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GREENSBORO — The Greensboro Sports Commission turned within for its next president, naming former Greensboro College athletic director Kim Strable to replace outgoing president Marc Bush next month.

Strable, whose position at Greensboro College was eliminated last month, will be a "seamless and smooth transition," said Dick Grubar, chairman of the board for the sports commission.

"Kim has great knowledge of our organization and our community," Grubar said. "Because this job is so relationship driven, we really thought there would be a six month to nine month learning curve for someone coming from the outside. With Kim already here I didn't think we could find a better candidate nationally."

Strable is one of the sports commission's founding board members and has been a member of the executive committee for eight years. He has helped bring several sporting events to Greensboro in recent years, including the NCAA Division III soccer finals.

The commission is a private, not-for-profit organization that promotes the city as a site for sports events.

Strable said he'll rely on the relationships he's built up in the past 20 years while working as a coach and athletic director at Greensboro College.

"This is a job that's about networking and maintaining relationships," he said. "I know the NCAA, they've been very impressed with Greensboro, period. They know what we can do and so do others. We've got a great reputation because of our resources and facilities. I want to build on that."

The sports commission works on a roughly $365,000 operating budget to attract athletic events to the city. Sometimes those events are big, such as the ACC men's and women's basketball tournaments or the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. More often than not, the commission attracts dozens of smaller, youth events that brings hundreds of athletes and their families.

Last year the commission attracted more than 80 events to Greensboro and Guilford County. When factoring in hotel rooms, meals and shopping by outsiders, those events had an economic impact of about $141 million.

Contact Robert Bell at 373-7055 or robert.bell@news-record.com