2019 NACDA and Affiliates Annual Convention

Kiki Barnes
Director of Athletics
Dillard University


Dr. Kiki Baker Barnes is chief energy officer! As athletic director at Dillard University and President and CEO of Kiki Baker Barnes LLC, she utilizes her dynamic leadership skills and powerful speaking and coaching abilities to empower leaders, teams, and student-athletes to unlock their full potential. Among her leadership successes, Dr. Barnes courageously led the revitalization and return of Dillard’s athletic department following hurricane Katrina, ultimately transitioning the program into to a national model of student-athlete success and community service. Dr. Barnes’ accomplishments in this role also include: implementing a multi-faceted fundraising strategy; increasing student-athlete graduation rates to 78%; facilitating a technological rebrand of the athletics department; envisioning, implementing and securing title sponsorship for the All-State Sugar Bowl Bleu Devil Classic; and producing the annual So You Want A Career in Athletics event, which introduces girls ages 13 – 18 to careers in sports. To date, Dr. Barnes is the only female athletic director for intercollegiate sports in Louisiana. She was recently named an Interim Commissioner for the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and a 2019 Under Armour Director of the Year. Nationally, she directed organizational growth as the first elected female and first African American president of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. She has been recognized by the GCAC, New Orleans Pelicans, Girls Scouts of Louisiana and several media outlets her for sports leadership. Dr. Barnes’s athletic career spans sports administration, coaching and instruction. She earned a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of New Orleans (UNO), a master’s in communications from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and a bachelor’s in communication from UNO. She is married to Marc Barnes and they have two children, Caitlin and Marc Jr.

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