March 29, 2006
DeKalb, IL -- Northern Illinois University Director of Athletics Jim Phillips bolstered NIU's development efforts with the hiring of Tim McMurray as Associate Athletics Director for Development and Major Gifts Officer, plus Daniel White as Assistant Athletics Director of Development and Annual Fund Director.
Both individuals are expected to begin their duties on April 3, 2006. McMurray, who is currently the Associate Athletics Director for Development and Communications at Texas State University, replaces Tim Stedman who was hired by Michigan State University. White, currently a Development Associate with the University of Mississippi's Ole Miss Loyalty Foundation, replaces Tekla Martin who recently accepted a position at the University of Nevada in Reno.
"I'm particularly excited to add both of these individuals to our administrative team, not just because of their varied backgrounds, institutional experiences, skills and abilities, but because I strongly believe they will be wonderful institutional fits with the NIU athletic family," Phillips said. "They're both family-oriented people who have a passion for the student-athletes. They'll work closely together, but Tim's focus will be on major gifts while Danny will be involved with annual giving."
McMurray has spent the last six of his 13-year collegiate athletics career at Texas State, initially joining the Bobcat staff as an Athletic Development Officer in 2000. He was elevated to Assistant Athletics Director for Development in 2002 and was promoted to his current position of Associate Athletics Director in 2004. In his current role, McMurray handles all athletic major-gift fund-raising efforts, serves as Executive Director of the Bobcat Athletic Foundation, oversees media relations, the Texas State baseball and softball programs, plus the Texas State Strutters (performance group). Since the summer of 2004, McMurray has also been serving a four-year term with the National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) Executive Committee.
"Tim has an exceptional record of success at a school whose programs and needs are similar to NIU. I've been familiar with his work with NAADD, and he's developed an impressive list of contacts," Phillips noted.
Among his most notable achievements were coordinating the private giving segment of a $24-million athletic facility campaign -- the largest private athletic gift program in the school's history, increasing the Bobcat Athletic Foundation giving by 80 percent over a two-year period while also increasing gift totals by 80 percent; and designed and implemented a priority prime seating plan for football which nearly doubled annual gifts for the program. In addition he was the Coordinator of the Wheels of Support program along with overseeing the San Marcos school's hotel and restaurant partnership packages.
"This is a wonderful career opportunity for me and my family," McMurray said. "With the cooperative relationship between intercollegiate athletics and university advancement in place, I believe it is an ideal time to join the Huskie family," McMurray said. "I am very appreciative of both Jim Phillips and John Bass for being active and engaged during the interview process, and I plan to bring that same aggressive attitude to NIU."
While earning his bachelor's degree in communications from Lamar University in 1992, McMurray worked as a media relations assistant for his alma mater. In 1993, he became the school's Associate Media Relations Director before Lamar selected him to serve as an Assistant Athletics Director for External Operations. He held that post from 1996 until 2000 when he left for Texas State. During his tenure with Lamar's development efforts, annual giving tripled over a two-year window and corporate sponsorship dollars more than doubled.
McMurray, 35, who also earned a graduate certificate in Executive Education from the University of Texas' Sports Management Institute, is married to the former Vickie Lake of Dallas. McMurray is the stepfather to Vickie's daughters Maya, 10, and Marley, 6.
White, 26, has spent the past academic year serving as the Ole Miss Loyalty Foundation's representative for the majority of central and southern Mississippi as well as all of southern Louisiana, along with serving as the contact person for the Ole Miss' Young Alumni program. A former collegiate basketball player initially at Towson University and at the University of Notre Dame, White has Mid-American Conference ties having spent two seasons at Ohio University. Initially he served as OU's Director of Basketball Operations and finally as a full-time assistant under Tim O'Shea for 2004-05.
During 2003, White overlapped his basketball responsibilities with an internship in Ohio's External Affairs helping the Director of Development compile a donor solicitation base while also assisting an initiative which raised money for locker room renovations and a European playing tour.
"I'm completely thrilled to be joining the Huskie family. First and foremost, I am excited about the opportunity to work with someone like Jim Phillips, but I also believe Northern Illinois athletics has unprecedented potential,"White said. "Being situated in the Chicagoland region and a member of a competitive league like the MAC provides advantages we can capitalize upon for the betterment of all student-athletes at NIU."
After earning a bachelor of business administration degree in 2002 from the University of Notre Dame, White spent the summer serving as an assistant general manager for the Southern Ohio Copperheads semi-pro baseball club before returning to UND where he served as a student assistant under then Irish Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs Phillips.
"Obviously I'm familiar with Danny's work ethic from our time at Notre Dame, but I've seen how quickly he's progressed and developed his skills. There's no question he, like Tim, is an energetic individual whose future is on the rise," Phillips added.
White is married to the former Shawn Dobry of Baltimore, MD. The couple has a one-year-old son Aidan.
(For further information, please contact Steve Nemeth) --NIU--
