Women Leaders Podcast

In this podcast, Patti Phillips is joined by Valerie Cleary, director of athletics at Portland State University Val has somewhat of an underdog story that reminds young women that a career in sports is possible! A small, farm town girl from Northern California who never aspired to be an athletic director - Val used her undergrad experiences as a tour guide, orientation leader and sorority sister to find her passion for higher education, which led to a Masters in Counseling and Student Development, a degree she uses every single day. While Val has spent many years in higher education, she was only in athletics for 1 year before being asked to serve as the interim AD, which says a lot about her skillset and leadership abilities. She has since been hired into two different athletic director roles and is thriving. Find out she created her own “search firm” for hiring new coaches, developed her philosophy around what “fit” for a department really means, and how she makes sure everyone working under her has a vo