CALIGIURI, POOLE ADDED TO UNLV ATHLETICS STAFF
Associate athletics director for content creation and fan engagement, and director of student-athlete leadership and career development to begin in mid-August
UNLV Director of Athletics Desiree Reed-Francois announced the hiring of Megan Caligiuri, associate athletics director for content creation and fan engagement, and Mallory Poole, director of student-athlete leadership and career development, Thursday.
Caligiuri will oversee UNLV Athletics’ creative content and video, fan engagement and marketing areas, and will be charged with developing a new media strategic plan and comprehensive fan engagement program. Working closely with the strategic communications department, a major focus will be telling compelling stories through new media channels. She will serve as a member of the executive and senior staffs.
“Megan brings an unparalleled work ethic, creativity and a depth and breadth of knowledge and experience in multimedia content creation,” Reed-Francois said. “Having worked with Megan previously, I look forward to her leadership, ingenuity and teamwork as she looks to innovatively tell the stories of Rebel Athletics.”
Caligiuri spent more than 11 years at Virginia Tech, most recently serving as senior director of visual and broadcast communications. She led and managed HokieVision, a multi-faceted unit that provides video content and support to all of the athletics department’s 22 sports. That unit also runs live event big-screen displays, broadcasts athletic contests through ESPN3 and Hokiesports.com, and creates content for department initiatives and the institutional athletics website, YouTube, and social media. In that role, she supervised a team of eight staff members and 11 student interns.
“Having experienced Desiree’s remarkable leadership at Virginia Tech, I am humbled by the opportunity to join the Rebel team, contribute to the department’s continued growth, and share the stories of our talented student-athletes, coaches, and staff with UNLV’s global community,” Caligiuri said.
Caligiuri has spent the past year in Boulder, Colorado, as a video producer and visual storyteller at TrainHeroic Marketing, where she provided oversight of TrainHeroic’s video marketing strategy and production. She also led efforts to align the company’s brand with excellence in the strength and conditioning industry through documenting and sharing the stories of the country’s top strength and conditioning coaches and athletes.
Caligiuri earned her undergraduate degree in print and electronic journalism from Virginia Tech in 2008. One year later, she earned a master’s degree in health education with an emphasis in sports performance. She has been pursuing a second master’s in instructional technology and design.
Poole’s role at UNLV will be to enhance student-athlete career and leadership development programs, with emphasis on the goal of employment. A new initiative in the athletics department with the purpose of developing a comprehensive and cutting edge student-athlete jobs program, she will also focus on programming such as resume building, networking and interviewing, job search techniques and business etiquette. In addition, she will lead athletics department leadership programming.
“Our goal is provide an environment for our student-athletes to achieve their dreams and positively impact the community,” Reed-Francois said. “Providing a pathway to a meaningful career is an important component of our global student-athlete development program and I’m enthused for Mallory to lead this important program. As a former student-athlete and coach, Mallory brings a unique vantage. I’ve seen her energy and leadership firsthand, and coupled with her experience in student-athlete development, I’m excited for the future of our jobs initiative.”
Poole worked at the University of Denver this past year in the Student-Athlete Support Services (SASS) department and also as the Pioneers’ women’s lacrosse team’s director of operations. With SASS, she was involved in the planning and evaluation of academic performance through collaboration with coaches and student-athletes. She also oversaw all aspects of student-athlete study hall for 17 varsity teams at DU and co-supervised graduate and undergraduate student staff members.
“I am extremely honored to be joining Desiree and the rest of the Rebel team,” Poole said. “The jobs initiative program will allow us to offer our students a winning edge in all aspects of their lives as they prepare to be leaders during their time at UNLV and beyond.”
Poole was a four-year letterwinner in lacrosse at Long Island University-C.W.Post, where she led her team to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances and the national championship in 2007. She earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education with a specialization in coaching. She then played for the United States women’s lacrosse program from 2007-11 before beginning her coaching career.
Poole was an assistant coach at Dartmouth in 2008-09 and at Stevens Institute of Technology from 2009-12. She was the head coach at Bloomsburg University from 2012-14 before being an assistant at Virginia Tech from 2014-16.