Dr. Mark A. Emmert became the fifth president of the NCAA in October 2010. Prior to assuming his current role, Emmert had been president at his alma mater, University of Washington, since 2004 where he led the university to its standing as second among all public and private institutions in research funding with $1 billion in grants and contracts per year. Before returning to his alma mater, Emmert was chancellor at Louisiana State University from 1999 to 2004.
Among his administrative appointments in higher education, Emmert was chief operating and academic officer at the University of Connecticut (1995 to 1999), provost and vice-president for academic affairs at Montana State University (1992 to 1995), and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Colorado (1985 to1992).
Emmert is a member of the Higher Education Working Group on Global Issues as part of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the former chair of the Executive Group of the Worldwide Universities Network, and served on the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board.
He was a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow, an American Council on Education Fellow, and a J. W. Fulbright Administrative Fellow. He has written extensively on higher education and public administration over a career that spans the last 30 years.
A Washington native, Emmert earned his bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of Washington and has both a master’s degree and a Ph.D in public administration from Syracuse University.
Emmert and his wife, DeLaine, have two adult children, Jennifer and Stephen.
