Laura Dahlby Nicolai begins her second year as associate commissioner and senior woman administrator with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 2025-26.
With the conference office, Dahlby Nicolai's primary areas of responsibility include compliance, championships, and member services.
Read More: Laura Dahlby Nicolai Named GNAC Associate Commissioner
Dahlby Nicolai was in charge of compliance and student-athlete services at GNAC member Central Washington for eight years beginning in 2016.
A native of Rochester, Minn., Dahlby Nicolai was elevated to associate director of athletics for compliance and student-athlete services at Central Washington University in 2021. Dahlby Nicolai served as the advisor for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was the department's senior woman administrator. She also currently serves on the NCAA Division II national volleyball committee.
Prior to her time at CWU, Dahlby Nicolai worked at Seattle University with the internal operations and marketing staffs, helping create and implement strategic plans, budgets, and marketing documents for recruiting and student-athlete engagement.
Prior to her work at Seattle University, Dahlby Nicolai was a managing partner of RPS Group. While at RPS she transformed their clients’ businesses through brand development, retail, marketing, and business development projects, business plans, brand positioning strategies to re-launch or refine their brand through internal and external storytelling. She was pivotal in the creation of the RPS internship program, giving college students looking to enter a career in marketing an opportunity to work hands on in the marketing and business fields through summer or academic year internships.
Dahlby Nicolai received her bachelor's degree from the University of Redlands, where she was a three-time all-conference diver, before completing her master's degree in education at the University of Washington where she took part in the Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership Program.