Deon Birkes, CMAA, has 30 plus years of experience in teaching, coaching and mentoring kids as a teacher, coach, administrator and as a Speaker. He has 14 plus years as a District Athletics Director, Assistant Principal and Transportation Director. He has taught many Leadership Training Courses from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrator’s Association’s curriculum and has presented workshops and taught at many State and National conferences. He is currently the President of the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association. He is currently serving on the National Interscholastic Administrators Hall of Fame Committee as well as he serves on the State Professional Development committee and Awards Committee. He has attended and participated in many regional and state conferences. He has presented at three different state conferences. He has helped on the supervision staff of the BCS- National Championship Game in San Francisco 2018 at Alabama’s Hotel and within the stadium during the game. Birkes has been awarded the NFHS Citation for the State of Arkansas a couple of times , The NIAAA State Award of Merit, State Distinguished Service Award and the Frank Kovaleski Professional Development Award for Arkansas as well as several Local and State Athletic Director of the Year awards. He has been married to Traci Birkes for 18 years. They have two kids, son- Jace Birkes is a 17-year-old Sr. to be, and daughter Layni Birkes is a 15-year-old Sophomore to be. He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1989, after graduation he did his undergraduate studies at The University of Arkansas- Fayetteville and graduated with a BSE in 1993. After 9 years of teaching, he attended Southern Nazarene University- Bethany (Tulsa Campus) and received his MAEL in 2004. He was employed at Westwood ISD, Palestine, Texas for three years as a Teacher/Coach. He then was a Teacher/Coach at Shiloh Christian School, Springdale, Arkansas for four years while working under then Athletic Director Jimmy Dykes and Head Football Coach Gus Malzahn. He then moved to Westville, Oklahoma for 8 years, as Teacher/Coach where he helped start the Fast-pitch softball program. He finally made it home to Lincoln High School as a teacher coach before assuming the Athletic Director role for the past 14 years, he also served as Dean of Students, Assistant Principal and now Director of Transportation as well.
He is a father, a husband and a friend to many.
Jason Culler is the Associate Athletic Director at Jenks. Jason just completed his 16th year as an Athletic Administrator. His numerous responsibilities at Jenks include assisting the Athletic Director in the staffing of coaches, scheduling of all athletic events and officials, coordinating
transportation for all athletic events, and overseeing all athletic facilities. Jason also takes care of eligibility and compliance of OSSAA rules for an estimated 1400 student-athletes. Jason started his career as a teacher and coach in Fort Worth, Texas. He has taught Economics, Government, Oklahoma History, and US History in the 7th-12th grades. He has coached multiple sports: Girls Fast Pitch Softball, Girls Basketball, Football, Baseball, Track and Golf. In 2018, Jason Culler started the Oklahoma Athletic Directors Conference after having been under the umbrella of the Oklahoma Coaches Association for numerous years. Jason saw an opportunity to provide professional development to Athletic Directors across
Oklahoma and sought out the OIAAA Board of Directors vision to provide a conference that resembled the National Athletic Directors Conference. With the vision fulfilled, the Oklahoma Athletic Directors Conference has grown in registration 30-45% annually and saw its highest attendance in 2022. With 2023 yet to come, Jason hopes to see growth in the 45% range this summer. Jason is a graduate of Oklahoma State. He has an M.A.Ed. (Master’s Degree in Education
Administration) from Southern Nazarene University. He is currently serving as the President of NEOADA (Northeastern Oklahoma Athletic Directors Association) -2015-Current, Past President of the OIAAA (Oklahoma Interscholastic Athletic Administration Association) -2016-2017. Jason is currently serving as the NIAAA Liaison (National Interscholastic Athletic Administration Association)-2016-Current. He also holds a CMAA (Certified Master Athletic Administrator Certification) from the NIAAA. He is also a Certified Interscholastic Coach. Jason is on the NIAAA National Faculty, as well as the Membership Committee where he serves as Secretary. Jason has been a presenter at the National Athletic Directors Conference for the past two years. Jason has taught multiple LTI courses locally to AD’s across Oklahoma, as well as regionally in Arkansas and Texas. Jason is married to his long-time sweetheart Shannon who works as a Speech Pathologist for the Tulsa Health Department. Jason and Shannon have three children. Their daughters are
Avery (21) and Kadyn (15) and their son, Brooks, is (12).
Wayne Stehlik has spent over 40 years in the world of Athletics. As a basketball coach, Director of Development and Director of Athletics he has had a front row seat for the dramatic changes that have taken place in athletics.
In the summer of 2023, Wayne Stehlik retired at the Director of Athletics for the Springdale Public Schools District. Upon his retirement, the District Athletic Department was one of the largest in Arkansas with over 3900 student athletes and 200 coaches. During his tenure as the Director of Athletics for Springdale Public Schools, sports were added, facilities were built or upgraded and one of the state’s best sports streaming program was created. The district won 19 State Championships and 31 Conference Championships. Stehlik is originally from Pleasant Dale Nebraska and was raised on a third-generation farm. He attended Nebraska Wesleyan University and began his coaching career as an assistant to Dr. Irv Peterson, who had been an assistant to Phog Allen at Kansas after World War II.
He earned his master’s degree at the University of Kansas where he worked under legendary Coach Ted Owens
After a 2-year stint as the Head Basketball and Golf coach at Baker University, he joined Coach Nolan Richardson at the University of Arkansas and was part of the staff when the Arkansas Razorbacks defeated Duke to win the 1994 NCAA National Championship. He spent 17 years on the Men’s Razorback Basketball staff.
