University of Massachusets Athletics
Kenney Named Associate AD For Advancement
 |  UMass has named Tim Kenney Associate AD for Advancement. |
Nov. 25, 2003
AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Massachusetts has named Tim Kenney as its new associate athletic director for advancement, it was announced today by interim athletic director Thorr Bjorn. Kenney, who will begin his duties on January 1, 2004, comes to UMass from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he has worked in a variety of positions for the last nine years.
"Tim Kenney is going to be a fantastic addition to the UMass athletics family," said Bjorn. "He has tremendous energy and enthusiasm, and will really help us increase our fund raising efforts. He has a strong background in athletics, as well as alumni relations, and I think that is really going to help him be successful in this position."
For the last three years, Kenney has served as Stony Brook's director of alumni relations. He was in charge of fund raising for the alumni association, in addition to overseeing a number of other activities, including homecoming. Prior to his time as director of alumni relations, Kenney served as Stony Brook's assistant athletic director for external affairs from January 1997-March 2001, director of scheduling and special events from July 1996-December 1996, and assistant director of athletic development from August 1995-June 1996.
In addition to his duties at Stony Brook, Kenney has served as an assistant regional director for the Empire State Games since June of 1998. He has also worked for the Long Island Surf professional basketball club, the World University Games, Florida State University and the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Keeny earned his bachelor's degree in sports management and exercise science from Buffalo in May of 1993, and went on to earn his master's degree in sports administration and physical education from Florida State in May of 1994. During his undergraduate days at Buffalo, he was a two-time All-American in swimming, in addition to earning Academic All-America honors.
The UMass athletic development office has been restructured to include Bill Chaves, formally the assistant athletic director for tickets and game operations, who now serves as associate athletic director for development and oversees the annual fund. Prior to coming to UMass, Chaves served as assistant athletic director for external affairs at Northeastern University. Jason Germain has also joined athletic development from the alumni association. Germain is handling all special events, including the UMass Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, the UMAA golf tournament and the Varsity M Club. In addition, Jeff Bohne, retired vice president from Phoenix Insurance & Investments has joined the staff after serving one year as a departmental assistant. Bohne handles all of the point reconciliation, communication with the ticket office, donor correspondence and internal donation record keeping.
"We have reorganized the athletic development staff in a way that will allow us the opportunity to increase our annual giving, better serve our donor base and bring in more major gifts and capital dollars," said Bjorn. "I could not be more excited about working with the staff we have assembled, and I am sure our donors and fans will be quite pleased with the service and commitment they are going to receive."