Feb. 11, 2012

TEMPE, Ariz. - Arizona State University alumnus Rocky Harris has been named as the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Communications for Sun Devil Athletics, Chief Operating Officer (Athletics) Steve Patterson announced Wednesday.

Harris will be in charge of the strategic planning and execution of all internal and external sports and business communications for Sun Devil Athletics and the Sun Devil Club.

Harris comes to ASU after serving as senior vice president of Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo. In his tenure with the Dynamo, Harris helped initiate a $110 million stadium project in downtown Houston, and assisted in doubling the season ticket base and sponsorship revenue. He also managed the MLS All-Star game communications, marketing and sales plan that resulted in the fourth-highest attended all-star game across all sports in United States history.

Before the Dynamo, Harris was the Director of Sports and Marketing Sponsorships at Reliant Energy, where he oversaw the largest naming rights deal in the National Football League and helped create the Reliant Energy Scholarship for Champions. He also was a member of the Houston World Cup Host Committee, Super Bowl XXXVIII Host Committee, as well as an NFL Media Representative for Super Bowls XXXVII, XXXVIII, and XXXIX. Harris' other work on the professional sports level includes the Director of Media Relations with the Houston Texans and the Media Relations Coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers. Prior to joining the NFL, Harris worked at a web-marketing agency in San Francisco, Calif. and a sports marketing agency in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Alongside his business initiatives, Harris helped create the foundation "Dynamo Charities," and serves on the Board of Trustees for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which recognized him as the 2010 Houston Man of the Year. He has also been awarded the 2011 Houston Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award, the 2010 Major League Soccer Marketing Executive of the Year Award and the Pete Rozelle Award for overseeing the NFL's top public relations staff.

Harris received his master's degree in sports management from the University of San Francisco where he graduated summa cum laude and earned the 2002 Directors Award for being the top graduate student in the program.

Prior to USF, Harris earned his bachelor's degree in communications from Arizona State University. Both his mother and father earned their bachelor's and master's degrees from ASU, and his mother was also a professor on the Polytechnic campus.

Harris and his wife Elizabeth have a daughter, Hope (18 months).