2007, the conference secured an NCAA Strategic Alliance Matching Grant to fund the newly-created position of Associate Commissioner. The spring of 2009 marked the first new CACC-sponsored championship sports (Women's Lacrosse and Men's Tennis) since the conference joined the NCAA.         

         While at Post, Mara served as Vice-President of the CACC from 1998 to 2004 and chaired the conference's Ethics and Membership Committees until his appointment as Commissioner. He was a CACC representative to the NCAA Northeast Regional Division II Men's Basketball Committee from 2002-05. During that time, he was heavily involved with the CACC's move to the NCAA. Mara and Caldwell College Director of Athletics, Mark Corino, served as the conference's representatives to the NCAA and the Division II Collegiate Commissioner's Association during the leagues progression through the Provisional Conference process. The CACC was elevated to Active NCAA Membership in July of 2004.

            Mara was the CACC's first representative to serve on the prestigious NCAA Division II Management Council. He represented the conference from 2004-2009. He was the Chairman of the NCAA Division II Convention Planning Team from 2007-2009 and chaired the NCAA Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee from 2007-2009. He was a Sportsmanship Committee member from 2005-2009 . He was also a member of the Division II Identity Sub-Committee. He served as a member of  the Division II Infractions Penalties Sub-Committee as well as the NCAA Life and Work Balance Association-Wide Group. Mara began a four-year term on the NCAA Division II Membership Committee in September, 2010.

           In September 2008, Mara was elected as President of the  Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) after serving as Vice-President since 2006. He has been an ECAC Board of Directors member since 2005 as well as serving on the ECAC Marketing Committee and the ECAC Nominating Committee. In 2007, he served as the Chairman of the successful ECAC Commisioner Search Committee.  He currently chairs the ECAC Stategic Planning Committee.

        Mara led the Post Athletic Department for eleven years during which he moved the Eagles from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) to full membership status in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II. Mara began as Director of Athletics in 1995 and was promoted to Associate Vice-President in 2002. During his tenure, the Post athletic program grew from five varsity sports to twelve varsity, two sub-varsity and two club sports. Mara received many honors for his achievements as an athletic administrator at Post. He was named CACC Athletic Administrator of the Year in 1997-98, 2000-2001 and 2005-06 and was named NAIA Region X Athletic Administrator of the Year in 2001. The American Red Cross recognized him with the Good Neighbor Award in 2005.

               He started his career in intercollegiate athletics at Mitchell College in 1976 as Sports Information Director. Mara was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director and his duties included sports information as well as coordinating recruitment for all sports. He began coaching as Assistant Softball Coach and Assistant Women's Basketball Coach in 1977. His first Head Coaching Position was as Mitchell's Baseball Coach in 1979. He became Head Women's Basketball Coach in 1984 and also served as Head Softball Coach in 1990 and 1991. During his time as Recruiting Coordinator, Mitchell teams won five national titles and 40 New England Championships.

            Mara coached the Mitchell College Women's Basketball Team for ten seasons and compiled a career mark of 289-16 (.947 winning percentage). His teams won ten National Junior College Athletic Association New England titles and reached two National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Final Fours. During his tenure Mitchell established a national record for consecutive regular season victories. The streak, which ultimately reached 234, was at 223 straight when Mara departd Mitchell to become Director of Athletics at Post University. The Pequots fashioned undefeated regular season records every season from 1987-88 until his departure after the 1994-1995 season. The 1994-95 team, which reached the NJCAA Final Four, was inducted in to the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

            At Mitchell, Mara coached ten Kodak All-Americans including future WNBA All-Star Rita Williams. Williams went on the lead the University of Connecticut to the 1998 Big East Championship and was named tournament Most Valuable Player. She was the 12th pick in the 1998 WNBA Draft and was chosen as the first all-star game representative in Indiana Fever history. Williams was one of over a dozen student-athletes to go on to play Division I basketball from the Mitchell Program.

            The Mitchell women were not just successful on the court. Ninety Eight percent graduated from Mitchell and an equal percentage continued their education at four-year colleges. Mara was inducted into the Mitchell College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 and the NJCAA  Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. He was featured in an article in the March 7, 1994 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. 

            Mara spent 15 years as a director of the highly successful Fundamental Basketball Camp at Mitchell College and served on the staff of the Irish Basketball Association (IBA) Basketball Camp in Dungarvan, Ireland for eight years (1994-2002). 

