Thank you Dr. Todd Abraham for your Leadership & Service!
“Servant leadership is all about making the goals clear, and then rolling up your sleeves and doing whatever it takes to help people win.”
-Ken Blanchard
Dr. Todd Abraham has embodied servant leadership for NISOA at the national level for over two decades, serving in a multitude of capacities including President, Vice President, Secretary, NCAA Rules Liaison, Director of Instruction, and much more! From the beginning of his involvement, Todd has helped the organization evolve and reach for new heights!
Todd has been an active member of NISOA since 1978 and has achieved success on the field as a referee and off the field as an administrator in local and national positions. A former NISOA National Referee, Todd officiated college matches at all levels, reaching the quarterfinals as a referee at both the Division I and III level. Additionally, Todd has been an important fixture at the NIRSA National Championships.
Having a strong pungent for education, Todd completed his Sc.B. in Chemistry at Brown University in Providence, RI. He would then continue his quest for higher education by receiving his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.B.A. from the Wharton School in Philadelphia, concurrently in May of 1981. Todd has utilized his academic and professional experiences to help distinguish himself as a leader in collegiate soccer referee education. Certified as a National Clinician, Todd has served as a clinician at multiple Elizabethtown referee training camps and national referee certification clinics throughout the country. Todd is the author of the annual NISOA Entrance Exam and a regular contributor to Referee magazine. He has served as the Senior Director of Instruction since 2010 and prior to that, served as the Assistant Director of Instruction from 2000-2010. Due to his commitment to excellence and outstanding work and dedication in the classroom, Todd was presented the Robert E. Sumpter Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005.
As longtime NISOA member, Todd has overseen numerous changes to the organization at both the local and national levels. Throughout his long tenure with the organization in various leadership capacities, Todd has been on the forefront of cultivating these changes, while maintaining the value of the membership as the first and foremost priority. When Todd first began, the organization’s value proposition looked much different than it does today, but under Todd’s leadership and expertise in strategic planning, NISOA was able to evolve and become an innovative leader in first-class educational experiences. From the creation of the NISOA’s YouTube Channel, to the success of the Virtual Summer Educational Series, Todd has been a key influencer in the instructional program pushing technological boundaries in order to maximize outreach and provide diverse educational products. Todd helped navigate the organization towards its current value proposition of being the leading education platform for soccer officials. Take a look below at an excerpt from Todd’s message to membership in 2014 while he served as President:
“We brought recommendations to the Buffalo convention to reorganize the organizational structure of NISOA to reduce administrative costs and to streamline decision making. Our clear focus on “who’s responsible for what” has reduced redundancy and provided clearer more timely answers to issues raised by the membership and external constituencies.
The local chapters are the lifeblood of our organization – it is where each of us first got exposed to the vast resources NISOA has to offer from training camps to educational material. Instructional modules driven to all of our 5000+ referees are best delivered in the local chapter setting where robust and relevant discussions can take place. As a key area of focus we stepped up the level and quantity of material the local chapters can use. Leveraging a library of video footage that we have been accumulating a series of instructional modules were developed and distributed to each local chapter to help drive consistency across the country. Additionally, we have set a very clear and strong expectation that our most experienced and senior referees will use the local chapter meetings to mentor and guide the less experienced referees to help everyone get better faster in NISOA.”
Through Todd’s time with NISOA, we have been able to bring education for members to all areas of the country (pre-COVID), and even to our members in the comfort of their homes (COVID). Without Todd’s commitment to NISOA and its members, many of these programs would not have been possible!
Thank you Dr. Todd Abraham for your commitment and dedication to the NISOA Family! We are incredibly thankful for you and are grateful that you will continue guiding NISOA moving forward in your new capacity as our Senior Advisor of Instruction! You leave behind a legacy that your predecessor will have a hard time filling!
Stay tuned for a future announcement of our newest addition to the team and Todd’s successor for Sr Director of Instruction.
