Chief Athletics Development Officer

Stanford University seeks an entrepreneurial, strategic, and accomplished fundraising leader to serve as its inaugural Chief Athletics Development Officer (CADO). Reporting jointly to the Director of Athletics and to the Associate Vice President for Development, the CADO will design and execute the philanthropic strategy for the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER) at a defining moment in the history of American collegiate athletics — and in the history of Stanford’s own athletics enterprise.

Conference realignment, the implementation of the House settlement, and the introduction of direct revenue sharing with student-athletes have together rewritten the economics of college sports. Stanford has made an explicit institutional commitment to fund the new model through incremental athletics revenue and philanthropic support, with President Jonathan Levin emphasizing the university’s determination to extend its distinctive scholar-athlete tradition into this new era. Philanthropy is no longer one of several priorities for DAPER; it is the engine on which Stanford’s ability to compete — academically and athletically — at the very highest level will depend.

As the chief development officer for DAPER, this role is responsible for setting the strategic direction of, and producing the results from, Stanford’s athletics fundraising program. The CADO will lead a team of approximately 15 development professionals; partner closely with the Director of Athletics and the cabinet, with head coaches and senior administrators, with the Office of Development’s principal and major gift teams, and with university trustees and key volunteers; and build a donor pipeline capable of securing transformational, eight- and nine-figure commitments. The successful candidate will combine the discipline and donor-centered ethos of a sophisticated university advancement enterprise with the speed, public perception acumen, and high-stakes relationship management that big-time intercollegiate athletics demand.

Jack Gorman is leading this search with Nicole Poe and Sandeep Kaur.

Stanford University is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Consistent with its obligations under the law, the university will provide reasonable accommodation to any employee with a disability who requires accommodation to perform the essential functions of the job.