HSE High School Principal Janie Ulmer Named IHSAA Assistant Commissioner

Janie Ulmer

Janie Ulmer, a LaPorte native and current principal at Hamilton Southeastern High School, has been approved by the IHSAA Executive Committee to become an assistant commissioner.

Ulmer was one of seven finalists interviewed for the position and will fill the vacancy left by Sandra Walter who is leaving to become athletic director at Franklin Central High School.

Ulmer’s appointment date is effective July 1 and the programs she administers will be determined at a later date.

A career educator, Ulmer comes to the IHSAA having spent five years with Hamilton Southeastern Schools, the last two as the principal at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers. From 2017-2020, she served as Director of the Hamilton Southeastern Fishers Academy (HSEF), an off-site alternative education program she helped launch for both Hamilton Southeastern and Fishers high schools. In that role, she managed all functions of the program including staffing, development of academic programs, student services and facilities.

Prior to that, Ulmer spent 24 years in the LaPorte Community School Corporation in northwest Indiana.

She was Director of Virtual Learning, an alternative high school within LaPorte High School, from 2012-17. And from 1993-2012, she taught mathematics to seventh and eighth graders at Kesling Middle School in LaPorte.

Ulmer holds professional memberships with the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Indiana Principal’s Leadership Institute, and St. Pius X. She has served as a keynote speaker and honored as Teacher of the Year by the Indiana Middle Level Education Association (IMLEA) as well as coordinating academic competitions and professional development for the LaPorte Community School Corporation.

“I am extremely pleased to welcome Janie Ulmer to the IHSAA Executive Staff,” said Commissioner Paul Neidig. “Her experience as a leader in education will prove invaluable as we continue our efforts to promote the ideals of education based athletics for Hoosier students.”

Ulmer is a 1989 graduate of Valparaiso University earning a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics with a minor in Secondary Education. She went on to earn a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from American College of Education in Chicago in 2012. She is an alumnus of LaPorte High School where she was a member of the Slicers’ varsity girls basketball team, later serving as an assistant coach, and helped in a supporting role with the baseball team under late Hall of Fame coach Ken Schreiber.

Ulmer has two adult children – Zachary (Maria) Ulmer and Kate Ulmer – and two grandsons – Elliott and Everett.

The IHSAA is a voluntary, not-for-profit organization that is self-supporting without the use of tax monies. Since its founding in 1903, the Association’s mission has been to provide wholesome, educational athletics for the secondary schools of Indiana. Its 407 member high schools – public, institutional, parochial and private – pay no annual membership fee or incur entry fees to play in the Association’s tournaments. A state tournament series is conducted annually in 22 sports, 10 for girls, 10 for boys and two co-ed (unified flag football and unified track and field). A 19-person board of directors, elected by member school principals, governs the organization