Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer has been selected as the keynote speaker for the 2010 College Sports Information Directors of America convention.

Fleischer, who served at the White House from 2001-03, will address SIDs during a July 6 luncheon in San Francisco. The CoSIDA convention runs from July 4-7 at San Francisco’s Marriott Marquis.

Currently, Fleischer is the chief executive and principal employee of Ari Fleischer Communications and Ari Fleischer Sports Communications, a firm devoted to training and consulting athletes and organizations on crisis communications and how to deal with the media. Clients include the U.S. Olympic Committee, the NFL and Major League Baseball.

“Intercollegiate athletics has more than its share of communications controversies – and communications opportunities – to talk about,” Fleischer said. “It’s exciting to be part of the sports scene, and I look forward to this convention.”

Fleischer, a 1982 graduate of Middlebury College, was the primary spokesperson for President George W. Bush and delivered the daily White House briefings from 2001 to 2003. He served as spokesman during the historic presidential vote recount, the September 11 attacks, two wars and the anthrax attack. His book “Taking Heat” details his years in the White House and reached No. 7 on The New York Times best-seller list.

Before his White House tenure, Fleischer served as the senior communications advisor and spokesman for the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign and as the national spokesman and communications director for Elizabeth Dole’s presidential campaign.