Antelope Intros is a recurring GCU Today feature that introduces some of our new employees to the people around them in a way that is fun and informative. Employees are eligible to be featured in the month following their orientation.
MIKE VAUGHT
Job title: Vice president of athletics
Job location: Main campus, Building 25
What attracted you to GCU? The people and vision.
What do you do for fun and where do you find that outlet? I enjoy spending time with my wife, Karri. I also like to play golf but haven’t had much time for that lately.
What are you passionate about? Giving hope to people.
What are your favorite places or events in the Valley that you like to visit? Phoenix International Raceway for NASCAR weekend and TPC Scottsdale for the Phoenix Open golf tournament. I was always a racing fan and knew a lot of NASCAR people before I worked with them professionally in my previous job, director of corporate sponsorships for AdvoCare International in Plano, Texas. I worked with Roush Fenway Racing and driver Trevor Bayne. It’s a great group of people.
Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know: I’m a pilot. I started a flying club with three other people, and we have a Cessna 172. I’ve been flying, for pleasure only, for 12 years.
What are you most proud of? I am co-founder of the College Football Assistance Fund, which supports college players with serious head and neck injuries.
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MICHELE SIOREDAS
Job title: Program manager, institutional effectiveness
Job location: Main campus, Building 23, second floor
What attracted you to GCU? The reputation that GCU has in the community.
What do you do for fun and where do you find that outlet? I love to read, go for a walk and spend time with my family.
What are you passionate about? I am passionate about being a lifelong learner and helping people in the community.
What are your favorite places or events in the Valley that you like to visit? I have been in Phoenix for only seven weeks, so I am still learning the area. I have been to the zoo and the Children’s Museum with my husband, Jon, and 3-year-old son, Braden, and we had a blast.
Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know: I lived and worked in the Olympic Village for three months in 1996 at Atlanta. One of my main responsibilities was to solve problems for each delegation. This varied from getting Olympic athletes out of the Atlanta Police Department and putting them in the Olympic Village jail to helping them make international telephone calls. I was in Centennial Park listening to a concert the night the bomb went off. One of my co-workers, who was from Colombia, recognized that it was a bomb blast, so we headed back to the Village as soon as possible. When we arrived, the Village was already on lockdown but we were allowed in, and we worked through the night to ensure that every athlete and delegation member was safe and accounted for. … Also, my husband, Jon, is head coach of the GCU wrestling team. Being married to a wrestling coach is interesting. I get to hear stories about all of his kids and essentially become a team mom. Jon and I met at a restaurant/bar in Virginia Beach, Va., eight years ago. The very first night he met me, he told me he was going to marry me. Needless to say, I did not believe him, but now we have been happily married for five years. When Jon first told me that he was a former wrestler and currently a wrestling coach, I was thinking WWE wrestling. I had no idea that wrestling was a collegiate sport — I went to school in the SEC, where football is king. When we first started dating, I knew nothing about wrestling, but now I know a thing or two.
What are you most proud of? My son. I love watching him grow up, and I am in awe of him on a daily basis. I describe him as all boy; he is very energetic and loves to play. He also loves to go to wrestling practice with Daddy. He is at the stage of asking questions about everything, and I love watching him make connections to the world.
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RICH WARNOL
Job title: Club baseball coach
Job location: Main campus
What attracted you to GCU? God opened the door and I walked through it.
What do you do for fun and where do you find that outlet? I enjoy the beach, the outdoors and watching people being themselves. My family keeps me busy and is my way of adding and relieving stress. I just love to be outdoors, especially with my family. Spending time around water is where we try to vacation. I love just being outdoors, hiking, playing catch (a ball or frisbee), sitting around talking with others, being at camp.
What are you passionate about? I am passionate about adding fun to things for others. I love to see people and their differences, which include their gifts, their quirks and their own passions. I also am passionate about coaching others in sports, health and life decisions. The most memorable season of my coaching career had its good and awful moments. I was the interim head coach at Southwestern College, soon to be Arizona Christian University. I took over the new program when the head coach took a job in Major League Baseball, and our record in our first year was 14-34. We had to make position players pitchers and played a tough schedule all season, but we won the first game in the school's history, against Wayland Baptist, and took two out of three from them. Our first game also was memorable in a very bad way: My parents have always attended my games as a player and also as a coach. They didn't show up for this game, so I called my mom afterward and learned that my dad had just died from a heart attack. What a roller coaster of a day.
What are your favorite places or events in the Valley that you like to visit? A well groomed field.
Tell us something about yourself that most people don’t know: I have a unique footprint. My footprint is only a four-toe footprint because the toe next to my little toe never touches the ground. It’s kind of a deformity but just a smaller toe. Some people think it’s cool and others can get grossed out by it. I do have some pretty cool footprints, though.
What are you most proud of? My wife, Holly, and her passion and love for others. We have been married for almost 23 years. My kids are pretty darn cool, too. My oldest son, Tanner (17), competes in his activities and sports with calm emotions. He is very gifted as an artist and plays the drums for the band in the high school ministry at church. My daughter, Kassidy (15), is awesome — she leads by example in everything she does. She is an amazing flyer at a high level in competitive cheer, a great student and has no problem sharing her faith with friends and strangers. My youngest, Brayden (10), is very loving and serving. He plays sports because he loves to play, he's always concerned about others first and loves to help someone in need.
