GREENVILLE, S.C. – Zach Barnett has joined Furman University's athletic department as assistant athletics director for development, it has been announced by Erin Wissing, senior associate athletics director/executive director of athletics development.
Barnett comes to Furman from the University of Missouri, where he served as director of athletics development in 2022. In his brief stint in Columbia, he closed $15,829,622 in new gifts to the Tigers Scholarship Fund that supported the Mizzou Arena Renovation Project, Softball Facility Enhancement, Gymnastics and Football/Men's Basketball Giving Societies. He also assisted in increasing football attendance by 21 percent and men's basketball attendance by 30 percent. In addition, he helped develop educational resources for major gift officers in their task of cultivating revenue for philanthropic giving.
In his role with Furman, Barnett's primary responsibilities will include oversight of the day-to-day operations, annual giving strategy, communications, and events for the Furman Athletics Fund.
"We could not be more thrilled to welcome Zach to our team," said Wissing. "Zach brings a diverse range of experience and has a skill set that will allow him to quickly impact our fundraising operation. As a former SoCon student-athlete; Zach is very familiar with Furman; he understands our values, and is simply an excellent fit for this role. We are honored to have Zach join the Furman Family."
Prior to his stop at Missouri, he served as an account manager with Opendorse, Inc., where he oversaw 50-plus Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) partner relationships and helped to grow engagement across all platforms, while also focusing on NIL staff, coach, donor, and student-athlete education.
From Jan. 2020 thru Sept. of 2021 he held the position of client success manager with Uniglobe Travel Partners in Atlanta, Ga., overseeing operations and coordinating and implementing all marketing efforts, including social media, InMail marketing, and digital advertising. During that span he also volunteered his time as a football player development coach at Clark Atlanta University.
Barnett served as senior director of operations at Truett's Chick-fil-A Newnan in 2018-19.
His move into the business world followed two-plus years as a graduate assistant at the University of Arkansas, where he assisted the associate athletic director of event management and assistant athletic director of development. While in Fayetteville he cultivated and solicited donors while recording capital gift proposals ranging from $25,000 - $1M; managed construction/traffic signage and traffic flow strategy for the North Endzone Project and assisted with corporate employer relations for student-athlete development.
He served as a football operations intern at the University of Georgia from Feb. 2015 thru Jan. 2016, an experience that included, among other duties, preparing travel plan logistics for home, away, and bowl games and managing official and unofficial recruiting events and visits on campus for prospective student-athletes.
Barnett, a 2015 graduate of Samford with a degree in sports administration, was a walk-on member of the Bulldogs' football program for three years prior to earning a scholarship as a senior. He was a member of Samford's 2013 Southern Conference co-championship (shared with Furman).
He holds a master's degree in sports administration from Arkansas.