            He was named NJCAA New England Women's Basketball Coach of the Year nine times, Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) Coach of the Year six times, NJCAA District Coach of the Year three times and Converse District One Coach of the Year in 1994. He was named CSAC Softball Coach of the Year in 1990 and 1991 for leading the Pequots to the conference championship. He coached the Post Men's Basketball Team to a fourth place finish in the CACC in his only season, 1996-97. His team featured NAIA All-American and future European professional player, Rasuel McKune.

            Mara holds degrees from Mitchell College and Roger Williams University as well as a Graduate Certificate from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA). He is a native of Connecticut and lives with his son, seven-year old Danny (Pictured at right).

Kirk Reed is in his fifth year as Assistant Commissioner of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. Reed came to the CACC in July of 2005 after serving as the assistant sports information director at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY.

Reed is the primary contact for the media at the CACC Office and organizes the public relations efforts.  Furthermore, he maintains and updates the conference website, distributes weekly releases, attends conference and NCAA tournament events and coordinates the All-Conference teams and all other conference awards.  He was  a member of the NCAA Division II Men's Golf Regional Advisory Committee from 2007-2009. He is a member of the CACC Awards Committee.

Reed was the media relations contact for women's basketball, softball, tennis and golf at Saint Rose and he also assisted with men's basketball and baseball.  His other duties included assisting with website maintenance and media guide and game program production. 

In addition to his time at Saint Rose, Reed has also spent time with the sports information offices at Bethany College (WV), Rutgers University, Cornell University and Syracuse University.  

Reed spent just over one year as the sports information director at Bethany College and served as the main media contact for 18 Division III intercollegiate sports teams. He spearheaded the design of a new website for the athletics department, was the game-day manager for all sports and coordinated media requests.

Prior to Bethany, Reed spent two years as an intern with the Rutgers sports information office and served as the primary media contact for the nationally-ranked men's lacrosse team, women's volleyball and men's and women's fencing. He also assisted with the sports information operations for the football, men's and women's basketball and baseball programs. 

Reed aserved as a statistician at the 2002 and 2003 women's BIG EAST basketball tournaments and also worked at the 2003 men's BIG EAST basketball tournament at Madison Square Garden. He has also worked for ESPN assisting with the collection and distribution of intercollegiate contest data.

A 2001 graduate of Ithaca College, Reed interned at Cornell Univeristy during his senior year. He worked with the cross country, track and field, swimming and diving a nd squash programs.

Reed's initial experience in the field of sports information was at Syracuse University as an intern during the summer of 2000. At Syracuse, he assisted with day-to-day office operations and wrote numerous feature stories for use in game programs and media guides.

Kirk and his wife, Melissa, reside in Waterbury, CT with their son Jackson. Jackson (pictured right) was born on September 26, 2008.

Stacy Kelly was appointed Associate Commissioner of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) on December 1, 2008. She joined the CACC after spending two and a half years at Mitchell College in New London, CT. She served as the Associate Director of Athletics and Sports Information Director from 2006-2008 before assuming an adjunct faculty role for the fall 2008 semester.

As Associate Commissioner of the CACC, Kelly also serves as the conference's Senior Woman Administrator (SWA) and has primary responsibility for eligibility and budget. She is the the conference office liason to the the CACC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), the CACC SWA Committee and the CACC Compliance Coordinators..

At Mitchell, Kelly taught classes in Sports Management, Physical Education and General Studies. Prior to that, she helped manage the day-to-day operations of the athletics department as Associate AD and SID. She managed game operations, scheduling and marketing for the department and served as the director of summer camps. Kelly is currently finishing her second year as a facilitator with the NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Leadership Conference program. 

Before Mitchell, Kelly served two years at Clark University in Worcester, MA.  At Clark, Kelly assisted in sports information, student-athlete leadership initiatives, scheduling and campus engagement. She served as an advisor for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was an assistant softball coach for the Cougars.

Kelly earned her Master of Science degree in Sports Administration from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2004.  While at La Crosse, she was the assistant to the Associate Athletic Director and a teaching assistant in the Physical Education department. Her primary responsibilities were in-game and event management for the 19 sport nationally-ranked NCAA Division III program.

A 2002 graduate from Wartburg College in Waverly Iowa, Kelly earned her degree in K-12 Physical Education and Health with a minor in Athletic Training. While at Wartburg she was a member of the basketball, softball and track and field teams. She spent two years as a member of the Waverly-Shell Rock High School girls' basketball coaching staff.