PROVIDENCE, R.I. –Commissioner Mike Aresco has announced two external relations staff additions, as well as two inter-department promotions ahead of the 2018-19 academic year.
 
Mike Gambardella will begin at the conference office as Director of Communications effective July 16, and Cory Kamerschak has joined The American as Assistant Director of Video and Creative Services.
 
Hali Oughton has been promoted to Director of Digital Media and will continue in her role as The American’s reporter. Greg Barlow assumed the role of Assistant Director of Communications following his position as Communications Assistant in 2017-18.
 
“I am pleased to welcome Mike Gambardella and Cory Kamerschak to the American Athletic Conference,” said Aresco. “They both bring experience and talent that will be of great benefit to our conference, our schools, our media and our fans. I am also proud to recognize the promotions of Hali Oughton and Greg Barlow, who have both done great work in telling the stories of our remarkable student-athletes.”
 
Gambardella, a Rhode Island native, returns home to manage The American’s communications efforts for men’s basketball, women’s soccer, men’s/women’s golf and rowing. He joins the conference after spending the past three years as the Assistant Athletic Director for Communications at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he oversaw all communications efforts for the Cardinals’ 25 sports.
 
After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from St. John’s University and serving as a graduate assistant for the Red Storm, Gambardella joined the Big East Conference as a Communications Assistant in 2009. He remained in Providence afterwards, spending two years in the athletic communications office at Brown University before relocating to American University as the contact for men’s basketball, men’s/women’s soccer and swimming and diving.
 
Kamerschak will work primarily in video content for The American, shooting, generating and editing for the American Digital Network. Most recently, he worked as a Production Assistant at ESPN for over a year, producing and editing video and content for a variety of broadcasts, including SportsCenter, Outside the Lines, Baseball Tonight, NFL Live and ESPN.com. Prior to his stint in Bristol, Conn., Kamerschak was a sports reporter and producer for Cronkite News KAET-TV in Phoenix and the station’s Los Angeles affiliate, generating feature content on high school teams, college sports and covering the L.A. Angels of Anaheim.
 
A veteran of the United States Air Force, Kamerschak holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Bellevue University and a Master of Arts degree from Arizona State.
 
Oughton is entering her fifth year with The American, and will assume direction of the American Digital Network’s strategy and operations in her new role. Barlow will continue to serve as the conference’s contact for volleyball, cross country, track and field, swimming and diving and baseball in the upcoming year.