Aug. 4, 2004

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson announced today the promotion of Javan Hedlund to assistant commissioner for communications, and Ron Christian to director of communications. Hedlund replaces Bob Burda, who recently accepted a position with the Big XII Conference. A native of Colorado Springs, Colo., Hedlund has been a member of the MWC communications staff since the inception of the league in 1999. He was assistant director of communications for three years before moving into the director of communications role the past two years. Hedlund was the primary contact for men's basketball, along with handling championship administration for women's soccer, golf and track and field. He will now serve as the primary contact for football, while also overseeing all operations of the MWC communications office. Hedlund graduated with his B.A. in speech communications, with an emphasis in broadcasting, from Colorado State University in 1996 and worked in the CSU sports information department as a student. He moved to Oklahoma City after graduation and was a sales and marketing representative for the Texas Rangers' Triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City 89ers (now the Redhawks). After the 1997 baseball season, he returned to the West Coast to work in the Athletic Media Relations Office at San Diego State University from 1997-99, while also serving as a media assistant for the San Diego Padres during the 1998 season. Christian, an MWC communications staff member since July 2000, will now serve as the primary contact for men's basketball along with additional sports to be determined. During the past four years, he was the primary contact for volleyball, women's basketball and baseball, while also providing assistance with swimming, track and golf. He also offered support with MWC television ventures for assigned sports and the MWC weekly radio show. A graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1994, Christian was a sports information director for five years prior to joining the Mountain West Conference, serving two years at Morningside College (1995-97) and three years at Bemidji State University (1997-2000). Prior to his appointment at Morningside College, he was a staff member at Meeting & Event Design, Inc., in Omaha, Neb., the event manager for the NCAA College World Series.