York College Alumna Pushes Schools to Think Outside the Box in Athletics
Jessica Huntley’s trailblazing spirit earned her the inaugural BSN Sports Innovator of the Year Award.
More often than not, Jessica Huntley ’06, is the “first” in her career.
She is the first commissioner of the intercollegiate sports Atlantic East Conference, the first to bring flag football to the conference, and in 2025, she received the first BSN Sports Innovator of the Year Award, sponsored by BSN Sports, the apparel and equipment distributor.
“It’s just kind of in my DNA to think creatively, think strategically,” Huntley says. “We can’t grow, we can’t continue to excel if we don’t push limits and at least try things out.”
Seeing the big picture
From her early days as a Sport Management major and Division III basketball player at York College, Huntley knew she wanted to work in collegiate sports.
“I really liked the global picture of college athletics—thinking strategically as a conference, not just an institution,” she says.
She joined the NCAA Student Athlete Advisory Committee during her senior year. It was an eye-opening experience that helped her form the building blocks of a network of industry friends and colleagues that she’s cultivated over the last 20 years.
Huntley retains the competitive spirit of an athlete. And as a creative thinker, she often finds herself pushing boundaries and thinking outside the box to determine what will make an organization stand out. It’s also what led her to flag football.
Standing out from the crowd
The Atlantic East Conference, which includes such schools as Immaculata University, Marymount University, and Gwynedd Mercy University, recruited Huntley to be its first commissioner in 2018. In the Philadelphia Inquirer, she learned that the Philadelphia Eagles had hosted a girls’ flag football championship. Bringing it to colleges in her league became a passion project for her.
“In this landscape, in this world that we live in, everything’s always evolving,” Huntley says. “If you’re not willing to evolve here, you’re probably going to fall behind.”
She sold the idea of flag football to the schools as a low-cost, low-risk venture with the potential to make the colleges stand out to potential students. With several schools on board, the league held its first championship last year. Over and over, athletes came up to Huntley to tell her how excited they were to play the game.
“It just came full circle,” she says. “This is why I’m doing this.”
In 2024, four teams in the conference competed for the championship. One year later, that number has doubled.
Recognition and readying the next generation
Huntley is honored to be the 2025 BSN Sports Innovator of the Year for her work with flag football.
“To me, it was always just my job and my passion, so for it to be recognized definitely feels surreal,” she says.
She credits her co-workers and staff for their dedication as well.
“This definitely wasn’t just my accomplishment,” she says. “It was everyone’s accomplishment.”
Huntley is blazing another trail, demonstrating how technology can support athletics in her post as Senior Business Development Executive at Teamworks, which empowers athletes and helps them unlock their full potential.
Though she hung up her basketball shoes awhile ago, Huntley has found herself back at York College as an adjunct faculty member, teaching sport media and public relations. She’s helping to inspire the next generation of boundary-pushers.
“It’s been fun to watch,” she says. “You can definitely tell those individuals who are driving for change and really want to make a difference.”
