Sept. 5, 2007

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Mountain West Conference Commissioner Craig Thompson announced the hiring of Gary Walenga as Assistant Director of Compliance.

Walenga, who had been serving an internship in the MWC office, will assist in all areas of compliance for the MWC. His duties will include certifying coaches; processing incidental expense waivers, providing legislative updates, managing the Conference's National Letter of Intent program, providing interpretative support to the member institutions, and serving as a liaison to the MWC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

In addition to his compliance duties, Walenga will continue to serve in his current role as the Ticket Coordinator for the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball First and Second Round Tournament, to be co-hosted by the MWC and Colorado State University in Denver.

A native of Chantilly, Va., Walenga is a 2004 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Virginia Tech University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance with a concentration in accounting and a minor in global business. He received his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in sports business from San Diego State University in May, 2007. While at San Diego State, Walenga worked as an eligibility intern in the compliance office, specifically focusing on the university's NCAA Academic Progress Report (APR).