FOUR QUESTIONS: A CONVERSATION WITH…DINA NEELEY
Dina Neeley is director of field sales for Musco Sports Lighting in North Carolina, perhaps known better to North Carolina High School Athletic Association member schools as “the light lady.”
Musco is a long-time NCHSAA corporate partner which has worked with schools across the state for over 20 years in that capacity.
Dina is a 1986 graduate of Kansas State University with a B.S. degree in Apparel and Textile Marketing. After working as a multi-store director for Limited Brands throughout the Southeast area for 17 years, Dina accepted a position as a Regional Business Manager for Musco Sports Lighting Southeast USA territory in 2003. Dina was responsible for overseeing business and engineering personnel.
In 2005, her role transitioned to field sales where responsibilities continued to evolve by working with engineers, parks and recreation professionals and facility owners to design and install lighted athletic facilities in the state. In 2010 as an Area Manager, Dina provided leadership to Maryland, District of Columbia and Delaware representatives in addition to her other assignments. Currently Dina continues to work on the implementation of lighting standards for the NCHSAA and safe lighting practices for all North Carolina state associations. She is a member of the Illuminating Engineering Society Of North America (IESNA) and currently on the Board for the North Carolina Recreation and Parks Scholarship Foundation. For the past six years, Dina has been active on the North Carolina Parks and Recreation LeadHERship conference committee.
Why is the North Carolina High School Athletic Association relationship important to Musco Lighting?
Musco joined the NCHSAA as a corporate partner back in 1993. Our partnership with the NCHSAA over the past two decades has been really successful, focusing on relationships and education with all member schools. We have a common goal and that is to create a safe, standardized playing environment for the student-athletes and to support the NCHSAA Lighting Standards. The NCHSAA has a tremendous team of professionals and that’s the kind of folks we like to associate with!
What are some of the services which Musco can provide to member schools? And what do you find to be the primary challenges schools face with lighting?
Musco Sports Lighting, as a partner to the NCHSAA, offers free lighting evaluations for member schools.
My role as “The Light Lady” is to come and evaluate your facilities with testing of the lights. I then provide the schools back a recap of where they are now, where they should be to get to the NCHSAA Lighting Standards and multiple ways to achieve that goal. Musco can lease lights for 10-plus years with no down payment and with first payment due a year from delivery. This gets your lights up now and allows you to more easily budget and spread the cost of a period of time.
What is your best memory of high school athletics personally, from your own involvement in them?
Attending the 2014 NCHSAA state football championships with Plymouth and Robbinsville playing their hearts out is by far the best memory so far with the NCHSAA!
My team never got that far back in my high school days and I was so looking forward to the experience. The excitement was so contagious pulling in to the parking lot and throughout the stadium. It was so good for the soul to see the fans cheering on their teams and the amount of pride everyone brought that day. I actually cheered for both teams throughout the game! Robbinsville ended up prevailing, but no one left anything in the locker room that day—congratulations are due to both Robbinsville and Plymouth on a game well played!
Away from your work with Musco, what are things you enjoy doing?
Spending time with family. I am from Kansas originally and I have three sisters, eight nieces and two nephews spread out across the country. It’s very important for us to make time every year to come together!
