Meet our Harvest Honorees
HONOREE:
MR. RONNIE BAYNES
SUPERVISOR OF NFL OFFICIALS, RETIRED
Born and raised in Talladega, Alabama, Ronnie Baynes is a longtime friend, board member, and volunteer at Cornerstone Schools of Alabama. On a football scholarship, Ronnie attended and graduated from Auburn University which led to a pro-football contract with the Dallas Cowboys. After a knee injury ended his football career, he spent the next 35 years coaching high school football teams throughout the state of Alabama.
As a seasoned athlete with years of sports leadership experience, Ronnie has assisted in spearheading and strategically planning for Cornerstone’s athletic program. Often times, he can be found mowing the soccer field at the elementary school. This past year, he started an after-school Sandlot Baseball Program teaching our youngest students the funda- mentals of baseball.
Ronnie and his wife, Marie, have 6 children, 11 grandchildren, and are members of Canterbury United Methodist Church.
VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR:
MRS. TIFFANY DANIELS
ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONER FOR COMPETITION & SENIOR WOMAN ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE SEC
Tiffany Daniels was named Associate Commissioner for Competition and Senior Woman Administrator for the Southeastern Conference in May 2013. Daniels joined the SEC from Georgia State University where she served as Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs overseeing Communications/Public Relations, Marketing/Promotions, Ticket Sales, Licensing, Corporate Sales and Merchandising for the Panthers.
No stranger to the world of athletics marketing and sales, Daniels previously held posts with the Georgia Dome where she served as the Director of Business Development. In that role, she was responsible for seeking and negotiating new business ventures for the Georgia Dome while working with the building’s corporate sales and activation.
Before joining the Georgia Dome staff, Daniels worked in professional sports with the Atlanta Spirit from 2001-05, first as group sales manager for the Atlanta Hawks and then as director of group sales for the Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers and Philips Arena. She also held posts with the WNBA’s Orlando Miracle and the NBA’s Orlando Magic.
Daniels earned a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from the University of Georgia where she was a four-year letter-winner for the Bulldogs in the sport of basketball. She was a four-year starter for the Lady Dawgs including two NCAA Final Four appearances in 1995 and 1996, winning Southeastern Conference Championships in 1996 and 1997.
Daniels was the first UGA women’s basketball student-athlete to earn an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship, and she later earned a master’s in sports management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Daniels’ current responsibilities as a member of the conference’s executive staff include oversight of the league’s sport administration and championships program including Olympic sports, softball and women’s basketball budgets, scheduling and officiating.
She successfully completed the NCAA’s prestigious Pathway Program as a part of the 12-member 2018-2019 Division I cohort. The yearlong intensive, experiential opportunity is designed to provide those in senior-level positions with the skill set to further propel their careers.
In 2020, she was recognized by Women Leaders in College Sports as the Nell Jackson Nike Executive given annually to a senior-level athletics administrator who demonstrates qualities such as courage, conviction and perseverance, and who is an advocate for gender equity and diversity. In September of 2021, Daniels was recognized by the Sports Business Journal as a part of its 11th class of “Game Changers: Women in Sports Business.”
She serves on the Board of the Cornerstone Schools of Alabama and the Recursion Program. She is also a founding member of Women’s Foundation of Alabama’s Brilliant Black Girl Collective, a philanthropic community that invests annually in the educational pursuits of Black girls graduating from Birmingham City High Schools.
Tiffany currently resides in Birmingham, AL with her husband, Donald, two daughters Tyler (16), Payton (15) and, her bonus daughter, her niece, JaNae (21).