NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt announced on Monday the hiring of Brendan Dwyer as senior associate athletic director for capital projects, facilities and events.
In this role, Dwyer will serve as supervisor of the areas of facilities, event management, championships, capital projects, and venue management. Those duties will include working closely with department leadership to plan and execute facility development, including space planning, facility master planning, renovations and capital projects as well as leading the development execution of policies and procedures relative to Vanderbilt Athletics facilities.
“I’m pleased to welcome Brendan to our team as we begin a momentous year for Vanderbilt Athletics,” said Candice Storey Lee, vice chancellor for athletics and university affairs and athletic director. “As we approach Vandy United’s fourth anniversary, we continue reimagining our footprint to create a sustainable championship environment for our student-athletes and unparalleled game day experience for our supporters. Brendan’s experience with event and facilities management and capital project stewardship, as well as his affinity for this region and the SEC, make him ideally suited to help us rise to the moment. I invite Commodore Nation to join me in welcoming him to Nashville.”
Dwyer has spent the previous two-and-a-half years at Memphis serving as associate athletic director of facilities and capital projects, where he has worked directly with Populous, Barton Malow and MFA while overseeing more than $200 million in renovations to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. He was the department’s representative on additional athletics facilities capital projects including a renovation of FedEx Park Avron Fogelman Field, and had direct oversight of all athletic game operations, facility maintenance and athletic grounds while supervising a staff of seven full-time employees. Dwyer served as sport administrator for the Tiger baseball program in that time as well.
Before joining the staff at Memphis, he was senior director of facilities and events for nearly three years at UAB, where he helped design a new basketball practice facility and baseball/softball clubhouse for the Blazers. He was also responsible for oversight of six full-time staff members, the operations of all athletic facilities and grounds, game day operations and on-campus athletic concessions during that time.
Dwyer was at Ole Miss prior to moving to Birmingham, serving as arena manager for The Pavilion for two-and-a-half years before earning a promotion to assistant athletic director of athletic facilities. From 2011-16, he was associate director of event manager at Georgia while Dwyer was operations manager at American for two years prior.
“We are excited to welcome Brendan and his family to Nashville,” said Derek Grice, Vanderbilt deputy athletic director for external engagement and revenue generation. “While we had a great pool of candidates, Brendan’s expertise in managing highly complex capital projects and his background in event and facilities management stood out. We are confident that Brendan will play a key role in helping us in our mission of providing an unparalleled student-athlete and fan experience.”
“I want to thank Candice, Derek and the hiring committee for this amazing opportunity to be a part of such a transformational time for Vanderbilt Athletics,” Dwyer said. “The current commitment to facility enhancements here is on par with any institution in the country and shows the value that the university is placing on athletics as a vital piece of the campus community. This is a great time to be a Commodore, my family and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of it. Anchor Down!”
Dwyer graduated from East Carolina with a degree in communications in 2005, earning a master’s degree in sport management from the school two years later. He and his wife, Gwen, have two daughters: Alaina and Kendal.