The Northern Kentucky University Athletics Department on Wednesday announced the addition of Bryan Allen to the role of associate athletics director for development.
“I am thrilled to have Bryan join our administrative team” Roybal said. “His extensive experience in development as well as his familiarity with Northern Kentucky and the Greater Cincinnati area makes him the perfect fit for our department and will help us achieve our goals as we continue to elevate Norse Athletics.”
Allen will work closely with athletics and university development personnel on immediate and long-range fundraising efforts including major gifts, endowed scholarships, capital projects and will oversee the athletics development day-to-day operations and Go Norse Fund.
Allen joins the Norse after serving as the associate athletics director for development and major gifts at Virginia Commonwealth University for the past six years. While at VCU, Allen was responsible for the first operational endowment for men’s basketball in school history, cultivating, soliciting and booking the largest philanthropic gift by a former student-athlete in program history, spearheading the institutional response to the 2017 tax law change and leading the VCU campus in both visits and major gifts in the fiscal year 2019.
“I want to thank Christina Roybal, Eric Gentry and Shelley Deavy for their trust with this position at such an important time in the history of NKU Athletics,” Allen said. “The Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati area means a great deal to our family, and we are looking forward to reengaging with the community. I am excited to work with the coaches and staff here to continue building on our culture of success.”
Before his time with the Rams, Allen spent three years as the assistant athletics director of major gifts at James Madison University. In that role, Allen was tasked with the management of major giving and capital campaign initiatives for the multi-million-dollar department.
Allen makes his return to the Northern Kentucky and Greater Cincinnati area after he spent seven and a half years at the University of Cincinnati, most recently as the director of development and leadership gifts for Bearcat Athletics. While at UC, he and his team raised the private support for nearly $40 million of the $86 million renovation and expansion of historic Nippert Stadium and the $16 million Sheakley Athletics Center. Allen started at UC as a volunteer intern before quickly moving into an assistant director and then the director role.
Prior to UC, Allen also spent a year as a video operations staff assistant with the Cincinnati Bengals.
A native of Huntington, West Virginia, Allen is a double graduate of Marshall University with a bachelor’s degree in physiology and a master’s in athletics administration. He also worked as a video assistant and development associate while completing his degrees. Allen was part of the Thundering Herd’s football support staff that won three Mid-American Conference Championships (1999, 2000, 2002) that included the 1999 campaign where Marshall finished a perfect 13-0 and was ranked 10th overall in the nation in the final AP poll.
Allen is joined at NKU by his wife, Becky, their son Carson and their boxer Garnet.
Northern Kentucky University Athletics