By Alicia Lawrence ('11)

When Janice Matacic (’11) and I spent our MBA year’s spring break in New York City, we had the chance to shadow Annie Valeant Brackley (’08) at a New York Road Runners (NYRR) race. After hearing about her recent move from NYC to Charleston, West Virginia, it was time to catch up and see how Annie was adjusting to the transition.

Sports have always been an important part of Annie’s life. Growing up in Elmira, New York, she was a four-sport athlete in high school and played club Softball during her undergraduate career. At James Madison, she stumbled upon the Marketing major and eventually chose to double major by adding Kinesiology to her studies. In addition to the double major, she completed internships for the Charlotte Knights AAA baseball team in Charlotte and ESPN in New York City; despite the busy schedule Annie still managed to graduate in four years.

After graduating from JMU, Annie made the move to Charlotte and began working at GMR for Todd Koesters (’97) and Mike Boykin (’82) who hired her to service the Alltel account. While working for GMR, Annie learned about OHIO Sports Ad and became interested in the program. After deciding to apply, she had very little time before the deadline to complete everything. She began studying fervently for the GMAT, and remembers having her nose glued to her prep book even while she was working at the Daytona 500. Her focus paid off and after meeting the deadline, the waiting game began.

Then one day, the call came. It’s a memory that most of us will never forget. The moment of the call that told us our hard work had paid off, that we were one step closer to our dreams, the one that brought news of acceptance into the Sports Ad family. Ironically Annie’s call from Mr. Kahler came on her way home from a race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Brackley made the move from Charlotte to Athens the summer of 2006. After completing the MSA program, Annie accepted a position with the New York Road Runners as an Assistant Manager on the Marketing and Business Strategy team. Although she loved the people she worked with and planning various events, her daily commute to work was a tiring four hour round-trip.

For Annie, re-entering the academic world as an educator was always a dream. When the opportunity to join Ohio Alum Michelle Wells (’97) teaching undergraduate students in Sport Administration at the University of Charleston, she jumped at the opportunity and began teaching four classes this fall: three sections of the Introduction to Business  and one section of Sport Sponsorship and Sales. Reflecting on the opportunity, Annie felt like she was in the right place at the right time, and the University of Charleston is the complete package. It’s her chance to begin giving back and fostering a passion for the business side of sports in students.

The structure of the sponsorship class touches on 360 degrees of sport sponsorship. Much like the class, Annie’s life has come full circle. The power of the Sports Ad network has helped her along the journey; all the way back to catching sight of  Dr. Kreutzer’s Ohio Sports Ad flier in the hallway at JMU one day.

For those of us currently in the program, Annie had two key pieces of wisdom. The first had to do with humility. “At Ohio, you are surrounded by the best,” she says. “It’s so exciting, but put your head down and go through the program with the big picture in mind. It’s the family atmosphere that should reassure you that the right opportunities will come along at the right time. Maybe it’s not your timing, but I am a big believer in everything happening for the right reasons.”

Her second and final piece of wisdom, and it’s one that should apply to everyone regardless of where we are in our careers: “Be true to you… find out what it is that makes you truly happy and go for it!”