Kelli Milliner enters her 17th year at West Chester University serving as the athletic department’s Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator.

The veteran of more than 20 years within intercollegiate athletics administration came to West Chester University from nearby Drexel University in Philadelphia where she served as the Director of Compliance from July 2001 until accepting her current position at WCU in 2007.

Milliner’s role is to provide leadership in all aspects of the daily operation of the department and assist with the development and implementation of all department policies and procedures.  She serves as the Faculty Chair of the Department of Athletics.  Milliner also has the role of Athletics Deputy Title IX Coordinator. 

Within the Athletics Department, Milliner chairs the Sports Equity Committee and serves as co-chair to the Athletics Diversity and Inclusion Committee.  She convenes the WCU Sports Performance team monthly and is the liaison to the Academic Mentoring Program.  At WCU, she represents the Department on the Campus Climate Intervention Team and the WCU President’s Commission on the Status of Women. 

Milliner has been focused on supporting student-athletes while at West Chester.  Since coming to WCU, she has been the advisor to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee where she has assisted in raising funding to support five wishes for the Make A Wish Foundation, hosting five “wish reveals.” Milliner has been instrumental in the development of the Student Athlete Success (SAS) program. SAS provides services, leadership training, professional and personal development programming designed to engage, prepare, and inspire student-athletes off the field.  Milliner completed the NCAA Leadership Academy Workshop for 2020-2021, incorporating many of the ideas learned to the SAS program, which includes the Michael Horrocks Leadership Institute.

In 2022, Milliner was recognized as one of the 150 most influential women of West Chester University by the President’s Commission on the Status of Women to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of West Chester University.

Outside of WCU, Milliner has served on the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics (CWA) and its NCAA Social Justice subcommittee. She continues to represent CWA on the Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport (CSMAS)Committee to review the Transgender Student-Athlete Participation Policy.  She is a member of Women Leaders in Sports where she has served on the Education and Professional Development Committee and has completed both the Women Leaders (formerly NACWAA/HERS) Institute for Administrative Advancement and Leadership Enhancement Institute. Milliner has also completed the Athlete Development Professional Certification Program through the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

Milliner has presented her research and shared her expertise on the national level at the NCAA National Convention, the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting, The Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutrition Symposium and the NCAA LifeSkills Symposium. As well, she has been involved with research related to student-athletes in the areas of nutrition and mental health and has been published as a co-author in The Learning Assistance Review in an article titled, "Go For The Win: A Collaborative Effort to Support Student-Athletes."

Prior to her current appointment, Milliner coordinated all compliance activity within Drexel University’s athletic department in accordance with NCAA regulations, including monitoring student-athlete eligibility and recruitment of all prospective student-athletes. In her 10 years at Drexel, Milliner also served in the areas of academic advising, coaching, and teaching.

Milliner helped develop and  co-owns the ProMotion health app, a screening tool to administer mental health screening or other surveys to athletes, students or other patients on a large scale.  She is also the current secretary of the Media Area Girls Softball League Executive Board and has coached several teams in the league.
 
In the spring of 2002, Milliner taught “The Business of Sport” in the athletic certificate program as an adjunct professor at Drexel. From 1998-2001, she served as the first assistant softball coach with the Drexel Dragons program. During that three year span, the Dragons twice reached the 30-win plateau, including a school-record 33 triumphs in 2001.

A native of Endicott, N.Y., the former Kellianne McCoy graduated from Villanova University in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts with a minor in Philosophy.  While at Villanova, she was a four-year starter for the Wildcats’ softball team also serving as a team captain. She earned her master’s in Education in Sport and Recreation Administration from Temple University in 2001 and her MBA with a marketing concentration from Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business in 2006.

Milliner and her husband, Dave, reside in Media, Pa., with their daughters, Allison and Madelyn and their cockapoo, Sammy.