Little Compton resident Keith Cory, an educator and long-time athletic administrator, has been named Athletic Director of the Year by the Rhode Island Interscholastic Athletic Administrator Association (RIAAA).

Cory, a Little Compton native who lives in Adamsville, is the athletic administrator at Johnston High School and for many years prior served as a college-level coach and administrator. He was an assistant athletic director at Salve Regina University and has coached both soccer and lacrosse at the collegiate level.

He is the former athletic director at Friends Academy, a private school in Dartmouth, Ma., and also served as recreation director for the Town of Tiverton.

"To me the most important thing an athletic director does is to make the job of the coach easier, so that the coach can spend more time with the student athletes," he said. "That's always been my goal, to take care of everything behind the scenes so that the coaches and athletes can stay at the front."

Cory is or has been a member of dozens of school sports committees across the state, and was the RIIAAA's Award of Merit winner in 2019.