Dex Blank

Dex Blank was promoted to Assistant Athletics Director in February of 2023. He was hired by the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation in June of 2021 as an Assistant Athletic Development Officer and was then promoted to Director of Athletic Development in June of 2022. Blank is the sport administrator for the co-ed and women's sailing teams and men's and women's golf teams.
 
In his current position Blank serves in a leadership role on the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation team; managing annual giving efforts, serving as a major gift officer, and serving as the ODAF’s liaison on the ODU Athletics external team. In addition, he serves as the ODAF’s primary point of contact for the ODU Athletics ticket office that is managed by Oak View Group at Chartway Arena.
 
Blank comes to Old Dominion with a strong background of college athletics experience at the Power Five, Group of Five, and FCS level in annual giving, major gifts and premium sales at Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina and Elon. Additionally, he began his career in intercollegiate athletics by completing internships at two ACC schools, Duke and UNC, in the athletics administrative offices.
 
Since arriving at ODU, Blank has helped the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation reach new heights as the team set records in 2022 for fundraising totals ($18.1M) and cash raised ($13M). Furthermore, the ODAF raised $4.25M in annual giving (combination of restricted & unrestricted gifts) in 2022 under his management, this was a 25% increase from 2021 and their donor base grew by 20% in the same year. Notably, Blank introduced crowdfunding as a new online fundraising tool for the ODAF, which made a major impact for their sport-specific fundraising, bringing in $200,000+ in new money and more than 500 new donors in the first year. Along with these team accomplishments, he has also raised significant contributions in support of two major facility renovation projects: Bud Metheny Ballpark at the Ellmer Family Baseball Complex ($20M project), and the ODU Football locker room at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex ($4.3M project).
 
Prior to Old Dominion, Blank served as a Development Executive at the University of Oklahoma, where he raised considerable contributions for the Sooner Club in support of their new OU Softball Complex, improvements and additions to the OU Football Complex and the Switzer Center, and the advancement of their Inspiring Champions Fund to improve their departmental operations and the overall student-athlete experience. He was a part of the team that sold out all the premium seating areas for the first time since renovating Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Before Oklahoma, Blank held several positions in the Athletics Development office at Ohio University, working in annual giving for the Ohio Bobcat Club. He came to Ohio after serving as a Development Assistant for the Gamecock Club at the University of South Carolina.
 
Blank earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from Elon University, where he was a four-year letter winner in men’s golf. He went on to earn his Master of Sports Administration and Master of Business Administration degrees from Ohio University.