Episode 24_Mike Penner

Mike Penner has been a member of The Ohio State University’s athletic department’s leadership team for the last 14 years providing strategic direction and oversight for the 36-sport athletic department with more than 1,000 student-athletes and 1,700 full and part-time employees. He was promoted to Executive Associate Athletic Director in June 2018 and currently serves as the lead administrator for the department’s facility operations, capital projects and athletic district development; event management and championships; technology, and audio services; and, the sport athletic director for men’s and women’s tennis teams. In his time at Ohio State, Penner has provided oversight of fan experience and promotions, creative services, the OSU Golf Club, and camps staffs; and provided leadership for more than $200 million of capital projects; has hosted more than 100 NCAA championships and more than 40 Conference championships; and has managed more than 125 events in the 100,000-seat Ohio Stadium. Penner is a former President of the Collegiate Event and Facility Management Association (CEFMA) and was selected as the inaugural CEFMA/GameDay Consulting Event & Facility Manager of the Year award recipient. He has taught classes in Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business in the Sport Management program and has given dozens of presentations on various event topics at national and regional conferences and local universities. He has worked at the NCAA Hoop City, OHSAA Tournaments for track, tennis, basketball, softball and wrestling, the Special Olympics State Summer Games and the Major League Baseball All-Star Fan Fest. A 1997 sport management graduate of the University of Dayton, Penner earned his master’s degree from The Ohio State University in 1999. He then began his career at Ohio State in July 1999 with the Department of Recreational Sports where he served as the intramural coordinator. He moved to the Department of Athletics in 2001 as the assistant director of event management and then was promoted to event management director in 2003, assistant athletics director in 2006, associate athletics director in 2009 and is now the Executive Associate Athletics Director for Internal Operations. The Cleveland native now resides in Upper Arlington, Ohio with his wife Stephanie, daughter Kaylie (7) and son Zachary (5).