Media Relations Social

LANCE FLEMING

**** ******** ****

Abilene, Texas 79601

325-***-**** • ********@*****.***

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Accomplished and award-winning communications professional with 20-plus years of experience directing media relations in integrated digital and traditional environments and developing communication strategies for internal and external audiences. Also, an accomplished and award-winning writer of spot news/sports stories, game stories, columns, and feature stories. Author of one book and a contributing writer to another book.

SKILLS

• Executive Team Leadership • Crisis Communication

• Supervision of head coaches • Supervision of media relations staff

• Writing and editing • Policy development

• Social media • Website editing

• Limited Design work • InDesign

• Limited Photoshop work • Public speaking and broadcasting

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

After graduating from Abilene Christian University in 1992 with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, I worked full-time for the Abilene Reporter-News as a copy editor before becoming a sportswriter in February 1993. I worked at the ARN for five years, covering Texas high school athletics as well as the Dallas Cowboys (I spent a week in Phoenix in January 1996 covering Super Bowl XXX) before moving to Lubbock with my wife to work at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. While in Lubbock, I covered Texas Tech from the academic side and the Lubbock Independent School District.

After about seven months in Lubbock, my wife and I moved back to Abilene after I took the job as the Sports Information Director at ACU, which was NCAA Division II at the time. I worked at ACU from August 1998 until I left in July 2019, when ACU was an NCAA Division I member. I served as SID before moving up to Assistant Director of Athletics for Media Relations and then, finally, ending my 21 years of service as the Associate Director of Athletics. I had the good fortune to chronicle student-athletes who went on to careers in the NFL, future Olympians, and the program's first team to advance to the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 2019.

I left ACU to join the team at the Abilene Independent School District in 2019, just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down. I spent more than three years as the Chief Communications Officer before moving to a new role as a communications specialist in January 2022.

I'm using my writing skills to tell the stories of AISD students, staff, and programs.

In addition to my work, I've been married to my wife, Jill, for 27 years as of April 18, 2024, and we have three children: Rex, Ashley, and Ryan. Rex passed away in November 2012 after a two-year battle against brain cancer. Ashley is 19 and a freshman at ACU, while Ryan is 12 and in the seventh grade at Craig Middle School.

My wife and I co-founded the Play 4 Rex Foundation in 2013 to help carry on Rex's legacy. In the 10 years since the foundation's inception, we have raised more than $750,000 to help families facing pediatric cancer. We donated $250,000 to a new pediatric rehab gym at Hendrick Medical Center, $25,000 to a new Hendrick hospice facility, and another $20,000 to the West Texas Rehabilitation Center. In May 2024, we hosted our 10th and final golf tournament, the largest non-profit golf event in West Texas, raising more than $50,000 annually.

WORK HISTORY

Freelance Writer

Abilene Christian University & Other Entities

January 2022 – present

After I moved to the role of Communications Specialist with the AISD, I had more time for freelance writing, which I have done regularly for Abilene Christian University (COBA, Athletics, Marketing & Strategic Communications) and other entities, such as Haverford College in Pennsylvania, HubCityPreps.com, and the Dallas Morning-News. My freelance work for COBA consisted of feature stories on faculty, current students, and graduates, as well as programs and initiatives in the college. My work for athletics began in the Fall of 2022, writing game stories for football and has increased to writing weekly emails for Keith Patterson, monthly emails for Coach Patterson, monthly emails for Wildcat Club members, and other emails and messages as needed. My work for Marketing & Strategic Communications has been writing features and the sports section for ACU Today.

Communications Specialist

Abilene Independent School District

January 2022 – present

After three years as the Chief Communications Officer for the district, I moved to a new role after COVID took the joy out of my job. I am now utilizing my writing skills to present stories to the district and the public about the great things happening to the students, teachers, and programs in the Abilene ISD.

Chief Communications Officer

Abilene Independent School District

July 2019 – January 2022

I served on the senior administrative team for the Abilene Independent School District. Responsible for all communications from the district to the city, district, parents, students, and staff, including communication from the superintendent. Also responsible for callout scripts that principals used for crisis communication. In March 2020, I became heavily involved in everything to do with COVID-19, from communication to developing protocols to reporting cases and monitoring and maintaining the district’s daily COVID tracker. Also responsible for writing press releases, answering media inquiries, maintaining the AISD website, and oversight of AISD-Television productions.

Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations

Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas)

December 2014 – June 2019

Assistant Director of Athletics for Media Relations

Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas)

August 2010 – December 2014

Sports Information Director

Abilene Christian University (Abilene, Texas)

August 1998 – July 2010

• Leadership role in athletics administrative staff

• Responsible for creating and maintaining a positive image for the university’s athletics program

• Supervision of ACU media relations – primary media and community contact for athletics

• Coordination with ACU TV and production of live-streaming events

• Sports supervisor for men’s and women’s track and field, volleyball, men’s basketball, and baseball

• Responsible for all written communication from the director of athletics to lettermen, donors, alums,

and other key ACU constituents.

• Liaison between ACU Athletics office and ACU Creative Services (marketing and graphic design)

• Wrote and edited various internal and external athletics-related publications and documents

• Other duties included event management, publications, event broadcasts, reporting to and working with

conference and national organizations, athletics marketing and image management, athletics logo revision,

branding and uniforms, and maintaining historical files.

Staff Writer

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

February 1998 – August 1998 (7 months)

Covered several beats for the A-J, including Texas Tech (academic side) and the Lubbock Independent School District. I was also a general assignments writer, covered the police beat on weekends, and wrote a few sports stories.

Sports Writer

Abilene Reporter-News

February 1993 – November 1997 (4 years 10 months)

I covered high school, college, and professional sports, including the Dallas Cowboys. My primary beat was high school athletics. Abilene is home to two highly successful Class 5A athletics programs, Abilene High School and Abilene Cooper High School, and I was fortunate to cover each of them. I also covered collegiate games on occasion. My other primary beat was covering the Dallas Cowboys (home games only) from 1991, when I was a part-time staff member, through 1997. I spent a week in Phoenix in January 1996 covering Super Bowl XXX between Dallas and Pittsburgh. I covered the NFL Draft from Valley Ranch (team headquarters) and went to Training Camp in Austin for at least one week for five straight years.

EDUCATION

Abilene Christian University

Bachelor of Arts - BA, Journalism and Mass Communication

August 1987 – May 1992

I graduated from Abilene Christian University in 1992 with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communication. In the spring of 1992, the JMC faculty voted me the top graduating senior, and I won several writing awards.

ACU LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

COMMITTEE AND COLLABORATIVE WORK

• Chairman, Baseball Head Coach Search Committee (May-June 2018)

We talked to more than 30 candidates, cut it down to eight phone interviews, and brought four coaches to campus

for in-person visits. My recommendation for the job and No. 1 candidate all along – then-Dallas Baptist assistant coach

Rick McCarty – was offered and accepted the job as the ACU head coach.

• Member, Volleyball Head Coach Search Committee (January-February 2017)

• Chairman, ACU Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee (2014-present)

• Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium Planning Team (2014-17)

• Member of the committee that worked with Rickabaugh Graphics to create a new brand and logo for

ACU Athletics (2012-14)

• Member, ACU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Search Committee (2012)

• Member, ACU Athletics Senior Leadership Team (2011-18)

• Member, ACU Men’s Basketball Head Coach Search Committee (2011)

• Wrote and edited several reports for the transition from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I (2010-13)

• Wrote and edited a report each year during our four-year transition (2014-17)

• Member, Track and Field Head Coach Search Committee (2009, 2013 and 2016)

• Member, ACU Head Football Coach Search Committee (2000, 2005)

• ACU Crisis Communication Team (2000-2019)

• Member, ACU Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee (1998-2013)

SUPERVISORY ROLES

• Sport Supervisor over men’s and women’s track field, men’s basketball, baseball and volleyball (2014-2018)

• While supervising each sport, I met weekly with the head coaches to monitor progress in several areas, including

academics, budget, fundraising, scheduling, and recruiting.

• Each head coach reported directly to me, and I funneled information to the director of athletics.

• In the case of two former track and field coaches, one volleyball head coach and one baseball head coach under my

supervision, I recommended to the director of athletics that each be relieved of their duties, including one in the middle of

his respective season.

