Jennifer Flowers (''nee'' Jepson) is an American ice hockey administrator. In June 2019, Flowers was named the vice-president and women's commissioner of the

Western Collegiate Hockey Association The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's ice hockey-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated a ...

(WCHA).

Early life

Flowers was born to parents Mike and Jacque Jepson in

Manson, Iowa Manson is a city in Calhoun County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,709 at the time of the 2020 census. History Manson was platted in 1872 on the Dubuque and Sioux City Railroad line. Tornado of June 28, 1979 A destructive F4 tornado ...

, and graduated from Manson Northwest Webster High School in 1999. During high school, she earned all state honors in softball, basketball, volleyball and was a member of the shuttle hurdle relay team while maintaining a GPA of 4.00. As such, she was the recipient of the 1999 E. Wayne Cooley Scholarship Award. Following high school, Flowers was recruited to join

Winona State University Winona State University (Winona) is a public university in Winona, Minnesota. It was founded as First State Normal School of Minnesota in 1858 and is the oldest member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. It was the first no ...

's (WSU) volleyball team under head coach Amy Fisher. Her freshman season with the team was short due to a season-ending foot injury suffered during an early season game against the

Minnesota State University Moorhead Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) is a public university in Moorhead, Minnesota. The school has an enrollment of 7,534 students in 2019 and 266 full-time faculty members. MSUM is a part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities s ...

. She returned for her sophomore, junior and senior seasons where she earned three consecutive NSIC All-Academic honors. In her final season, Flowers ranked fifth in the NSIC in service aces and seventh in the league in total assists, en route to earning 2002 NSIC All-Conference status.

Career

Following her undergraduate degree, Flowers spent the 2004–05 academic year at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

where she was the assistant to the associate athletic director. While serving in this role, she was the assistant championship manager for four NCAA Championships and one WCHA Championship. She also was the assistant game director for the

2004 Music City Bowl The 2004 Music City Bowl was held on December 31, 2004, in Nashville, Tennessee at The Coliseum. The game featured the Alabama Crimson Tide, of the SEC, and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, of the Big Ten. The game was ultimately won by Minnesota, ...

. Flowers eventually left the University of Minnesota to become the associate athletic director and senior woman administrator at WSU and an assistant women’s basketball and volleyball coach at Simpson College. In 2016, she joined the

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the western Midwestern United States. Nine of its ...

(NSIC) as an Assistant Commissioner for Membership Services. In June 2019, Flowers was named the vice-president and women's commissioner of the

(WCHA) despite having never worked in that sport before.

Personal life

Flowers and her husband

Jonte Flowers Jermaine "Jonte" Flowers (born April 12, 1985) is an American professional basketball player. Career Flowers signed with the Romanian team CSU Asesoft Ploiești for the 2013–14 season. After 6 games, 4 in the Romanian league and 2 in the EuroC ...

have two children together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers, Jennifer Living people Sportspeople from Iowa Winona State University alumni University of Minnesota alumni American ice hockey administrators Year of birth missing (living people)