(KIWA Staff Photo)
Sioux City, Iowa — Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Commissioner Corey Westra has been named the 2025-26 NAIA Commissioner of the Year, an honor voted on by members of the NAIA Conference Commissioners Association. The annual award recognizes outstanding leadership and service to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
Westra has led the GPAC for 23 years, making him the longest-tenured commissioner in the NAIA. Throughout his tenure, he has guided the conference through major periods of growth and helped establish the GPAC as one of the premier leagues in the association.
In addition to overseeing day-to-day conference operations, Westra has been a longtime national leader. He has served on multiple NAIA selection committees, contributed to the work of the National Administrative Council, and directed several NAIA championship events, including the NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Championship and NAIA Women’s Basketball National Championships. His leadership has advanced championship experiences and supported student-athletes, coaches, and institutions across the NAIA.
Hastings College President and GPAC Council of Presidents Chair Rich Lloyd says Westra’s leadership has helped the conference achieve “monumental goals” in growth, branding, and structural development, calling him “the epitome of an outstanding conference administrator.”
Under Westra’s leadership, the GPAC has continued to thrive competitively and organizationally, strengthening parternships, enhancing its brand, and expanding opportunities for its member institutions and student-athletes.
As the NAIA Commissioner of the Year, Westra will also be nominated for the NAIA Charles Morris Administrator of the Year Award, one of the association’s prestigious honors for administrative leadership.
