June 9, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. - UCF Athletics has announced the hiring of Jeff Ulmer as the Knights' new Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Development. He will start his new post on July 6. Ulmer brings more than 20 years of institutional advancement experience from tenures at three prestigious Southeastern Conference schools, working both for athletic and academic departments. Most recently, Ulmer was at the University of Mississippi where he served as President of the UMAA Foundation this past year.
At UCF, Ulmer will be the senior administrator overseeing all areas of athletics development; major gifts, fundraising and the Golden Knights Club, plus UCF's athletics ticket sales operation.
"The investment in UCF's student-athletes is critical," said Ulmer. "As I have seen from both sides, intercollegiate athletics can be as important to a University as a successful academics program. In athletics, you contribute to the academic landscape of your university in so many ways. It will be our mission to help enrich the lives for our students. Intercollegiate athletics will create tremendous visibility, which in turn will create key opportunities for the university.
"We will work to support the resources that can cover personal health care to study hall and into game preparation," added Ulmer. "There is no question intercollegiate athletics is a costly enterprise, but philanthropy and athletics can co-exist."
"This is an excellent time for an administrator of Jeff's caliber to come in and immediately make a difference for UCF Athletics," added Keith Tribble, UCF's Director of Athletics and Executive Vice President. "Jeff brings with him a strong vision for academic advancement backed by successful tenures at three philanthropically successful Southeastern Conference schools."
At Ole Miss, Ulmer oversaw the UMAA Foundation's development team, with a primary mission of reaching out to alumni, donors and fans across the state of Mississippi and around the country in an effort to secure private resources for capital projects and scholarship support.
Ulmer's goal as President of the UMAA Foundation was to get out on the road and meet with the people who have supported Ole Miss throughout the years and develop a stronger network of partners, while raising the visibility of Rebel athletics throughout the state and beyond.
In 2003, Ulmer was lured away from his previous employment at the University of Florida to become the Assistant Dean for Development for Vanderbilt University's Law School where he guided the law school through a $28 million capital campaign. Three years later he was named Executive Director of Development for Vanderbilt's National Commodore Club, the fund raising arm of Vanderbilt athletics. He was instrumental in restructuring Vanderbilt's major gift program, emphasizing philanthropic giving for capital and endowment initiatives.
Ulmer began his development career in 1989 at UF, where he served four colleges and participated in two capital campaigns over a 15-year period. He started as the Associate Director of Development for UF's College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, moving on to become the Associate Director of Development for UF's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Ulmer eventually became the Director of Development for Florida's Levin College of Law before moving to UF's Warrington College of Business/Fisher School of Accounting as the Senior Director of Development.
Ulmer, who grew up in Gainesville and graduated from UF, worked for one season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers strength and conditioning staff after serving in a similar capacity as a student assistant in the Gator Strength Complex.
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For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.