Since becoming the Ivy League Council of Presidents' second full-time Executive Director on July 1, 2009, Robin Harris has led the Ivy League to new heights in a number of areas. She oversaw the implementation of the Ivy League Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments; guided the League in the creation and development of the Ivy League Network (ILN) and the transition to a ten-year partnership with ESPN; implemented a continuing, broad-based concussion research and prevention initiative; expanded and negotiated the Ivy League’s television coverage agreements; fostered a long-term relationship with JMI Sports to introduce new League-wide sponsorship deals; and focused the League’s communication on core messaging points. She has continued to help the League’s member schools foster an unrivaled experience for Ivy League student-athletes towards a foundation for life-long success through a broad-based offering of athletic and academic pursuits.
Throughout her tenure, Harris has focused on guiding and advancing the League in a manner that remains consistent with the philosophy set by the Ivy League Presidents. The Ivy League continually supports academic and athletic excellence while paving a road to current and future successes for the student-athletes that extends beyond the four years they spend at their respective campuses. Harris continues to strengthen the model the Ivy League has established as a nationally regarded, premiere collegiate athletic conference.
Most recently, Harris guided the League to a groundbreaking media rights partnership with ESPN effective with the 2018-19 academic year. Under the agreement, the Ivy League Network (ILN) will feature more than 1,100 events across ESPN’s digital platforms and a minimum of 24 annual events will air nationally on ESPN’s linear networks. The relationship is designed to broaden the audience for all sports and showcase the League’s model of intercollegiate success.
Prior to the League’s agreement with ESPN, Harris enhanced the exposure of the Ivy League through conference-wide television agreements with national networks such as NBC Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports Network, FOX Sports, American Sports Network and Eleven Sports. These combined efforts expanded national and global coverage of Ivy League football, men’s and women’s basketball, and men’s and women’s lacrosse, all of which achieve national success and recognition year after year. Along with these television negotiations, a trailblazing sponsorship rights agreement with JMI Sports has increased exposure of the League’s prestigious brand.
The athletic and academic standing of the Ivy League on a national stage has only grown during Harris’ tenure with 16 national champions in 2018-19 alone and significant National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament successes. Academically, the Ivy League has consistently led the nation in NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and Academic Progress Rate (APR) rankings.
Garnering national success in a broad array of sports, Ivy League member schools are also typically well-represented in the final standings of the NACDA Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, finishing in 2018-19 as the highest ranked conference outside of the Power 4 conferences for the fifth-straight year.
Under Harris’ leadership, the Ivy League has developed and implemented new championship events for men's and women's basketball, women’s rowing, fencing and men’s and women’s lacrosse.
In August 2019, Harris led a public awareness campaign titled "An Unrivaled Experience," designed to highlight the league's unique and holistic student-athlete experience: world-class academics, Division I athletic success and an unmatched social and cultural campus environment.
Harris has been very active in positioning the Ivy League at the forefront nationally regarding concussion research, education and prevention. Under her leadership, the League has reviewed and implemented a variety of concussion-curbing measures across a number of sports and implemented a comprehensive League-wide data collection and study of concussion in all sports. The League also partnered with the Big Ten Conference to foster co-sponsored, cross-institutional research collaborations to study the effects of head injuries in sports.
Beginning with football in 2010 and eventually including eight other sports to-date (men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s ice hockey, men’s and women’s soccer, wrestling and rugby), Harris led sports-specific studies of concussions and related policy changes. These studies included sport-specific practice recommendations and an enhancement of existing education of student-athletes and coaches regarding the signs and symptoms of concussions, emphasizing the potential long-term risks of repetitive brain trauma and stressing the importance of reporting any symptoms of a concussion.
As additional concussion data was collected and analyzed, Harris and the League implemented two major football-related policies effective with the 2016 season: Elimination of to-the-ground (“live”) tackling during regular season football practices; and an experimental rule to move kickoffs to the 40-yard line and touchbacks to the 20-yard line. The NCAA adopted a modified kickoff rule in Spring 2017 based in part on the results of the Ivy League experience with the experimental rule.
Harris guided the highly successful creation and launch of The Ivy League Network (ILN), which broadcasted over 1,000 live events annually as a collaborative platform for all eight member schools to showcase Ivy League athletic events, student-athletes and other content. The League’s digital efforts include the “What is #OneIvy?” and “Authentic Ivy” video series that highlight the value and balance of the Ivy League athletic and academic experiences and the life-long successes of Ivy League student-athletes.
Harris has volunteered on a number of national committees and is currently on the NCAA Division I Nominating Committee. She is also currently on: (1) the Board of Governors of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame; (2) the Women’s Sports Foundation Board of Directors; (3) the Arizona State University Sports Law & Business Advisory Board; and (4) the United States Olympic & Paralympic Collegiate Advisory Council. Recently, she completed a four-year term on the NCAA Division I Competition Oversight Committee where she also chaired the Team Sports Subcomittee and served on the SEarch Committee for the NCAA EVP Regulatory Affairs position. Previously, she served on (1) NCAA Commission on College Basketball – Enforcement/Infractions Working Group; a four-year term on the Division I Competition Oversight Committee; and the Search Committee for the NCAA Executive VP of Regulatory Affairs Position, (2) chaired the NCAA’s Women’s Collegiate Basketball Officiating, LLC Board of Directors, (3) Board of Directors of the Women Leaders in College Sports (formerly NACWAA), including as the organization’s president during the 2012-13 academic year. She also previously served as legal advisor to the Women Leaders Board. Under the prior Division I governance structure, she served one term as a member of the NCAA Division I Leadership Council, an advisory body to the Division I Board of Directors.
In 2018-19, Women Leaders in College Sports named Harris Administrator of the Year, and in 2016, The Sports Business Journal (SBJ) selected Harris as a “Game Changer;” a national recognition of selected female sports executives.
Harris came to the Ivy League office after seven years at Ice Miller, LLP, based in Indianapolis. At Ice Miller, she served as senior counsel and co-chair of the Collegiate Sports Practice and worked with the firm’s college and university clients on a variety of matters related to athletics.
Prior to Ice Miller, Harris worked nine years in increasingly responsible roles at the NCAA national office, ending her tenure at the NCAA national office in 2002 as associate chief of staff for Division I. In that role, she provided advice and guidance to the NCAA president, Executive Committee, Division I Board of Directors, Division I Management Council and other committees in nearly all athletic governance areas, including academic standards, amateurism, championship policies, diversity, gender equity and Title IX, legislative proposals, membership requirements, strategic planning, student-athlete welfare and studies regarding basketball and football concerns. From 1993 -1998, she was the NCAA’s first director for the Committee on Infractions. Harris is or has been a member of numerous professional associations, including the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), Women Leaders in College Sports, National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) and National Association of Athletics Compliance (NAAC).
She is the author of several articles on issues related to intercollegiate athletics and has made presentations at numerous NCAA, NACUA, Women Leaders and Division I conferences and seminars. Her most recent endeavor is a chapter called “Developing Business Deals With Your Core Values” in How to Succeed in Sport Business: Inside Advice on the Path to Success, edited by Rick Horrow.
Harris is a graduate of the Duke University School of Law, where she served as an editor of the Duke Law Journal. Her student note, “Does the NCAA Play Fair? A Due Process Analysis of NCAA Enforcement Regulations” was published in the Duke Law Journal. She also received a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Duke.
She is married to Max Harris, a native of Washington, Kansas. The couple has two children, twin daughters Alexandra (Alex) and Vanessa.