Staff Directory
- Title:
- Deputy Athletics Director for External Operations
- Email:
- Phone:
- 737-3969
Zack Lassiter oversees all external units, including marketing, communications, ticket sales, and ideation as well as partnerships with Beaver Sports Properties, Nike, and the Pac-12 Network. Lassiter also serves as the sports supervisor for men's basketball and women's soccer.
Under his leadership as Oregon State University's Deputy Athletic Director for External Operations since July 2015, OSU has created the nation's first in-house advertising and creative agency in intercollegiate sports. This innovative approach has increased awareness of the Beavers’ brand across multi-social media platforms and led to the development of new marketing and ticketing programs that resulted in OSU being one of only two Division I programs in 2016-17 to sellout a home game in football, baseball and both men's and women's basketball.
He has fostered new partnerships between the academic and athletics departments at OSU, and the greater Corvallis and Portland area business community. The results have included featuring local breweries, wineries and eateries (often owned by OSU alums) at football games (The Terrace at Reser Stadium) -- and the launching of the Dam City Showcase (football/baseball doubleheader) in the Portland metro area and the Dam City Classic men's basketball tournament at Moda Center.
Lassiter also led the successful bid by OSU and its Portland and Corvallis partners to bring five future NCAA Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball and Gymnastics championships to Portland and Corvallis.
At the national level, he is currently a member of the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Committee and NCAA Women's Basketball Advancement Committee. He has served on the National Association of College Marketing Administrators (NACMA) Board of Directors (2012-16), co-founded the NACMA Veterans Summit and was a member of the Sports Management Institute Class of 2012.
Lassiter came to OSU from the University of Central Florida where he served three years as a member of the athletics executive management team overseeing brand management, ticket sales and operations, marketing, promotions, communications, licensing and merchandizing. Under his leadership, ticket sales increased by 25 percent and UCF was recognized as the top athletic department in the country for customer service.
From 2005 to early 2012, he held several positions at the University of Utah and was part of the team that helped transition the Utes from the Mountain West Conference to the PAC-12 Conference. He started as the director of ticket sales and was associate athletic director for revenue generation when he left for UCF.
Lassiter began his professional career as an assistant ticket manager at the University of North Carolina from 2001-03. He transitioned to a similar role at Louisiana State University for two years.
Along the way, he has been on the administrative teams for football teams that have won three BCS Bowl games -- 2004 National Championship (LSU), 2009 Sugar Bowl (Utah) and 2014 Fiesta Bowl (UCF).
Lassiter holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from Willamette University in Salem, Ore. (1998), and a master's degree in sports administration from the University of North Carolina (2002).
Zack and his wife Rachel (Melchiorre) have two sons, Luke and Logan.
