Changes made!

Mercyhurst College Director of Athletics Joe Kimball announced today that several positions within the college’s athletic department have been restructured to fill the void left after the resignation of Ray Yost as the North East campus’ Director of Athletics.

Associate Director of Athletics Aaron Kemp will fill Yost’s position, and will serve as the Director of Athletics at the Mercyhurst North East campus. Lauren Packer Webster will move into Kemp’s old role and will now serve as the Assistant Director of Athletics/Director of Compliance. Mercyhurst Ice Center Director David Leisering will now serve as the college’s Director of Athletic Communications, previously held by Packer Webster, while Mike Parry, who served as a graduate assistant in the department last year, will take over as the Director of the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

Kemp joined the athletic administration staff in June of 2008. He was named the Associate Director of Athletics in July 2009 after spending the previous six months as the interim Director of Athletics. As the Director of Compliance, Kemp was responsible for maintaining the college’s athletic compliance office. He developed and maintained effective operating procedures to ensure proper institutional compliance, monitored eligibility and financial aid for student-athletes, and served as the compliance liaison to the NCAA and conference offices. His other administrative responsibilities included budget and event management. Kemp will now oversee nine sports at Mercyhurst’s North East campus and will still handle compliance duties for the two Division I hockey programs at main campus.

Packer Webster moves into Kemp’s old role as Assistant Director of Athletics and Director of Compliance after serving as the college’s Director of Athletic Communications. Prior to joining the Mercyhurst staff in the winter of 2008, Packer Webster worked for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference for two years, serving as the Director of Media Relations from July 2007 through June 2008 for the 14-member conference and its 22 NCAA Division II sports. She also had a brief stint as the Sports Information Director at Allegheny College.

Leisering becomes the new Director of Athletic Communications after serving the previous two years as the Ice Center Director and as the Director of Hockey Operations. He served four years in the sports information office while completing his degree at Mercyhurst from 1997 to 2001. After graduation, Leisering served two years as the Sports Information Director at the University of Findlay. He will now oversee all aspects of athletic communications for 22 NCAA Division II sports and two NCAA Division I programs (men’s and women’s hockey) at Mercyhurst. 

Parry now moves into Leisering’s old position and will serve as the Director of the Mercyhurst Ice Center. He is no stranger to hockey in the community. Earlier this year, he was elected as McDowell Hockey’s president, and he also has a spot on the Erie Youth Hockey Association board of directors. Parry will oversee all aspects of the ice center; will generate revenue for the college by renting the ice to area schools and associations, and will also be in charge of game day operations for all Mercyhurst varsity home hockey contests.  

Aaron Kemp can now be reached at his North East office at (814) 725-6390. Packer Webster’s new phone number is (814) 824-3101. Leisering now assumes the phone number of the Athletic Communications office at (814) 824-2525, while Parry can now be reached at (814) 824-2277. 

The changes within the department will be effective immediately.