Ryan Powell joined The Summit League staff on Aug. 1, 2018 as its assistant commissioner for strategic communications and broadcasting. His responsibilities include leading, managing and overseeing the athletic communications, media and broadcasting endeavors for the nine-team league.
Powell's department was rebranded to strategic communications during the summer of 2025. He also serves as the championship manager for men's and women's golf - a task he took over in the spring of 2023.
Powell arrived in Sioux Falls following a nearly 10-year stint at the University of North Dakota where he was the associate director of media relations, serving as primary contact for football, men's basketball and the men's and women's golf programs. The Fighting Hawks won the program's first Big Sky Championships in both football and men's basketball during the 2016-17 academic year and also participated in NCAA postseason play for the first time at the Division I level that season.
While at UND, Powell also served as the media coordinator for three NCAA West Ice Hockey Regionals (2015 and 2017 in Fargo and 2018 in Sioux Falls) and the 2016 IIHF World U18 Championship at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.
Before his time at UND, Powell spent two years as associate director of athletics communication at the University of Central Florida in Orlando where he served as the primary contact for UCF's 2007 Conference USA champion football team and 2008 NCAA East Region qualifying women's golf team.
While at UCF, Powell successfully promoted the school's first consensus football All-American in running back Kevin Smith, who was a third-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. Powell also served as the media coordinator for the 2007 NCAA Women's Golf Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Prior to his stint in Orlando, Powell served two years as the associate director of media relations with Conference USA, based in Irving, Texas. At C-USA, he served as the league's co-contact for football and primary contact for indoor and outdoor track and field, cross country and softball. He also served as interim men's basketball contact during the 2005-06 season.
Powell is currently a member of the board of directors for the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association - a post he began prior to the 2013 season. He served as the organization's president in 2017-18.
A native of Huntsville, Ala., Powell also spent time as a media relations assistant at Auburn University and the University of Memphis. He earned a bachelor's degree in corporate journalism from Auburn in 2000 and received a master's degree in sport and leisure commerce from Memphis in 2004.
Powell and his family, which inlcudes his wife, Kelly, and sons, Jack (18) and Evan (13), reside in Sioux Falls, S.D.
