Personal: Chris Zona, Assistant Director of Athletics for Media Relations is entering into his seventh academic year at the head of Winston-Salem State University's Office of Athletic Media Relations. He officially started his tenure at WSSU on August 1, 2002 and continues to strengthen the WSSU Athletic Department's media relations program through his efforts to publish comprehensive media guides for all WSSU's athletic teams as well as spearheading the departments' initiative in the digital domain. He was instrumental in the recent redesign of the WSSU Athletics' website, WSSURAMS.com, the sites second such redesign under Zona's guidance.

In the six academic years since Zona's arrival in Winston-Salem, N.C., the WSSU Office of Athletic Media Relations has seen their publication production increase nearly ten-fold as Zona has led efforts to increase the promotion of both revenue and Olympic sports.

The 2003-04 John Holley Award winner, which is given annually to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association's (CIAA) Sports Information Director of the Year, Zona has established a strategic framework to raise the visibility of the WSSU Department of Athletics both locally, regionally and nationally paralleling the Rams' and Lady Rams' meteoric rise to NCAA Division I status.

Zona came to WSSU from the Western New York area where he served as the Associate Sports Information Director at Niagara University. At Niagara, he was primarily responsible for the media relations coverage of the Purple Eagles' nationally-ranked Division I ice hockey programs. In addition to his duties with the ice hockey programs at Niagara, he served as the contact for men's and women's tennis, men's baseball, and women's lacrosse, as well as assisting with men's and women's basketball and women's softball.

Prior to his tenure at Niagara, Zona served as the Assistant Sports Information Director at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. In addition to his duties in the Sports Information Department, he also served as the Assistant men's lacrosse coach for the nationally-ranked Kenyon College lacrosse program. Prior to his duties at Kenyon, he served as the men's lacrosse contact and assistant lacrosse coach at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York (NCAA Division I).

In addition to his experience in amateur athletics he has worked for the Buffalo Sabres (NHL), Buffalo Bisons (AAA Baseball), Buffalo Bills (NFL), and the Buffalo Bandits and Columbus Landsharks of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) as well as compiling a brief playing career. Zona, a two-sport college varsity athlete who played both Division I lacrosse and soccer and avid sports fan, received a B.A. from Niagara University in 1998 and received a pair of M.A. degrees from Canisius College in 2001. A native of Syracuse, N.Y., he currently resides in Winston-Salem, N.C.