Stehlik served as the Development Director for Women’s Athletics during the Campaign for the 21st Century. It was also during this time, he created Play2Win Consulting, with a mission to connect people and communities. Prior to Stehlik assuming the Director of Athletics position at Springdale, Stehlik was the assistant basketball coach for the WNBA Tulsa Shock under Head Coach Nolan Richardson. Stehlik is married to Tracey Mays Stehlik, who is an Associate AD for Compliance at the University of Arkansas. They have 2 daughters who are University of Arkansas graduates. Mollie, the Director of Events for University of Arkansas Athletic and Maggie, who works for Sweti Marketing in Bentonville.
Norman Mitchell is in his 18th year as the athletic director at Gravette High School. He currently oversees a multi-level program that features 13 varsity sports and has won numerous conference titles.In his role at Gravette High School, Mitchell manages the department budget, oversight of all departmental operations and events, and fundraising. During his tenure as athletic director, Mitchell has been active at the state and national level. As a member of the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association (AHSAAA), he has served on multiple committees and served as president from 2019-2021. He is a five-time recipient of the 4A-1 Conference Athletic Director of the Year award and was recognized as the AHSAAA 4A Athletic Director of the Year in 2021. As a member of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA), he received his CAA Certification as well as the NFHS State Citation. Mitchell also served on the NFHS Conference Advisor Committee and received the NIAAA State Award of Merit in 2016. Beyond his current role, Mitchell has more than 30 years of experience in education, serving as both a coach and teacher. He has coached basketball, baseball, and football while also serving as a mentor to other coaches. A Northwest Arkansas native, he enjoys spending time with his family, hunting, fishing, and reading. He and his wife Shannon reside in Hiwasse and have three children.
Doug Killgore, CIAA, CMAA, the Bow Tie AD, is a national Board-Certified Master Athletic Administrator (2006) and Certified International Athletic Administrator (CIAA) who has semi-retired from 20 years as and AD/activities director and assistant principal. He has taught over 35 Leadership Training Courses from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association’s curriculum and has presented workshops or taught at fifteen national conferences. From 2011 – 2016, he was the Secretary of the NIAAA’s Board of Directors and is a past president of the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association. He served Arkansas as the State Professional Development Coordinator and NIAAA Liaison and is continuing his service with the Missouri Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. In 2017, Killgore was on the faculty of the Section 1 Summer Institute on Cape Cod. In the same year he taught international school ADs at the EARCOS Leadership Conference in Bangkok, Thailand (2017) and two years later at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. He has presented at athletic director conferences in twenty-six states and has spoken at international schools in both South Korea and the Philippines as well as Asia, China, Europe, Saudi Arabia and Mongolia in virtual presentations. Killgore has received the NFHS Citation, the NIAAA State Award of Merit and was Arkansas’ Athletic Director of the Year in 2007. He is a 2018 member of the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association’s Hall of Fame and the recipient of the NIAAA’s Thomas E. Frederick Award of Excellence at the 2018 National Athletic Directors Conference in San Antonio. He was inducted into the NIAAA Hall of Fame in December 2020. He and his wife Sheila, a middle school science teacher, reside in Springfield, Missouri.
Dr. Dustin Smith, CMAA, has served as the Executive Director of Athletics for Broken Arrow Public Schools since May of 2023. Prior to that, the Pawhuska, Oklahoma native spent the previous 7 years as
the Director of Athletics at Greenwood Public Schools in Greenwood, Arkansas. Before getting into the interscholastic space, Dr. Smith spent 17 years in higher education and was the athletic director at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith for 9 years. Smith currently serves on the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) Board
of Directors as the Region A At-Large representative. He is a national faculty instructor for LTC 719, has participated in the NIAAA-U Executive Leadership Cohort (2021), currently serves as a mentor of the
Leadership Cohort, and has served on the NIAAA Membership Committee. Dr. Smith has also been a workshop presenter at three National Athletic Director Conventions. Smith earned his Certified Athletic Administrator distinction in 2018 and his Certified Master Athletic Administrator in 2019. Dr. Smith has also been active at the state level in both Arkansas, and now in Oklahoma. While in
Arkansas, Smith was a state education coordinator and served the Arkansas High School Athletic Administrators Association as the programs chair, secretary/treasurer for two years and the President-elect for two years. Since moving to Oklahoma, Smith has been appointed the Oklahoma Interscholastic
Athletic Administrators Association Executive Board as the mentorship committee co-chair and also serves as the co-state education coordinator. Dr. Smith has been an instructor for Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado and Arkansas and a presenter at the Oklahoma and Arkansas AD conferences on a number of occasions. Dr. Smith has been named the Frank Kovaleski Award Nominee for Arkansas three times, named the Arkansas AD Association Newcomer of the Year, was recognized as the Distinguished Service Award recipient for Arkansas, and also received the 2022 Emerging Industry Leader Award winner from the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security. He has also served as a mentor for numerous successful CMAA projects of fellow Athletic Administrators. Dr. Smith holds bachelor’s degrees in mass communications and physical education from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma, a master’s degree in athletic administration from East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, and a doctorate of education from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. On a lighter side, Smith is also the co-host of the Pairadocs: Untold Stories from Athletic
Administrators podcast. Dr. Smith is adamant that his greatest accomplishment and responsibility is
being a husband to Jennifer and a dad to Alec (father-in-law to Kirby), Riglee and Raelynn. Dr. Smith is an avid reader and a lifelong sufferer/fan of the Chicago Cubs and Oklahoma State Cowboys.
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