Oct. 1, 2007

(San Francisco) - Desiree Reed-Francois, the Associate Athletics Director for Compliance and Student Support at Fresno State from 2003-06 before spending a year in private practice, was named as the Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations/ Senior Women's Administrator at the University of San Francisco, as announced today by USF Athletic Director Debra Gore-Mann.

An experienced administrator with nearly a decade of experience at the Division I level, Reed-Francois will begin her duties at USF starting October 15.

"We are extremely excited and fortunate to welcome a person of Desiree's abilities to USF," Gore-Mann said. "She will be an outstanding addition to our department and will play a key role for us as we build a cohesive department. She brings valuable hands-on experience in compliance and academic services. Her proven legal background will definitely be an asset for us. Desiree will play a lead role in all areas of our internal operations, while strengthening our student-athlete services."

During her tenure at Fresno State, Reed-Francois directed a staff of 21 employees and co-authored the department's strategic plan. Under her leadership, Fresno State achieved an `A' grade from the Women's Sports Foundation in 2006 for gender equity and Reed-Francois spearheaded a renewed emphasis in community outreach programs at the local, regional and national levels. Reed-Francois also served as lead negotiator for the Bulldog Athletic Department, including a medical services agreement resulting in a 65 percent net savings to the athletic department. Other accomplishments included securing a bid to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Women's Basketball Championships in 2004-05 and recruiting and hiring head coaches for women's volleyball and women's soccer.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to join a tradition-rich institution like the University of San Francisco and to work with Debi and the exceptional coaches, staff members and student-athletes," said Reed-Francois. "I'm excited about this opportunity. I want to be an integral part of USF's quest for academic and athletic excellence."

Reed-Francois spent one year at Santa Clara University and was responsible for the administration of compliance, student services, legal affairs, the Athletics Advisory Board, and she supervised three sports. She oversaw the Academic Affairs division, which produced an NCAA Top Eight Award winner, and worked to develop appeal hearing procedures, a gender equity plan and an academic resource policy.

An accomplished legal mind and teacher, Reed-Francois taught Sports Law at Santa Clara University and at Lincoln Law School. Additionally, Reed-Francois developed staff seminars, and assisted with the Stanford University Sports Law Summit. She has been a guest speaker at several Bay Area universities, including the Stanford Law School.

Before joining the Santa Clara staff, Reed-Francois was the director of compliance at San Jose State from 1999-02, where she was responsible for providing NCAA rules interpretation and guidance, plus establishing procedures for monitoring financial aid, recruiting, eligibility and amateurism. She implemented a comprehensive rules education plan for the coaches, staff and student-athletes.

Reed-Francois worked as a litigation attorney for two years from 1998-99. Before that, she was a compliance assistant at the University of California at Berkeley for one year and spent a year as a legal associate for the National Football League's Management Council. In 1995, she was a legal associate for the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, handling collective bargaining grievances during the club's relocation.

A 1994 graduate of UCLA, she was a member of the Bruins' rowing team. She earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Arizona in 1997.

Reed-Francois is a former member of the Stanford University Sports Law Symposium Committee, the NCAA Committee on Initial Eligibility, the State Bar of California Committee on Ethnic Minorities and frequently lectures on sports law.

Reed-Francois and her husband Joshua, a vice president at Grubb & Ellis, have a three-year old son Jackson.