GoHeels的制作人在后台指挥

“这是我们的DNA”这句话听起来很老套. Ken Cleary ’91 is convinced it’s true — genetic code provided his abilities to solve problems and shape ideas into reality. 这要归功于他的工程师父亲. 和工程师一样，克利里也是一名制作人. 电视制片人.

The associate athletic director for GoHeels Productions in Carolina’s athletics department, he turns out high-quality video and multimedia that tell the stories of Tar Heel athletic teams, 球员和教练. 在卡罗莱纳大学的近二十年里, Cleary has constantly innovated in a competitive media industry that expects newness and excitement.

Cleary supervises a 12-person production team that fills video boards at eight venues with interesting content for fans and produces live television broadcasts and streaming productions of 28 varsity teams. 他的团队每年制作300个视频，其中200个是直播的. He oversees the production of special events such as the blue-carpet soiree known as “格莱美奖“那是他在2013年和本季开幕时创造的。”真人篮球庆典. 在克利里的指导下, Carolina became the first NCAA university to broadcast a football game on an ESPN channel and an NCAA championship game — field hockey in 2021 — from its own production facility. 他还领导了一个指导项目，帮助学生为体育电视工作做好准备.

在学术方面, he’s directed live streams of Carolina’s Winter and Spring Commencement ceremonies since 2003.

从壁橱到最先进的媒体中心

Colleagues who nominated Cleary for a Massey Award described him as a “devoted teammate,“激励型领导者”和“创造性创新者”.” Those attributes were nascent when, as a Carolina student, Cleary had a realization. 亨德森维尔人, 北卡罗莱纳, he was interested in studying sports medicine after being an athletic trainer in high school.

“I quickly realized I liked the sports side more than the actual medicine side,他说. 他转到了新闻和大众传播专业.

在做过乐队管理员、体育电台和零售足球之后, he joined Carolina 体育运动 as a contractor in 2002 to work on marketing and sales projects. 2007年，该部门任命他为新媒体的全职主管. His workspace for several years was an abandoned closet in the old Kenan Stadium field house with plumbing pipes overhead. Such situations are where Cleary’s unassuming persona complements his work ethic and focus on excellence.

“谁会在乎你坐在哪里，办公桌在哪里?他说. “What’s important is being able to build facilities and processes that help us tell the story of Carolina athletics and our athletes and our coaches.”

在这个不起眼的开始之后，克利里和越来越多的员工在院长E. 史密斯中心-供应室，厨房，空办公室，新闻室. In 2019, the operation moved into the state-of-art Woody Durham Media Communication Center, 克利里帮助设计的.

与此同时, the increasing importance of Cleary’s work paralleled the department’s growing emphasis on telling its stories and the launch of the ACC Network. The heightened exposure gave Cleary more projects to refine and more ways to lead. 正如一位提名人所写, his “eagerness to accept and overcome the challenges presented to him is only surpassed by his ability to get others committed to the same goals and objectives.”

“我们所有成功的活动都是对我们部门的证明, 我们的学生运动员和教练,克利里说。. “If I’ve had a small part in those, it’s really to say, ‘OK, well, this was cool. 我们如何让它变得更好?’”

讲故事需要筛选许多想法. “在我们的世界里, 特别是对于创意元素或外部营销, 有很多想法,克利里说。. “This position has to be able to synthesize those ideas into something you can actually do. I’ve learned and maybe helped the department to realize that we must move from idea phase to execution phase at some point.”

That mindset, Cleary thinks, was instilled in him at a young age by his father. “它在说，‘这就是我们想做的. 我们怎么去那里?’ Any idea unexecuted is nothing but an idea, so how do we make something happen from this idea? 这基本上就是我的工作方式.”

的特别礼物

Another part of Cleary’s role is dear to his heart — preparing students to work in media careers. Nominators credit him with establishing a student mentoring program and making it his staff’s primary focus. The staff trains about 40 students each year through group and one-on-one sessions. Students then take on increasingly higher levels of responsibility as they learn the ins and outs of TV production. “We have a handful of students graduating this May who are already finalists for jobs at ESPN and other national broadcasters, 这证明了肯的成就,一位提名人写道. Cleary翻了翻剧本, saying that he and the staff are lucky to have helped students launch their careers. “这一切都归功于我们的员工，”他说.

在某些方面，克利里的大学经历启发了这个培训项目. 三十年前, 他说, “我来到卡罗来纳, 思考, “我喜欢运动。, 但我不知道我想做什么，也不知道如何参与进来.’”

提名者称赞了克利里的领导风格. One wrote: “He holds himself and his teammates to a very high standard and does so in an encouraging and educational way. 他愿意冒险.“尽管他很大胆，但他是在后台领导的. 一位提名者称他是卡罗来纳州最幕后的员工. 这很讽刺，因为数百万人看到了他的杰作.

“肯总是在我身边，无论是晚上、周末还是清晨. … Whenever leadership, creativity and effort are needed, Ken is there,一位提名人写道. “In a field where some people are recognizable, Ken is not … and he doesn’t care. 他的目标只是推进卡罗莱纳的使命, 体育部, 个人体育项目和柏油路学生运动员.”

为了完成这一使命，他雇佣了有才能的人，并信任他们. “I’m relying on other people’s expertise to guide the way when I’m not the expert. 很多时候, 作为一名管理者，就是要设定一个方向, 但后来很多时候, 只要找到合适的人, 赋予他们, 支持他们，别挡他们的路.”

这个故事是油井对C的报道的一部分. 诺克斯·梅西杰出服务奖, 它承认“不寻常”, 大学员工的“有功或卓越贡献”. 寻找新的收件人档案来或 寻找你可能错过的人.