Colleen Sorem was named the Interim Barry P. Gossett Director of Athletics on March 21, 2025. Prior to that she served as Maryland Athletics' Sr. Deputy Athletic Director/Chief Operating Officer. She added the role of COO in July 2023 after being named the University of Maryland’s Deputy Athletic Director on July 30, 2018. She is in her 10th year at Maryland in 2024-25.
Sorem supervises the football and women’s basketball programs at Maryland. She is responsible for implementing new strategies for internal and external initiatives, including revenue generation, contract negotiations, football scheduling, creating operating efficiencies, enhancing the student-athlete experience and ensuring continued acclimation into the Big Ten Conference. She developed and implemented a new financial model which allows the athletic department to operate with long-term financial stability. In addition, Sorem assisted with the oversight and construction management of the $196M New Cole Field House project, including Jones-Hill House.
In the spring of 2025, Sorem was appointed to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee.
Sorem previously was the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations where she had direct oversight of the following units: business operations, facilities, events and operations, human resources, and information technology.
She played a key role in the negotiation and execution of a new multimedia rights agreement which represented an increase of more than $30 million from the previous contract. She also used creative financing solutions to fund $5M in technology enhancements at XFINITY Center (including WIFI and stadium vision), a baseball turf ($2.5M) and a new volleyball ($1M) locker room.
Sorem served as the Associate Athletic Director for Business Operations from 2014-2016. In addition to managing the business office staff, her responsibilities ranged from coordinating the implementation and management of the budget, creating comprehensive financial reports and oversight of financial policies and procedure
Prior to Maryland, Sorem was the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Finance and Operations at Towson University, where she created and administered the departmental budget and had direct supervision of the business office, facilities and equipment operations, sports medicine, strength & conditioning and the volleyball and women's lacrosse programs. She also renegotiated the apparel contract with Under Armour and served as the department's liaison for the softball complex renovation, Towson Center locker room renovations and the 5,500 seat SECU Arena.
Prior to working at Towson, Sorem spent four years at Florida Gulf Coast University, serving as Assistant Athletics Director and then Associate Athletics Director for Business Operations. In her role, she directed supervision of FGCU’s business office operations while managing and coordinating travel for a 15-sport program that competed in the Atlantic-Sun Conference. She served as the sport administrator for the men’s soccer and softball programs.
Sorem joined the FGCU staff in 2008 after six years at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. She first joined the UML staff as the Coordinator of Intramurals and Facilities. Two years later, she transitioned to the Events and Business Operations manager for the River Hawks. Sorem was then promoted to Assistant Athletics Director for Business Operations in her final year and was the sport administrator for the baseball, softball, men’s golf, and men’s soccer programs.
Sorem graduated from James Madison University in 2000 with a bachelor of science in Kinesiology and a minor in business, before obtaining her masters in sports administration at the University of Alabama in 2002. She is a native of Manassas, Virginia.
Updated March 21, 2025
