NORFOLK, Va., June 13, 2023 – The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announces the return of Patricia Porter-Mayfield, who will serve as the league’s Associate Commissioner for Strategic Communications, and the hire of Randy Brent, the conference’s Director of Digital Media and Marketing.
Brent has started with the MEAC, and Port-Mayfield’s tenure will begin on July 3.
“I am so excited to bring Patricia back to the MEAC, and to bring in Randy,” Commissioner Sonja Stills said. “Patricia was instrumental in telling the conference’s story during her first tenure, and I look forward to her return and for her and Randy to continue sharing what the MEAC and our Elite Eight member institutions are doing, both on and off the field.”
Porter-Mayfield originally joined the MEAC in November 2006 as the Director of Media Relations, and three years later, she assumed additional responsibilities and was named Director of Media Relations/Corporate Partnerships and Marketing. She was later elevated to Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations.
“It is an honor to return to the MEAC,” Porter-Mayfield said. “I am grateful to have been a part of remarkable experiences during my first stint with the conference. I am excited to come home and am looking forward to working with this great team and Commissioner Stills in bringing her vision to fruition.”
In total, Porter-Mayfield has 17 years of experience in athletics.
As the Assistant Commissioner for Media Relations, Porter-Mayfield oversaw the conference’s external communications and was the primary contact for football and men’s basketball. She also served as the direct supervisor of the Director of Corporate Partnerships and Marketing and the Assistant Director of Media Relations.
Under her direction, the conference ushered in its first live-stream championships in men’s and women’s basketball. One year later, the conference live-streamed its first volleyball championship. Before her departure from the MEAC, she served as the media relationship manager of the inaugural Celebration Bowl.
Following her first stint with the MEAC, Porter-Mayfield has held a variety of positions, including Director of Partnerships with Spectra at Comcast Spectator, Senior Executive Assistant to the Dean at Virginia Commonwealth University’s College of Health Professions and Business & Technology Teacher at N.B. Clements Junior High School.
Porter-Mayfield joined the MEAC after serving five years (2001-06) as the Director of Communications in the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Development League (current G-League) and Southwest Basketball, LLC.
In 1999, she was named Director of Sports Information at Hampton University, and Porter-Mayfield began her career in collegiate athletics at her alma mater, Johnson C. Smith University, where she served as Sports Information Director and Senior Woman Administrator from June 1998–July 1999.
The Atlanta, Ga., native is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She resides in Prince George, Va., with her husband, Vernon Mayfield, and two sons, Micah and Trey.
Brent joins the MEAC from Morgan State University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Transportation Systems. He spent two seasons as a defensive back on the Bears football team before joining the program’s film crew. He parlayed that into an opportunity as an intern with the athletic department, and upon graduation, he was named Morgan State’s first Director of Multimedia & Production.
He spent much of his tenure orchestrating and developing a blueprint for the department's first-ever digital media team. After much recruiting, Brent had gained support from nearly 20 student content creators who served the athletic department across the spectrum of digital media and production.
About the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is in its 52nd year of intercollegiate competition with the 2022-23 academic school year. Located in Norfolk, Va., the MEAC is made up of eight outstanding historically black institutions across the Atlantic coastline: Coppin State University, Delaware State University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, North Carolina Central University and South Carolina State University.