July 12, 2010

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) has selected East Carolina Associate Athletics Director for Major Giving Dennis Young to serve as First Vice President for the 2010-11 academic year, according to an announcement by the organization Friday.

NAADD is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities, enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics, and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of athletics development and fundraising. NAADD is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, which is in its 46th year.

Also elected as officers were University of Wisconsin-Madison Associate Athletics Director Marija Pientka (President), University of Missouri Senior Associate Athletics Director Whit Babcock (Second Vice President/Secretary) and Arizona State University Senior Associate Athletics Director Stephen Ponder (Third Vice President/Treasurer).

After serving as Executive Director of the East Carolina Educational Foundation (Pirate Club) since 1991, Young was moved to Associate Athletics Director for Major Giving in March, 2006. He is responsible for the planning and execution of all major fund-raising efforts to meet the department's future capital and endowment needs.

Under Young's leadership, the Pirate Club raised more than $50 million in capital gifts to fund the expansion of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, build the Murphy Center and constructed the state-of-the-art Clark-LeClair Baseball Stadium. During his 15 years as Executive Director, the Pirate Club's annual fund experienced a significant rise from $500,000 to nearly $4 million in support of student-athlete scholarships.

A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., Young returned to Greenville in 1991 after earning his undergraduate degree in accounting from ECU in 1969. Young also played football for the late Clarence Stasavich during his college career and lettered in 1966 and 1967.

Young, who became a licensed certified public accountant in 1972, worked in commercial mortgage banking, real estate, long-term healthcare and public accounting during his previous 22 years of business experience.

In 2005, Young was elected to serve a four-year term as an Executive Committee Member of the NAADD.

Young and his wife, Ellen, are the parents of two children, Chip, of Jacksonville, Fla., and Allison Baise, of Winston-Salem, N.C., and the grandparents of Mallory and Tanner.