Julie Roe Lach to Join Horizon League Staff

INDIANAPOLIS -- Julie Roe Lach, president of JRL Consulting and former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Vice President of Enforcement, will join the Horizon League staff as Deputy Commissioner. Roe Lach brings over 20 years of experience in intercollegiate athletics to the Horizon League.

As president of JRL Consulting, Roe Lach has focused on placement advising and contract negotiations for clients seeking executive level jobs, strategic planning with conferences, compliance education and advising for institutions and head coaches, and leadership development for female administrators.

“It’s a privilege to welcome Julie Roe Lach to our staff,” said Horizon League Commissioner Jonathan LeCrone. “Julie brings a wealth of experience, depth of knowledge and national perspective to the Horizon League. She is the perfect fit at the right time.”

Roe Lach will oversee the implementation of the Horizon League’s strategic plan, which is in its final stages of development. Additionally, Roe Lach will handle the day-to-day operations within the League office while supervising regular season and championship competition, messaging, governance, student-athlete well-being, corporate sponsorships, and resource allocation.

“From my first conversation with Commissioner LeCrone, I knew the Horizon League was special.   The League’s focus on being highly competitive in the athletics arena while also committing to developing student-athletes to their full potential outside of the athletics arena is a message that I believe in deeply,” said Roe Lach.   “I am excited to work with our member institutions and the conference staff in supporting and championing our outstanding student-athletes.  I would like to thank Commissioner LeCrone and the Horizon League members for this amazing opportunity.”

Prior to founding JRL Consulting, Roe Lach spent nearly 16 years at the NCAA, working her way from an intern to Vice President of Enforcement. As vice president, Roe Lach restructured a department of 55 staff members after meeting with over 150 constituents to help identify key issues facing the national governing body. She created a unit focused on football, women’s basketball and expanded the men’s basketball group with the charge to generate cases in those sports. Within a year, over 25 percent of the department’s active cases were generated from the staff’s work.

Under her leadership, the department implemented business performance metrics and within two years shaved months from the average investigation time. Roe Lach also formed the department’s first quality control program which included a director position, review board charged with vetting all allegations, a mock-hearing program and a qualitative approach to measuring quality of investigations based on fairness, thoroughness and communication with involved parties.

Roe Lach was also the staff lead for the presidential group that proposed the overhauled penalty structure and process for adjudicating cases which was adopted by the membership in November 2012.

During her time at the NCAA, Roe Lach attended over 100 major infractions hearings. Prior to being named vice president, she was the supervising director in over 20 completed cases. Before moving to enforcement, Roe Lach oversaw the student-athlete reinstatement division.

A former First Team All-American and GTE Academic All-American women’s basketball player at Millikin University, where she is a trustee emeritus, Roe Lach received her Juris Doctor from the Indiana University McKinney School of Law. She received an honorary doctorate from Millikin University in 2012.

Roe Lach will start in the Horizon League office on Aug. 4.