Kathy Keene, Ph. D. is in her 14th year with the Sun Belt Conference in 2019-20 and currently serves as the league’s Deputy Commissioner. Keene has responsibility for the preparation of conference schedules, activities of Official Coordinators and all other activities associated with the administration of sports on campus.
Dr. Keene previously served as the Sun Belt Conference’s Associate Commissioner for Compliance from 2006-10. In that role, she oversaw the league’s compliance program and is responsible for all NCAA and Sun Belt Conference rules education and interpretation.
Prior to joining the conference office, Dr. Keene spent nine years at the University of New Orleans athletics department. Her tenure at New Orleans included a five year stint as the department’s senior woman’s administrator. Dr. Keene joined the department as an academic tutor in 1997 and progressed to the Director of Student-Athlete Support Services.
Dr. Keene graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1996 and received a master’s degree in counseling education in 1998 and her doctorate degree in counseling in 2000 from the University of New Orleans.
She was a four-year letterwinner on the Ole Miss track & field team, competing in the heptathlon and earning SEC all-academic honors for three straight seasons (1994-96).
Keene and her husband Chris have two daughters, Madelyn and Katie, and two sons, Mayson and Christopher.