Ben Rodriguez is the Director of Student-Athlete Welfare & Development and has been with the UCF staff since 2013.
As a member of the UCF senior staff, Rodriguez manages and oversees the holistic development of all UCF student-athletes based on four pillars: Personal Development, Career/Professional Development, Leadership Development, and Community Outreach.
Rodriguez is the lead facilitator for the UCF Student-Athlete Leadership Institute, creating leadership development programming aimed at growing student-athlete leaders into positive influencers in and out of the locker room.
Rodriguez has also participated in two international service trips as part of the Knights Without Borders initiative. In August 2014, he participated in a trip to Dublin, Ireland with four administrators and 10 student-athletes. In August 2016, he organized and oversaw a trip to Tucuesito, Panama that included six administrators and 24 student-athletes.
Rodriguez also serves on several UCF committees including the Student-Athlete Welfare Committee, Scholarship and Awards Committee, University Athletics Compliance Committee, Title IX Outreach Committee, and the University Anti-Hazing Committee.
In addition, Rodriguez participated in the NCAA Effective Facilitation Workshop and was a facilitator in the NCAA Student-Athlete Leadership Forum in 2016.
An alumnus of the UCF DeVos Sport Business Management graduate program, Rodriguez earned an MBA and MS in Sport Business Management. During his time with the DeVos program, he co-authored and contributed to several national studies for the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, including the 2012 Major League Baseball Racial and Gender Report Card and the 2011 College Sport Racial and Gender Report Card.
Prior to the DeVos program, Rodriguez worked in the accounting / finance industry for six years before deciding to pursue a career change.
Rodriguez played football at Stony Brook University before graduating from the College of Staten Island with a BS in Business Management and a Minor in Finance.
Currently, Rodriguez lives in Orlando, FL with his wife, Emily, their son, Ben III (BR3), and their cat, Broadway Joe.
Ben Rodriguez