Staff Directory

Dan Bartholomae

Title:
Vice President/Director of Athletics
Email:
Phone:
355-1623

Dan Bartholomae was announced as Michigan State Vice President and Director of Athletics on August 17, 2026, officially becoming the 22nd director of athletics in Michigan State history. Bartholomae arrives in East Lansing after four years as the vice president and director of athletics at Western Michigan University.

In more than four years at Western Michigan, Bartholomae guided Bronco Athletics to significant success, including multiple record-setting years in academic performance and community engagement, winning conference and national championships, and exceptional fundraising and external revenue growth. In 2026, he was named a finalist for the Sports Business Journal 2026 Athletic Director of the Year.

Western Michigan won 37 conference championships under Bartholomae’s leadership, while also totaling 35 NCAA postseason appearances, 17 All-Americans and 38 conference of the year/specialty award recipients. The highlight was men’s ice hockey capturing the 2025 NCAA Championship for the first time in school history and the first WMU National Championship in 60 years. That extraordinary accomplishment was immediately followed by only the 4th Conference Football Championship at WMU, making them only the third institution in Division I history to win a national championship in hockey and a Football Bowl Subdivision Conference Championship in the same calendar year.

In addition to Bartholomae’s leadership skills and strong fundraising success, Michigan State Unviersity President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D. also mentioned his experience building new facilities at Oregon State University and WMU, a focus on student-athlete personal growth and previous experience in athletics compliance that bring important skill sets to the top job at MSU.

Since his arrival in Kalamazoo, Bartholomae led record-breaking fundraising efforts for the department. Average annual giving has increased by 473%, and the number of unique donors has increased by 105%.

In 2024, WMU partnered with a local developer to begin construction on a $515 million downtown arena to serve as the home for Bronco basketball and hockey, funded completely through private resources.

Prior to his arrival in Kalamazoo, Bartholomae spent five years as the deputy athletic director at Oregon State in charge of capital projects and internal operations and was later promoted to executive deputy athletic director and chief operating officer. While at OSU, he led the Completing Reser Stadium project, supporting a $153 million stadium renovation.

Before Oregon State, Bartholomae gained a wide range of experience at the University of Pittsburgh. He started in 2002 as a compliance and game operations assistant and concluded his 15-year stint with the department as the deputy AD responsible for internal affairs.

Bartholomae holds a bachelor’s degree in policy analysis and public affairs from Indiana University and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. He and his wife, Lauren, have two children, Dylan and Lily.