Paying the bills is only part of what 玛蒂娜·巴伦 does

As senior associate athletic director and chief financial officer, 玛蒂娜·巴伦 has a job that is straightforward and critical.

她说:“我要确保账单都付了。.

Ballen has been paying the bills for athletics for the past 31 years, 目前管理的预算为95美元.500万年.

But her finance skills aren’t the only reason 体育运动 Director Bubba Cunningham nominated Ballen for a C. 诺克斯·梅西奖. “Her contributions go well beyond her title,” Cunningham wrote in his nomination letter.

形容她“体贴”, 聪明迷人,” he called particular attention to an idea Ballen brought him five years ago to honor diversity by celebrating former student-athletes who have made an impact.

“It is fitting that Martina led the effort to create the Tar Heel Trailblazers because she is a trailblazer in her own right,坎宁安这样描述拜伦, the first African-American to become a senior administrator in University athletics. “She has set an incredible example for all of our students, staff and Carolina community.”

“钱钱”

在她的南松高中, 拜伦是个数学天才, captain of the basketball team and senior class treasurer. She also was elected homecoming queen, a feat she repeated at Carolina. “I was always pushing myself to be the best I could be,”她说。.

That drive carried her through 凯南-弗拉格勒商学院, 她在哪里获得了商科学士学位, then to completion of her master of business administration degree at Wake Forest University. She spent the next two years as Chapel Hill branch manager and commercial loan officer at NCNB (now Bank of America).

有一天,, 海登·本尼·伦威克来找她了, 学生咨询办公室的副主任, whom she knew well from Carolina’s minority academic advising program. Renwick encouraged her to apply for the job of director of finance in Carolina’s athletics department.

Ballen jumped at the chance to work at her alma mater, despite being concerned that she didn’t know enough about how an athletics department operates. “但后来我说，‘钱就是钱. 我了解收入和费用. 我可以了解这个行业，’”她回忆道. 她得到了那份工作.

曾经在卡罗莱纳, 拜伦在系里的地位稳步上升, becoming assistant director of athletics for business and finance in 1992, 1995年副主任, senior associate in 2001 and chief financial officer in 2011. In 2017, she added supervision of the department’s human resources staff to her duties.

除了支付账单, 她负责监督年度预算流程, develops long-range financial projections and manages the hiring process for new athletics staff members. She also has to keep meticulous records and work closely with an external auditor to prepare reports as required by the NCAA.

参与

Carolina 体育运动 encompasses 800 student-athletes playing 28 sports, 其中只有少数能产生收入. Unlike many other public universities that support only a few sports, Carolina stretches that revenue to allow a much greater number of students to participate in athletics.

“这都是机会的问题，”巴伦说.

2011年坎宁安接手警局时, he encouraged Ballen to become directly involved with the coaches and student-athletes. Ballen now serves as a primary sport administrator for gymnastics and secondary sport administrator for women’s basketball. Her favorite part of the job is this interaction with the student-athletes, 在见面后与他们击掌,”她说。. “我是啦啦队长.”

她最不喜欢的部分? “当我不得不说不的时候，”她说. “我从来没有足够的钱来帮助每个人.”

家庭、时尚和娱乐

除了她在体育方面的工作, Ballen is also active as an advocate for people with autism, 包括她的大儿子朱利安, 现在24. She is a past chair of the board of directors of the Autism Society of North Carolina and participated in a fashion show with her son to raise money for a camp for individuals on the autism spectrum.

辩护是一件家庭事务. 她的丈夫, 体育广播员和媒体主持人道恩·拜伦, 写了《太阳城娱乐城》, 出版于2012年, 关于这个家庭的经历. 小儿子贾里德, 就读于汉普顿大学, co-presented a session on being a sibling to someone with autism at a past National Early Childhood Inclusion Institute held in Chapel Hill.

她喜欢运动。, 自然, 还有时尚, 室内设计, 跳舞，看电影和表演. 事实上, she met her husband during the intermission of a touring musical in Raleigh, 不是像大多数人想象的那样在体育赛事上.

“I was still a banker when I met my husband,” she says. “He tells everybody he met his dream girl at Dreamgirls.”