Badger News
PEWAUKEE, Wis., Feb. 28, 2024 – Badger Region Executive Director / Commissioner Jennifer Armson-Dyer has been announced as the 2024 recipient of the Dr. Neville A. “Doc” Booth Commissioner’s Award, USA Volleyball announced today. The award recognizes “individuals who have made significant contributions to volleyball and USA Volleyball through the office of regional commissioner.”
Armson-Dyer becomes only the 12th woman to be honored since the award’s inception in 1976. She will receive the honor at the USA Volleyball Hall of Fame Dorothy C. Boyce banquet on May 22 in Columbus, Ohio. She will be honored alongside other leaders in the sport, including Doug Beal, Fred Buehler, Hugh McCutcheon, Kevin Twohig and Kevin Wendleboe. For the full listing of leaders, click here.
“I’m humbled to receive this honor,” said Armson-Dyer. “To be recognized with the Doc Booth award is certainly not something I ever expected, especially looking at the list of great leaders who have received this before me. You don’t become a youth sport administrator for the accolades, but I love giving back to the sport that has given me so much in my life.”
Armson-Dyer joined the Badger Region staff in 2009 as the Membership Services Coordinator and was promoted to Director of Operations in September of 2011, with a title change to Executive Director and Commissioner in 2019
In her time with Badger Region, Armson-Dyer has overseen staff, programming, membership and event expansions and website redevelopment along with the creation and implementation of an internal budgeting and financial process. She has developed administrative controls such as an employee handbook and employee review process and has helped guide the board through four strategic planning sessions to facilitate the direction of the Region while remaining a sounding board for club directors on policies and procedures.
She has represented Badger Region at Regional Volleyball Association (RVA) of USA Volleyball national meetings several times a year, also making contributions to several committees, including Stakeholder Relations / Compliance and Marketing. Armson-Dyer was involved in the initial development of the SafeSport handbook and USA Volleyball program rollout and was invited to participate in a USA Volleyball executive strategic planning session in Colorado Springs. She currently serves on several internal working groups with national leadership, is the RVA Central Zone Chair, serves on the RVA Admin Council, and is the Chair of the USA Volleyball Admin Council Compliance Committee. Through this committee she led the development and implementation of the Region Organizational Advancement Standards (ROAS) to help with transparency and good governance for all regional organizations.
Armson-Dyer is a member of the Board of Directors for the International Volleyball Hall of Fame, having been involved since 2018. She was elected to the Executive Committee as Secretary in December 2023 and is also the Chair of the IVHF Marketing Committee. She is active in the expansion and global reach of the organization to honor the history and people involved in the sport of volleyball.
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Armson-Dyer was one of the creators of NeuroFuel, a mental strength training app that provides content, structure and schedules for training the mind to help aid athletes and coaches to maximize their potential in sport performance and in life.
In June of 2017, Armson-Dyer was invited to be the Head of Delegation for the U.S. Men’s Junior National Team at the 2017 FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship in the Czech Republic. She aided the team in training and logistics at the United States Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., before traveling to Brno and Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, for the two-week tournament, where she was the team liaison with local and tournament staffs and in charge of logistics for the team and staff.
Armson-Dyer is a native of Portage, Wis., where she grew up in the gym with her mom, longtime high school coach Joann Armson. She was a member of Wisconsin Select VBC out of Madison and went on to earn a scholarship and play volleyball at Northwestern University, where she was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree and team captain her senior year. After graduating with a degree from NU’s Medill School of Journalism in 2001, Armson-Dyer took an internship in the Athletic Communications department at Penn State University.
An 11-month appointment turned into eight years in Happy Valley, during which she served as the primary media contact for the powerhouse men’s and women’s volleyball programs, in charge of facilitating print and television interviews, media guides, press releases, acting as media coordinator for many NCAA events and many other “duties as assigned.” During that time, Armson-Dyer was recognized nationally several times for her work by USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).
For the 2005-06 year, the AVCA awarded her the prestigious Grant Burger Award for the top media professional encompassing sports information, print, web and broadcast. Armson-Dyer has also garnered several SID of the Year honors over the course of her career.
She is married to Craig Dyer, the current women’s volleyball associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Notre Dame, who has previously been at Creighton, Penn State women, Pitt, Marquette and Penn State men, where he aided in the 2008 NCAA National Championship. The couple has two sons, Liam (13) and Luke (9).
Armson-Dyer completed graduate work to earn a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2019 and is currently pursuing an Executive Masters of Nonprofit Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business, with an anticipated graduation date of May 2026.
To learn more about the Dr. Neville A. “Doc” Booth Commissioner’s Award, click here, and to learn more about the USA Volleyball Hall of Fame and Dorothy C. Boyce Banquet, click here.
For the full release of Hall of Fame winners in the Class of 2024, click here.