• Director of Athletics Media Relations (1998-2019)

• From 1998-2011, I was the sole full-time staff member in the media relations office, working alongside several graduate

assistants, student workers, and interns. I supervised each of them, and three eventually went into athletics media relations

as a career choice.

• I hired a full-time assistant and added a graduate assistant video coordinator in 2011. I supervised our office’s growth from

a one-person shop into a full-fledged intercollegiate athletics media relations office.

• In 2014, we added another graduate assistant; the video position became full-time in 2016.

ACU CRISIS COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCE

• Two men’s basketball players were dismissed from the team for violations of the Student Code of Conduct (February 2019)

• ACU football players accused of sexual assault (January 2019)

• ACU director of athletics Lee De Leon resigns (May 2018)

• ACU head baseball coach Britt Bonneau resigns (May 2018)

• ACU head football coach Ken Collums fired (November 2016)

• ACU director of athletics Jared Mosley resigns (August 2014)

• NCAA Division I transition (2012-14)

• ACU found guilty of NCAA rules violations in football and track and field programs (2009)

• National media learns starting offensive lineman Tony Washington is a registered sex offender (November 2008)

• ACU quarterback Billy Malone was arrested after a bar fight resulted in him breaking a man’s jaw (January 2006)

• ACU men’s basketball players arrested for stealing computers (January 2012)

• Multiple coach firings/resignations (1999-present)

• ACU goes into shutdown after the campus receives a suspicious package thought to contain Anthrax. FBI is called in and

shuts down several buildings during a campus-wide sweep (November 2001)

AISD CRISIS COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCE

• Handled all media inquiries, written statements, and city, campus and parent communication during Winter Storm Uri

(January 2021)

• Handled all media inquiries after an AISD employee was arrested for possession of child pornography (November 2020)

• Handled all media inquiries about changing the name of three AISD elementary schools (August 2020-January 2021)

• Responsible for daily update of AISD COVID-19 Tracker (August 2020-January 2022)

• Crafted all messages from AISD Superintendent Dr. David Young during the COVID-19 crisis (March 2020-January 2022)

• Crafted all messages for campuses and parents during the COVID-19 crisis (March 2020-January 2022)

• Handled all media inquiries, written statements, and campus and parent communication after the stabbing of two Abilene

High students (January 2020)

• Built, wrote, edited, and maintained AISD Return-to-School protocol handbook (August 2020)

• Handled all media inquiries, written statements, and campus and parent communication after the arrest of a former AISD

teacher for his involvement in a human trafficking ring (December 2019)

• Handled all media inquiries, written statements, and campus and parent communication after the termination of one

employee, the suspension of another, and the reassignment of the principal at Craig Middle School after a special education

student was allegedly abused (November-December 2019)

ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

• Member, Texas School Public Relations Association (August 2019-May 2022)

• Chairman, Southland Conference Sports Information Directors (August 2016-July 2018)

• Member, College Sports Information Directors of America (August 1998-2019)

• Member, Football Writers Association of America (2000-2019)

• Member, Collegiate Baseball Writers Association of America (2000-2019)

• Voter, NCAA Division I FCS national football poll (2017-2019)

• Voter, Texas Sports Hall of Fame

• Member, Big Country Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee

OTHER MEDIA EXPERIENCE

• Radio broadcaster, high school football (Cooper / Abilene high school games) (2000-03)

• Radio broadcaster, ACU football, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball (1998-2019)

• Radio talk show host, “The Afternoon Drive” on 98.1 FM The Ticket (June 2016-May 2017)

• Sports Editor, The ACU Today alumni magazine (1998-2019)

• Contributing writer, The ACU Today alumni magazine (2019-present)

• Contributing writer, Abilene Scene magazine (2014-2022)

• TV interview experience (1998-present)

• Author, “Wildcat Football: Three Cheers for the Purple and White,” published by ACU Press (October 2018)

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS

• Louis Bonnette Sports Media Award for career service, given by Southland Conference (July 2019)

• Scoop Hudgins Sports Information Director of the Year, SW Region, All-American Football Foundation (May 2008)

• Grant Burger Media Award, Top SID, SW Region by American Volleyball Coaches Association (2005)

• More than 20 College Sports Information Directors of America “Best in the Nation” accolades (1998-present)

• Finalist as Texas High School Writer of the Year by Texas High School Coaches Association (May 1997)

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