Odoguardi Named Chief Financial Officer of Ohio State Athletics – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | General
May 7, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Joe Odoguardi has been hired by the Ohio State Department of Athletics as its chief financial officer, Miechelle Willis, Ohio State’s deputy director of athletics, announced Thursday.
Odoguardi (o-DOE-gwar-dee) has served as the Ohio State senior associate general manager and chief financial officer for the Division of Business Advancement since June of 1998. He will continue in that role in addition to his new duties with athletics. He will have a dual reporting line to Willis and Xen Riggs, Ohio State’s associate vice president for business advancement.
Gene Smith, Ohio State vice president and director of athletics, oversees the Ohio State Division of Business Advancement.
In addition to his work with OSU business advancement, Odoguardi has previous experience as the assistant general manager for the Greater Columbus Convention Center (1997-1998) as well as several other roles with the GCCC from 1982-1997. Those positions included interim president and CEO, executive vice president and COO and vice president/treasurer.
Odoguardi replaces Pete Hagan, who has spent nearly 31 years at Ohio State, most recently as its associate athletics director for finance and CFO. Hagan is set to retire July 31.
Odoguardi, who graduated with an accounting degree from Youngstown State University in 1981 and a master’s of business administration from the University of Dayton in 1990, will begin his duties with athletics June 1.
Creating new methods to integrate the university’s mission with business advancement and athletics will be one of the goals for Odoguardi in this new role.
“I am honored and excited to have been selected for this assignment,” Odoguardi said. “I am looking forward to taking the great partnership that already exists between the Department of Athletics and Business Advancement to the next level by enhancing existing collaborations and seeking new opportunities that will benefit both areas and contribute to the university’s mission.”
Willis said replacing Hagan with such a qualified candidate was a win for Ohio State Athletics.
“I want to first thank Pete for his dedicated service to Ohio State Athletics,” Willis said. “He helped maneuver the department financially through challenging times and during periods of great success. He will be missed.
“Joe has vast experience and is well versed with the university financial mission,” Willis said. “With his background in university business advancement, the operations at Nationwide Arena, the Schottenstein Center and the Greater Columbus Convention Center, we could not have found a better person to oversee the athletics department finances.”
Riggs said adding athletics to Odoguardi’s list of duties was the next step in Smith’s plan for Ohio State Business Advancement.
“I am thrilled that Joe will be leading this new effort,” Riggs said. “He has been a tremendous part of the success of Business Advancement over the past 17 years. The partnership and integration with athletics has always been a major part of our culture. This formal integration is a natural progression in fulfilling Gene’s vision of becoming the best asset to the university and to the community we can be.”
Note:
Ohio State Business Advancement consists of several support units within The Ohio State University in the areas of facility operations and management, revenue creation and administration, and event pursuit and execution. Specific units within Business Advancement include Affinity and Trademark Management, Trademark and Licensing, The Blackwell Inn, The Drake Performance and Event Center, The Fawcett Center, The Jerome Schottenstein Center and Nationwide Arena. Total revenue for FY15 is $80 million. The Ohio State Athletics budget for the FY16 is $152 million.
