UNC Asheville Hires Ken Elder as Associate Athletic Director

UNC Asheville Athletics Director Janet Cone has today announced the hiring of Ken Elder as the school's new Associate Athletic Director for External Operations for Development and Marketing. Elder will begin his new post at UNCA on June 28, pending approval of the Board of Trustees. He replaces Mark Wharton who resigned in April to take a similar position at Nevada Las Vegas. 

"We are delighted to have Ken join our UNC Asheville family," stated Cone. "Ken brings to our athletic department a variety of experiences that range from dealing with corporate America to the
student-athlete. Ken was chosen from an outstanding pool of applicants from throughout the country. However, his impressive credentials distinguished him from the start. I have talked to many people about Ken. Everyone agrees that he will take our athletic marketing and development to a new level. We are looking forward to having him and his family join our team."

Elder will bring a great deal of development and marketing experience to the Bulldog athletic program. For the past three years, he has served as the Regional Sales and Marketing Director for the University of Florida's Gator Network. In his post, Elder was responsible for business and account servicing of Florida's 55-station statewide radio network, television coaches show, on-site marketing, Gatorzone.com and corporate hospitality. 

Prior to his work at the University Florida, Elder worked for two years on the Tampa Bay Super Bowl XXXV Task Force in Tampa. He raised more than two million dollars in corporate sponsorships for the Task Force and secured 26 major sponsors and 15 trade sponsors for the event. Elder was responsible for raising a direct $350,000 media campaign to promote Task Force events. He also booked nationally known entertainment acts for Task Force events and created a sales budget.

Elder spent the 1998-99 academic year as the Director of Development at Trinity International University and WMCU Radio Station. He created a comprehensive corporate program for WMCU and raised more than $130,000 in the first year. Elder also began the school's first ever endowment program and served as an adjunct professor in the business school teaching courses in Sport Management. 

He worked for three years with the Miami Hurricanes Radio Network, two of them as the manager of the network. Elder was responsible for the 22-station network, including the creation and management of the $1.2 million dollar revenue and expense budget, station affiliation, marketing the network and overseeing the sales campaign.

Elder has also worked at Georgia State University and Florida Atlantic University. At Georgia State, he worked as the school's Sports Marketing Coordinator from 1989-91. At Florida Atlantic, he served as an assistant to the Athletics Director. He also worked as the school's Sports Information Director, Game Day Event Coordinator and assisted in the planning and start-up of Florida Atlantic's Men's basketball program.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to work at UNC Asheville," stated Elder. "I'm looking forward to working with Janet Cone and the fine staff at Asheville to help the athletic department grow."

Elder graduated from Florida Atlantic in 1986 and earned his masters degree in Sports Administration from St. Thomas University in 1988.

Media Contacts:

• Mike Gore, Sports Information Director, 828/251-6923