CLEVELAND – The National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD) has announced the recipients of its 2020 Awards.
The 2020 NAADD Award recipients are: NAADD Lifetime Achievement Award, Miles Marks, former President and CEO of the 12th Man Foundation at Texas A&M University; Fund Raiser of the Year, Tim Folan, senior associate director of athletics, development and alumni relations at the University of Pennsylvania; and Rising Star Award, Taylor Phelps, associate athletics director for resource development at Texas A&M University – Commerce.
"The NAADD Executive Committee and I want to congratulate this year's NAADD Award recipients. We had a really talented pool of nominees who have all contributed to our industry in tremendous ways," stated NAADD President Sarah Baumgartner, deputy athletics director at Rutgers University. "NAADD is excited to recognize the award recipients at this year's NAADD Convention in Las Vegas in June. We look forward to celebrating their achievements with our NAADD Convention attendees and guests."
Lifetime Achievement Award
Marks earned a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1979 and an MBA in business in 1982 both from Texas A&M University. Upon the completion of his master's, Marks held various banking and financial industry positions in Houston, Texas.
During his 15 years at Texas A&M, Marks served as the President and CEO of the 12th Man Foundation – an organization that he modernized to become more professional along with enhancing its communication efforts to members and prospects. With his staff and the 12th Man Foundation Board of Trustees, Marks implemented the Priority Points system, which was transformational for athletics fundraising at Texas A&M. In 2003, the 12th Man Foundation assumed the responsibility of ticketing all sporting events at Texas A&M, and today all events are ticketed, organized, and handled by the 12th Man Foundation.
Marks worked tirelessly, as a leader for the 12th Man Foundation, to increase funding for Texas A&M Athletics. The Foundation's fundraising increased 435% during his tenure, and under his guidance, the Foundation first embraced Major Gift fundraising. Today, the Major Gifts fundraising operation at the Foundation is one of the most successful operations in collegiate fundraising. One of Marks proudest moments was being told by, then SEC Commissioner, Mike Slive, that his efforts through the 12th Man Foundation to improve A&M's facilities had positioned Texas A&M to be the perfect fit for membership in the SEC. Marks went on to be one of three signers of the Texas A&M – SEC agreement.
Beyond his stellar campaign at Texas A&M, Marks has served on several national committees including the Athletic Ambassadors of the 12th Man Foundation – Texas A&M, Texas A&M University System Chancellor's Century Council, Houston Furniture Bank Board of Directors, and The AD Players Board of Directors. Today he is a Managing Director of Avalon Investment & Advisory in Houston.
Fund Raiser of the Year
Folan has served as the senior associate director of athletics, development and alumni relations for the Penn Champions Club, the fundraising arm for the University of Pennsylvania athletics, during the past three fiscal years. He arrived at Penn in 2014 as the Director of Annual Giving/Major Gift Officer and was later promoted to the Director of Major gifts. In his current role, Folan oversees all athletic fundraising and alumni relations activities, which includes all 19 varsity annual funds, club sports and recreation annual funds, unrestricted annual funds, as well as all endowment, capital and planned giving efforts on behalf of Penn Athletics. Folan is also charged with overseeing the Game Onward Campaign for the Future of Penn Athletics.
Folan led a team that raised a record $63.4 million in commitments to Penn Athletics during the 2019 fiscal year and accumulated a record breaking 6,000+ donors to the Penn Champions Club. The previous annual fundraising record was $23.4 million in the 2017 fiscal year, also under Folan, making last year's total even more impressive. Under Folan's guidance, Penn Athletics surpassed the $150 million overall campaign goal and finished the year with $157 million in total commitments – two years before the campaign is scheduled to conclude. Individually, Folan raised over $39 million of the $63.4 million. Some of his highlights include closing many seven-figure gifts: a $20 million gift in support of a capital project, a $10 million gift in support of a capital project, a $5 million endowment gift to name the director of athletics and recreation position, a $1.15 million gift for annual and endowment support, and a $1 million gift for a capital project. The $20 million gift was the largest in the history of Penn athletics and the $10 million gift is tied for the second largest gift in Penn athletics history.
Folan has made a significant impact on the University of Pennsylvania, and specifically Penn athletics, since his arrival in 2014. He has led a team of fundraising professionals to new heights and made strong relationships with colleagues across campus. The Penn athletics funding model is reliant on fundraising direct costs to provide an unrivaled student-athlete experience, so Folan's leadership in this area is directly tied to the experience that student-athletes have while at Penn. His continued involvement with NAADD has helped Folan grow tremendously in the profession, as he has taken advantage of all that NAADD has to offer, and to have that growth manifested through the ultimate fundraising award is a tribute to Folan's commitment to the organization.
Rising Star Award
Phelps, a former men's basketball student-athlete and Honors College graduate at Texas A&M University-Commerce (2014), epitomizes the term "institutional fit". Phelps is in his third year as associate director of athletics, resource development at Texas A&M University-Commerce. He oversees the Lion Champions Fund (philanthropic giving – including major gifts, annual giving, endowments, and former letter-winners' association), Lion Sports Properties (corporate partnerships), and ticket sales. His primary focus is identifying and engaging alumni and friends who wish to provide a "Best in Class" experience for Lion student-athletes.
Phelps has continued to lead the remarkable growth of not only the Lion Champions Fund (annual fund for athletics), but also all external revenue streams across the department. His efforts produced overall external revenue of $801,962 in actual cash revenues (this number does not include gift in kind or planned to give). Overall external revenue has quadrupled in a three-year window, and philanthropic giving is six times where it was just three years ago. Philanthropic cash giving alone was over $414,200 in the 2019 fiscal year. That number was just under $69,000 three years ago. In addition, Phelps also led TAMUC's Night with Champions event – a silent and live auction – that generated over $99,500 in cash to directly support summer school scholarships and nutrition initiatives for TAMUC's 444 student-athletes.
A major reason for the philanthropic success under Phelps, is his gift for cultivating relationships on campus with alumni relations, advancement services, the President's office, and various vice presidents and deans throughout campus. Phelps is a 'go to' person for not only TAMUC's athletics department, but also in his joint appointment in the Institutional Advancement division. Phelps is valued for his performance, perspective and personal core values.
The award recipients will be honored Monday, June 8 before the NAADD General Sessions, held in conjunction with the 27th Annual NAADD Convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.
About NAADD: 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 fund raising. For more information about NAADD, please visit www.naadd.com. NAADD is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 55th year. For more information on NACDA and the 17 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.nacda.com.
