MADISON, Wis. — Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard and two-time NBA All-Star Michael Finley are part of the nine-person search committee to help select Wisconsin’s next athletic director.
Wisconsin announced the committee members Monday. Incoming Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots is leading the search process because Jennifer Mnookin’s tenure as chancellor will end Saturday ahead of her taking over as Columbia University’s president on July 1.
Marcus Sedberry is serving as Wisconsin’s interim athletic director while the school looks for a permanent successor to Chris McIntosh, who stepped down last month to accept a newly created position as the Big Ten’s deputy commissioner for strategy. Sedberry had been Wisconsin’s deputy athletic director/chief operating officer before accepting this assignment.
Ballard graduated from Wisconsin in 1993 and was a member of the Badgers football team. Finley, who had been serving as an interim co-general manager for the Dallas Mavericks this season, played for Wisconsin from 1991-95.
The search committee is being chaired by Lauren Bishop, an associate professor of social work at Wisconsin who is one of the school’s faculty athletic representatives to the Big Ten and NCAA. Bishop is a former collegiate rower at Duke.
Other committee members are Rob Cramer, Meghan Duggan, Elzie Higginbottom, Marija Pientka, Michael Shannon and William Smith.
Cramer is a vice chancellor for finance and administration. Duggan, a former Wisconsin hockey player, is a director of player development for the New Jersey Devils. Higginbottom, a former Wisconsin track and field athlete, is president of the East Lake Management & Development Corp. Pientka played tennis at Wisconsin and currently is a senior associate athletic director for sports administration. Shannon is a co-founder and former chairman/CEO of KSL Capital Partners. Smith plays soccer at Wisconsin and is a president/chair of the student-athlete advisory committee.
CSA Search and Consulting is assisting in this process.
