ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine has announced an interim athletic director as it conducts a national search to fill the position permanently.
Samantha Hegmann-Wary, associate athletic director for compliance and senior woman administrator at the University of Maine, has been named UMaine interim athletic director, effective Sept. 1, the university said in a release Wednesday.
The announcement comes after the university's previous athletic director, Ken Ralph, left earlier this month to serve as athletic director at Division III Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.
Hegmann-Wary has been a member of the UMaine community since 2019. Prior to that, she worked at Monmouth University and Hofstra University.
In her current position as associate athletic director for compliance, Hegmann-Wary oversees the implementation of NCAA rules and regulations for UMaine sports. She also serves as sports supervisor for baseball and field hockey, and as co-supervisor for women’s basketball, according to the university.
“I appreciate the opportunity to be interim AD for this department,” Hegmann-Wary said in Wednesday's release. “The coaches and people we have here at Maine are so special and they make our student-athletes experience so much better. I am so lucky to be a Black Bear and get to work with such amazing people.”
She holds a master’s degree in physical education and sports management from Adelphi University.
“I look forward to working with Samantha in the months ahead,” UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said. “I have appreciated the leadership and vision she has provided as senior woman administrator in UMaine Athletics and in our compliance office, and will rely on her experience, knowledge, and perspective as we continue to advance the state’s only Division I program during this exciting, transformative era made possible by the Harold Alfond Foundation’s challenge grant.”
UMaine said Hegmann-Wary serves on the Women Leaders in College Sports Mentorship Program and the Maine National Girls and Women in Sports Committee, and she also co-leads the WLCS Member Circle: Mental Health in Sports.
