Auburn SWA Djenane Paul to participate in inaugural SEC Opportunity Forum

AUBURN, Ala. – Executive associate athletic director Djenane Paul will represent Auburn in the inaugural SEC Opportunity Forum class, the Southeastern Conference announced Wednesday.

"I'm honored, humbled and thankful to represent Auburn Athletics and grateful to the SEC for this tremendous opportunity," said Paul, Auburn's senior woman administrator. "It's an investment in a diverse pool of talent, pouring into us in a way that gives the exposure and tactical tools we need to position ourselves to take on additional leadership opportunities as they arise."

Paul is one of 15 university and conference administrators who will participate in a year-long program designed to connect mid to senior level administrators in the SEC from historically underrepresented groups with industry leaders and assist them with advancement in the profession.

"The Southeastern Conference and its member institutions are committed to expanding the diversity of our athletics department leadership," said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. "It is important for the Conference and its member institutions to achieve measurable and sustained progress in increasing diversity and representation of historically underrepresented groups in athletics positions, consistent with the overall educational mission."

Paul, who joined Auburn Athletics in March 2022, leads several sports programs and units including Auburn's name, image and likeness efforts, educating student-athletes on topics such as contracts and brand-building.

"I want to position Auburn student-athletes to be competitive not only within their field of play but also within the landscape of NIL," Paul said. "The best way to do so is to make sure they have the resources to navigate and understand the challenging nuances of NIL. I need to continue to be innovative and a forward-thinker, constantly asking, 'How do I put them ahead of the curve?'"

Paul learned about contracts at the Florida A&M University College of Law, from which she earned her Juris Doctorate in 2013. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from Stony Brook University and completed her MBA from Fordham University this spring while serving as Fordham's deputy AD before coming to the Plains.

"I come from a family that has always valued the opportunities that education affords," said Paul, whose parents immigrated from Haiti with English as their second language and became a nurse and an anesthesiologist, respectively. "My parents always encouraged my siblings and me to understand that education will not only position us to excel but also give us context to critically think and exposure that will shape our identities. Pushing for academic success, they taught us, will open more doors than it will close, and could never be taken away.

"I've always made sure that I can give back and reinvest myself in the next generation. This opportunity will allow me to do just that."
 Auburn executive associate athletic director Djenane Paul

The SEC Opportunity Forum is one result of SEC Bylaw 23, a Conference rule adopted by the SEC Presidents and Chancellors in 2021 to encourage, facilitate and assist member institutions in attracting, hiring and retaining individuals from historically underrepresented groups in the leadership of athletics departments, particularly in the roles of athletics director, head coach, and senior woman administrator (SWA) and in positions that typically lead to those roles.

Phase I of the SEC Opportunity Forum will focus on administrators in the SEC who aspire to become an athletics director or conference commissioner. Future aspects of the Forum will be designed to engage coaches who are on the verge of being named a head coach and administrators and coaches who are earlier in their careers.

The four-part series of engagements in 2022-2023 will include in-person sessions at the SEC Office in Birmingham in October, the SEC Football Championship in Atlanta in December, the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin in May. There will also be at least one virtual session on a date to be determined.

The SEC collaborated with each member university to identify the individuals invited to participate in the Forum. The inaugural SEC Opportunity Forum class of administrators consists of:

Alabama: Joe Suiter, Assistant Athletics Director for Student-Athlete Enhancement
Arkansas: Terry Prentice, Senior Associate Athletics Director/Athlete Brand Development
Auburn: Djenane Paul, Executive Associate Athletics Director, SWA
Florida: Kim Green, Associate Athletics Director for Compliance
Georgia: Darrice Griffin, Senior Deputy Athletic Director
Kentucky: Ray Oliver, Executive Associate Athletics Director/ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
LSU: Lori Williams, Deputy Athletics Director for Leadership and Strategy
Ole Miss: Dr. Jennifer Saxon, Associate Athletics Director/SWA
Mississippi State: Alvin Franklin, Associate Athletics Director/Development and Team Lead
Missouri: Donald Senat, Academic Coordinator
South Carolina: David Jackson, Senior Account Manager
Tennessee: Marcus Hilliard, Senior Associate Athletics Director and Chief of Staff
Texas A&M: Dan Childs, Associate Athletics Director for Academic Services
Vanderbilt: Eugene Henderson, Assistant Athletics Director for Student Services
Southeastern Conference: Misty Brown, Assistant Commissioner/Competition and Student-Athlete Engagement
 
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer