WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary Director of Athletics Samantha K. Huge announced the hiring of Kevin Dwan as the Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Operations for Revenue Generation and Brand Management.
 
Dwan will be responsible for the strategic direction, oversight, coordination, leadership and active participation in the revenue generation and external functions and will serve as a member of the Senior Leadership Team.
 
"Kevin brings all the requisite skills we are seeking and more," Huge said.  "He has the demonstrated ability to plan and execute successful strategies that have grown both revenues and brand awareness in multiple different environments.  More so, he has proven to be an exceptional leader when it comes to building critical relationships across a diverse set of internal and external constituents.  I am thrilled to have Kevin join our team as he will play a key role in our pursuit of excellence."
 
Dwan will provide leadership for revenue generation units, including ticket operations staff and sales; athletics communications; marketing; promotions; merchandise sales; brand management; licensing; corporate partnerships and video production units.  He will also oversee the department's strategic communications efforts, including public relations, athletic communications, social media and athletics' websites.
 
Prior to coming to William & Mary, Dwan was the Associate Athletics Director for Sales and External Relations at the Naval Academy for the past four years. In this role, he was responsible for developing and fostering collaboration within all external units for the purpose of growing revenues, enhancing the Navy Athletics brand, improving customer experience and supporting the overall mission of the enterprise. He had direct oversight of ticket sales, advertising, creative services and the Blue & Gold annual fund. Dwan led an external team that grew ticket and game-day related revenue by more than 30 percent, setting records for the highest per-game ticket revenue in Navy Football history in 2017 and again in 2018.  Additionally, he helped reverse multi-year trends of declining attendance and game day related revenue, leading to Navy averaging better than 100 percent capacity for the 2017 football season
 
Dwan was a regional vice president for the Aspire Group, a global sports marketing company, for three-and-a-half years before taking the position at Navy. He oversaw the Aspire Group's on-campus operations with multiple collegiate partners across the nation, including Army, Seton Hall, Minnesota, UC Riverside, Florida Atlantic, Florida International and Western Michigan, representing more than 40 full-time employees. He served as a consultant to partners in the areas of revenue enhancement, strategic marketing and market research.  Within this role, he also served as the Director of Sales and Service for the United States Military Academy at West Point. Dwan managed a team that produced $1.2 million in new revenue through increased ticket sales, fundraising and other strategic incentives.
 
Before joining The Aspire Group, Dwan served as Director of Marketing & Sales for the athletics department at the University of Richmond, leading a team that produced an increase in men's basketball attendance that ranked Top-15 nationally in Division I basketball for the 2010-11 season.  Prior to that, he spent time as a member of the athletics department at Wichita State University.
 
Dwan earned his master's degree in sport leadership from VCU and his bachelor's degree from Lynchburg College, where he was a four-year member of the varsity baseball team.