Brad Burgess was named Rowan's Deputy Athletic Director for Strategic Initiatives and External Engagement in October, 2025. Burgess came to Rowan after holding the position of Associate Athletic Director for Ticketing and Strategic Revenue at his alma mater James Madison University since 2022, while spending a total of 10 years there in various leadership roles.
"Rowan has secured a driven leader, who is a solution-oriented and creative thinker that will raise the profile of Rowan Athletics and its student-athletes to new heights, on our quest to becoming the premiere Division III Athletics program in the nation," said Tucker. "Brad's strong expertise in philanthropy/corporate sponsorship, community/fan engagement and revenue generation were the trifecta intangibles that rose to the top during the competitive interview process.
"Today, Rowan University and Athletics took another major step in our pursuit of building a top-tier athletics program with Brad Burgess and his family joining Prof nation!"
In his most recent role, Burgess led a team that saw three straight years of football season ticket sellouts, established new pricing models for ticketed venues, increased overall revenue for all ticketed sports, and implemented new premium seating options in the football stadium.
Prior to being promoted to his most recent position at JMU, Burgess was the Assistant Athletic Director for Internal Development in which he provided strategic direction for the Duke Club for fundraising, stewardship, donor membership, outreach, and events.
Burgess served as an Athletics Development Officer from July 2018 to May 2021 where he focused on external fundraising efforts to grow the overall support through annual giving and major gift opportunities such as endowments, capital projects, and planned giving. He was also responsible for helping to manage the Young Alumni Program as well as Student Duke Club.
Following one year in a fundraising role at Western Carolina University, Burgess returned to his alma mater in June 2017 as Assistant Director of Development. He began his career in 2014, as a graduate assistant in student-athlete leadership development at JMU. His responsibilities included assisting in overseeing SAAC operations, researching, developing and implementing holistic student-athlete development initiatives and day-to-day operations in the student-athlete leadership development office.
Burgess graduated with cum laude honors in 2014 from the Hart School at JMU with a Bachelor of Science in sport and recreation management and a minor in business. In 2016, he completed a Master's degree in sport and recreation leadership.
Burgess and his wife, Katherine, who met while undergraduate students at JMU and married in 2018 near their hometowns in Northern Virginia have three daughters and a dog.
