CHICAGO – Chicago State Director of Athletics,
Elliott Charles, announced today that Jessica Poole has been added to the Chicago State athletic department staff in the role of Senior Associate Athletic Director for External Operations and Revenue Generation. Poole will oversee Chicago State's external units and will serve as a member of the athletic department's senior administration.
"Jessica will bring a tremendous amount of energy and leadership in our efforts related to public relations, corporate partnerships and business development strategies. We are looking forward to a championship-level approach in our external operations and excited about Jessica's ability to market CSU Athletics." Charles stated.
A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Poole comes to Chicago after serving as Senior Associate Athletic Director of External Relations at Florida Atlantic University. During her time as FAU Poole oversaw FAU's communications, marketing and corporate sponsorship areas while serving as a member of the athletics leadership team.
Poole has spent the majority of her professional career in communications and currently serves as College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), third vice president and chair of the diversity and inclusion committee. She will become the first African-American female to lead the organization during the 2022-23 academic year.
Prior to her tenure at FAU, Poole worked at Vanderbilt University as assistant director of communications primarily working with the sports of football and women's basketball.
Always looking for ways to increase and create value, Poole was instrumental in helping grow the Vanderbilt women's basketball social media accounts while also working to implement new and innovative ways to reach the greater Nashville community which included fireside chats and other exclusive events for fans.
Additionally, Poole spearheaded Vanderbilt's inclusion in the NCAA Women's Basketball Advancement program in 2017. The two-year program was piloted by the NCAA and aimed at increasing attendance for women's basketball programs by connecting program marketing contacts with industry professionals who are experts in several key sport disciplines, including marketing plans, fan engagement and branding.
Prior to her time at Vanderbilt, Poole spent four years at Ole Miss, working on the media relations staff and serving as the primary women's basketball contact and secondary football contact. During her time at Ole Miss, Poole implemented a social media and media training program for incoming student-athletes and was a part of the Ole Miss staff that earned the Football Writers Association of America Super 11 Sports information department distinction.
Poole is also a member of the Black College Sports Information Directors and serves as a member of the executive team while also serving on the NCAA's Women's Basketball Final Four Media Coordination Committee.
No stranger to the college athletics scene, Poole has spent the better part of the last 14 years working at various institutions of higher education throughout the country, primarily in the area of communication, with stops at Dartmouth College, Michigan and UNC Greensboro in addition to a stint working on the ATP Tour.
Poole is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
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About Chicago State University
Chicago State University (CSU) is a public, comprehensive post-secondary institution that stands distinctively as one of the state's oldest public universities, providing access to higher education for students of diverse backgrounds and educational needs. Founded in 1867, CSU is a nationally accredited university with five colleges- Health Sciences, Arts and Science, Business, Education, and Pharmacy – offering 31 undergraduate and 25 graduate degree-granting programs. Consistently evolving to reflect state-of-the-art trends in higher education, CSU prepares students for success in the twenty-first century. For more information, please visit www.csu.edu.
