Maryland Names Senior Associate Athletics Director For Business & Finance
8/30/2002 8:00:00 AM | Terrapin Athletics
Aug. 30, 2002
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - University of Maryland has announced the hiring of Larry Leckonby as its Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Business & Finance (Chief Financial Officer). Leckonby, currently the senior associate director of athletics at the University of Houston, will manage the department's annual budget and long-range financial forecasting.
"We are fortunate to hire such an experienced and successful Division I-A athletics professional as Larry Leckonby," said Deborah Yow, currently in her ninth year as the university's director of athletics. "Larry is familiar with the ACC and the East Coast, and has a proven track record of success over 20 years, serving as the chief financial officer at Houston, Boston College and Old Dominion."
Leckonby, who will oversee Maryland's $38 million annual operating budget, has been at Houston for the past four-and-a-half years. He was appointed as the senior associate A.D. in February 1998, with responsibility for the daily administration of the athletics department and specific areas of duty involving finance, planning, fund-raising and marketing. He also served as interim athletics director for six months in 2001 and 2002.
He will oversee the business operations and advise on financing for facilities enhancements, while focusing on keeping the department fiscally solvent through creative revenue opportunities and various cost containment initiatives.
"I'm excited to join such a great staff at such a great university," said Leckonby. "It's a wonderful opportunity to become a part of the Atlantic Coast Conference and join a Maryland program which has so much going for it right now. With the new arena and so much success in so many sports, it is an exciting atmosphere at Maryland."
Prior to his arrival at Houston in January 1998, Leckonby served as the associate A.D. for business affairs at Boston College for four-and-a-half years (1993-98), and the assistant A.D. for finance and operations at Old Dominion for five years (1988-93). He was the ticket manager and assistant business manager at Boston University from 1982 to 1988, after beginning his athletics business career at the University of Massachusetts where he was an administrative assistant to the business manager beginning in 1981.
A former lacrosse player at Duke University, he graduated from the Durham, N.C., campus with a bachelor's degree in management science in 1979. He earned a master's degree in sport management from Massachusetts in 1983.
Leckonby is an active member of the College Athletic Business Managers Association. Besides serving on numerous finance and planning committees during his career, he also has helped direct several NCAA and conference championships including NCAA Baseball Super Regional events in 1999, 2000 and 2002.
He and his wife, Cris, have two daughters, Hunter and Katie, and a son, Liam. He begins his work at Maryland on September 16.
