Bio

Zach Schwan joined SUNY Adirondack in April of 2019 as the Director of Athletics.  He is responsible for the oversight and management of eight athletic programs including its coaches, athletes, and department staff. A native of Ithaca, NY, Schwan moved to the region during high school in pursuit of his athletic aspirations and graduated from Shenendehowa High School. After a year in Iowa with the Des Moines Buccaneers hockey club, he would attend Clarkson University where he earned his bachelor’s degree and was a member of the men’s division I ice hockey program. 

Upon graduation, he moved to Boston where he spent time working in various administrative roles in education and health services at Sylvan Learning, Harvard University, and Health Solution Services.  Seeking a career in collegiate athletics, he began his journey by earning a M.S. in Sport Management from Northern Illinois University, while working full-time in the marketing and sales department within Northwestern University Athletics Department in Chicago.

In an effort to continue the development of his professional skill set and experience, Schwan accepted a position as a major gift officer for athletics in Cornell University’s Athletics Department back in his hometown of Ithaca.  Feeling the pull of the Capital District and the desire to be closer to family and friends, he next worked as the associate director of major gifts for athletics at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs where he would be until joining the SUNY Adirondack community.   

“In many ways I have dedicated much of my personal and professional life to athletics.  This commitment is not as a fan, but rather as someone who believes in the power athletics plays in the development of an individual as well as the positive effect it can have within an organization and community. If harnessed, athletics will not only perform its main objective, which is to compliment the academic agenda, but to further enhance the scope of impact and exposure it can have for the entire Adirondack campus.” 

Along with being an avid golfer, skier, and outdoorsman, Zach has a wanderlust for exploration having visited over 30 national and state parks and traveled abroad to 22 countries. He is married to Courtney, an elementary school teacher in the Niskayuna School District and is the proud father to his son, Colton and daughter, Clara.