State/Provincial Director of the Year Award
This Award is given to a state or provincial director who has accumulated the most points during the year from April 1 to March 31, using the Evaluation Criteria format.
STATE/PROVINCIAL DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD Recipients
Congratulations 2026 State/Provincial Director of the Year
Zachary Gillen, PhD, CPSS,*D, CSCS,*D
Dr. Zachary Gillen has served as NSCA State Director for Mississippi since 2022. He has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Mississippi State University since 2020 and directs the Resistance Exercise Performance Lab. He has been an author or co-author on over 50 peer-reviewed papers, over 80 conference proceedings and presentations, 5 book chapters, and has served as principal investigator (PI) or co-principal investigator (Co-PI) on over $2 million in external funding. In addition to his active involvement with the NSCA, Dr. Gillen promotes student engagement in the NSCA and other professional organizations, with his graduate students regularly publishing peer-reviewed manuscripts and presenting at both NSCA and non-NSCA conferences.
2025 Winner
Drew Gonzalez, PhD, CSCS, TSAC-F
2024 Winner
Federick Brooks, MS, CSCS,*D
2023 Winner
Joni M. Boyd, PhD, CSCS,*D, NSCA-CPT,*D
2022 - Whitney D. Leyva-Camberos, MS, CSCS,*D, NSCA-CPT,*D, RSCC
2020 - Vanessa L. Cazas-Moreno, PhD, CSCS,*D, USAWL1
2018 - Joseph P. Lopez, CSCS
2017 - Sean Collins, PhD, CSCS,*D
2016 - Andrew Shim, EdD, CSCS,*D
2015 - Michelle Rathke, MS, CSCS
2014 - Chad Kerksick, PhD, CSCS,*D, NSCA-CPT,*D
2013 - Ryan Johnson, CSCS,*D
2012 - Maria T. Mendizabal, NSCA-CPT,*D
2011 - Lee Anthony Glass, MS Ed, CSCS
2010 - Paul Moore, MS, CSCS,*D, NSCA-CPT,*D
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