Good evening, all -
I wanted to take a few minutes and introduce myself. I’m Jeff Mason, the incoming Associate AD for Annual Fund & Premium Seating. As JLCoog noted, I’m winding down my time at Southern Miss as the Associate AD for Revenue Generation where I oversee the Golden Eagles’ annual fund and ticketing teams.
About a year ago, I joined the Southern Miss 247 board after a very engaged donor shared that the board had a really active group who would be keen on hearing some updates on a few pieces. The plan was to stick around for the one month free trial but it ended up being a great way to engage a group of fans, push updates out, and solicit feedback. With that, I thought it was only appropriate to introduce myself on the Houston 247 board and wanted to do the same here. I did quite a bit of scrolling here as I was researching the opportunity to join UH.
I’m finishing my time at Southern Miss this week and I’ll be in the office starting on Monday, August 11.
A quick background: I’ve been at Southern Miss about fifteen months. I oversee (oversaw?) the daily operations for our annual fund and the entire ticket office but also had the luxury of playing a part in almost all external units. That was largely because of my background. Before Hattiesburg, I spent ten years at my alma mater – Central Missouri, a Division II program about an hour east of Kansas City. Across my ten years, I went from a graduate assistant with a full head of hair to a bald Associate AD for External. That meant I oversaw all revenue generation and anything fan facing: sponsorship, fundraising, communications, creative content, etc.
The Division II to Division I transition was great – Gave me a chance to scale what I had been doing. Frankly, I’ve been kicking myself for not making the move sooner. The Coogs don’t get stronger by repping the same weight over and over – They have to add, challenge themselves, and grow from it. I’m grateful to have done that at Southern Miss and I’m eager to do so at Houston.
Edit to add: The photo in the tweet when I shared the news is pretty apt. Houston is a big family move for us. My saint of a wife is a career pediatric nurse and took a totally different gig when we moved to Hattiesburg so I could make a big professional move. As the move to Houston became more and more of a possibility, we were all in. A big part of that being the professional upside for my wife – who will be starting at Texas Children’s. A great career move for me, a great career move for her, and a city where our little boy can grow up – that’s a winner of a move.
TLDR: I’m grateful to be joining the UH team. Excited to work with the Cougar Pride squad. Counting down the hours to fall sports starting again. See you all soon. Go Coogs!