Johnson State College has appointed Jamey Ventura as the college’s new Director of Athletics and Recreation. He replaces longtime athletics director Barbara Lougee, who retired in January.
Ventura brings more than seven years of combined experience as athletics director and women’s soccer coach at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y., and Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vt. Ventura facilitated impressive growth and development of the athletic departments at both of those NCAA Division III institutions.
“We are very pleased to have Jamey join us,” said Dean of Students David Bergh. “I believe he has the skills and experience to help us build on the strong foundation that has been established in JSC athletics and take the program to higher levels of success.”
“It is truly an exciting time of transition within Johnson State athletics, and to have a person the caliber of Jamey Ventura to come in and lead our staff only adds to that feeling,” added Assistant Director of Athletics Michael Osborne. “His experience and his professional skill set and demeanor are exactly what we were looking for during our search, and we could not feel better about the hire.”
Ventura has been athletics director and head women’s soccer coach at Wells College since 2007. Under his leadership the department has produced 50 conference scholar-athletes who achieved a grade point average of 3.4 or higher while also seeing 12 of the 13 varsity programs qualify for their conference playoffs.” He also led several successful community-outreach programs with student-athletes while at Wells.
At both Wells and GMC, Ventura increased the student-athlete retention to more than 80 percent for six straight years. He also significantly increased the number of student-athletes at both institutions, nearly doubling the count at Wells. And as women’s soccer coach at GMC, he led the team to an 18-1 record and claimed the NCAA Division III independent championship.
“It is extremely important to me that student-athletes at JSC have a positive experience while competing as a Badger,” Ventura said. “I value their commitment to be successful in their sport, in the classroom and in the community. My door will always be open to them when they want to talk about something.”
Upon assuming the post at JSC on July 5, Ventura will work with the JSC athletics staff and administration to develop a five-year plan for competitive growth consistent with the mission of the college. “In a troubling economy, the growth process can be a challenge,” he said, “but with patience, creativity and collaborative effort, I have no doubt we can achieve our goals.”
Ventura holds an MBA with a specialty in corporate finance and a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a concentration in education. He said he will work hard at JSC to “maximize every budgeted dollar and raise donations for the college, which will play a key role in alleviating budgetary constraints and allowing growth to occur.”
Osborne is optimistic about the future of JSC athletics under Ventura’s leadership. “I feel I speak for all of our athletics staff when I say that we are enthusiastically looking forward to having Jamey here and working with him to continue to improve our athletics department and provide positive experiences for our student-athletes.”