The Southern Conference announces four staff changes

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Three Southern Conference staff members have received promotions, and the conference has hired an addition to the conference staff, SoCon Commissioner Michael Cross announced.

Ralan Wardlaw is now the Director of Communications. Anna Brinkman (media relations) and Caroline Reese (championships), both of whom served as interns in the SoCon office during the 2023-24 school year, are now the Assistant Director of Communications and Director of Operations, respectively. The conference has also added La J’ai Reed to the staff as the Student-Athlete Engagement Coordinator.

Wardlaw, who is entering his third year with the conference, oversees the league’s communications department, with specific media relations responsibilities for football, men’s basketball, volleyball, women’s soccer, softball and men’s golf. Wardlaw started at the SoCon in May 2022 as the Assistant Director of Media Relations.

Brinkman will be responsible for the communications and media relations responsibilities of women’s basketball, baseball, men’s soccer and tennis. She will also administer the league’s academic awards.

Reese will be responsible for managing a variety of important operational tasks that involve meeting and event planning, office manager responsibilities and daily business operation assistance, along with assisting in the coordination of SoCon tournaments.

Reed comes to the SoCon with a variety of experiences across the academic and athletic landscape. Since 2022, she has worked as an assistant project director with Bingocize and exercise science program instructor at Winthrop. In the summer of 2023, Reed was an athletic administration intern with Rock Hill High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

The Saint Stephen, South Carolina, native also served as an assistant girls basketball coach at Rock Hill High School from 2020-24. Along with coaching duties, Reed was also responsible for the team’s media relations, which included video production and the squad’s social media presence.

As a student at Winthrop, Reed served as the assistant sports editor for The Johnsonian, the Winthrop Campus Newspaper, from 2019-2020.

Reed earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communication from Winthrop in 2021, graduating Summa Cum Laude. She completed her master’s degree at Winthrop in sport & fitness administration with a sports management concentration in 2023.