Phil Rison, assistant superintendent and director of student services for the Montgomery County school district, was recently selected as the president-elect of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA), a national organization for people involved in interscholastic athletic administration at any level.

Rison will serve in this position through 2012 and take the helm of NIAAA as the 34th president in 2013.

Involved for 18 years with the organization, Rison has served for 13 years as a national instructor for three leadership training courses dealing with legal issues such as sexual harassment, hazing, fair labor standards and constitutional law.

“I’ve had tremendous support from our administrators and our school board here in Montgomery County,” Rison said. “They have been outstanding. Anywhere I go now, I will be representing Montgomery County schools either as president-elect, president or past president of NIAAA. It’s a three-year term and a great opportunity to promote our excellent students, teachers and school district.”

Due to the number of states involved and the rotation within these groups, Kentucky gets to propose a member to the board of directors every 24 years, according to Rison.

“It just happened to fall at the right time in my career,” he said. “Kentucky recommended me to represent the state, so I went on the board. During service with the board, you can petition for president, which I did, and things fell in place.”

The NIAAA recently became the first association in the world to receive full accreditation from the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), an accreditation normally reserved for schools, secondary and post-secondary institutions, and career and technical schools.

“We thought we were doing a good job, so we invited in NCA, and it was amazed,” Rison said. “This accreditation tells state and local school boards that we are on the same standard as these schools and colleges.

“This is a great honor for me,” Rison added. “I couldn’t have achieved this position without the help of fellow colleagues, Superintendent Joshua Powell and the Montgomery County schools district. I’m very excited.”

More information about NIAAA is available online at http://www.niaaa.org