ST. PAUL, Minn.— The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) has named Mark Becker as its next Commissioner. Becker joins the UMAC from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) in Los Angeles, where he spent four years as Associate Commissioner after progressing from Director of Sports Information to Senior Compliance Officer and Assistant Athletic Director for Internal Operations and External Affairs at SCIAC member institution Caltech.
Becker served as Chair of the NCAA DIII Financial Aid Committee for the past two years and recently concluded a term as Chair of the DIII Assistant Commissioners group. He has also spent time on the NADIIIA Communications Committee, the DIIIACG Strategic Communications committee and the NCAA leadership program selection committee. He has previously served on the DIII/USA Water Polo inaugural championship committee, the West Region Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) representative for men's tennis and men's soccer, and College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Core and Publications committees.
“The UMAC is a fantastic collection of institutions with a bold vision and sincere commitment to the best of what Division III athletics can offer,” said Becker. “I am very appreciative of Bethany Lutheran President Gene Pfeifer and the Council of Presidents and Chancellors for trusting me to lead their conference. I also want to thank the University of Wisconsin-Superior Director of Athletics Nick Bursik and the search committee as well as Dr. Kurt Patberg and Mammoth Consulting for facilitating the process. This is a pivotal time across higher education and I could not be more excited to navigate it with the UMAC.”
"We are very excited for Mark to join the UMAC," said the University of Minnesota Morris Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Chair of the UMAC Athletic Directors, Matt Johnson. "During the course of our commissioner search his application materials quickly helped him ascend to the top of our list of candidates, but it was in actually speaking to Mark that we were able to envision the full extent of his impact to our league. His knowledge of the landscape of NCAA DIII athletics, coupled with his proven commitment to enhancing student-athlete experiences made him the ideal candidate to lead the UMAC into the future."
Becker graduated from Fordham University with a degree in communications and business administration and holds master’s degrees in sports administration from St. John’s University and organizational leadership from Gonzaga University. He is conducting a doctoral study into small-college athletics staff professional development and has taught undergraduate courses in business, physical education and sports management.
The search was supported by Mammoth Consulting. Becker will start with the UMAC on July 13.
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The UMAC is an NCAA Division III member comprised of seven full-time member schools from Minnesota and Wisconsin: Bethany Lutheran College, Crown College, Martin Luther College, North Central University, University of Minnesota Morris, University of Northwestern, and University of Wisconsin-Superior.