Join the BCAMC for our monthly luncheon, featuring Texas A&M Athletic Director, Ross Bjork!
- Doors open at 11:30 am
- Lunch buffet will open prior to Noon
Free parking is available in the hotel garage.
Ross Bjork Bio:
Ross Bjork began his position as Director of Athletics on July 8, 2019 and wasted little time to make his mark in Aggieland.
Bjork hit the ground running by meeting with as many Aggies as possible and creating relationships across the University community with students, former students, university leaders, and building partnerships within Bryan-College Station and beyond. When faced with the challenge of COVID-19, Bjork was a pioneer and leader in the profession as he helped navigate Texas A&M, the SEC and the NCAA through the return to play from the pandemic. With his open line of communication and commitment to student-athlete safety, Texas A&M Athletics was able to provide a full student-athlete experience in 2020-21.
Despite all of the hardships brought on by the pandemic, Texas A&M Athletics has sustained the greatest academic performance in school history. Student-athletes currently boast a 3.07 cumulative GPA, and for the 2020-21 academic year, Aggie Athletics recorded the highest-ever cumulative GPA and second highest spring semester GPA. Additionally, 65 student-athletes secured a 4.0 GPA and 12 teams registered a 3.0 or better GPA. The Aggies placed 24 student-athletes on the Dean’s Honor Roll, tallied 23 Distinguished Students and placed 356 on the AD Honor Roll.
Under Bjork, the Aggies have experienced tremendous success on the playing field. The 2020 edition of the football team posted a victory in the Capital One Orange Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 4, which was the program’s highest final ranking since 1939. Texas A&M tallied two SEC Championships in 2020-21 with the women’s basketball winning its first SEC regular season crown and soccer claiming its sixth SEC regular season or tournament title since joining the elite league. The women’s track and field team earned NCAA runner-up finishes at the indoor and outdoor national meets, while top 10 national finishes were accomplished by women’s basketball, equestrian, soccer, men’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis and men’s track and field.
Bjork has a track record of hiring great coaches and the trend continued in June of 2021 as he welcomed head coaches Jim Schlossnagle, Gerrod Chadwell and Brian Kortan to Bryan-College Station. A two-time National Coach of the Year, Schlossnagle was named the 20th head coach in Texas A&M baseball history after taking five teams to the College World Series since 2010. A three-time American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, Chadwell was chosen to lead the Aggies' women's golf program while Kortan takes over the men’s golf program following a successful year as the interim head coach.
He and his team launched a successful Change.org campaign following several injustices that occurred around the country in the summer of 2020. The Unify Aggies campaign centered around education on the history of our country, injustices and current events; and engaging in a healthy dialogue in our communities. From there, Texas A&M athletics launched The Aggie Commitment and student-athletes created The B.L.U.E.print - Black Leaders who Undertake Excellence. The Aggie Commitment and B.L.U.E.print initiatives will aim to make significant progress toward providing new opportunities for personal and professional growth and development for student-athletes and staff. It will celebrate and honor Black History at Texas A&M and continue to provide student-athletes with an unparalleled experience, all while being a change agent in the fight against injustice.
Bjork provided input and guidance to leadership in the Texas legislature as they developed a comprehensive Name, Image, Likeness law in the spring of 2021. He then oversaw the creation and implementation of AMPLIFY, which will enhance Texas A&M’s commitment to its student-athletes via an innovative and comprehensive Name, Image and Likeness program designed to equip Aggie student-athletes with tools and training to maximize their brand and platform. AMPLIFY will serve Texas A&M student-athletes with best-in-class education and resources related to personal branding, networking, finance, media training and more.
Bjork’s leadership extends outside of Aggieland and onto a national scale. He currently serves on the NCAA Student-Athlete Experience Committee and just completed a stint on the NCAA DI Working Group on Transfers.
He came to Aggieland from the University of Mississippi, where he served as the Director of Athletics for seven years and was the youngest AD among the Power 5 conferences when hired. There, he oversaw a department with a staff of over 250 employees. During his tenure at Ole Miss, revenue generated within Athletics more than doubled, from $57 million to $117 million.
His many achievements include back-to-back Top 40 Directors' Cup finishes, ranked 39th in 2016-17 among Division 1 institutions, and 38th in 2017-18, as well as the university's first appearance in the College World Series in 42 years in 2014. New facilities and renovation improvements flourished under his leadership including the Manning Center, Baseball Performance Center, Gillom Performance Center, new outdoor track, indoor tennis complex, the Pavilion at Ole Miss and a large renovation at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
Bjork arrived in Oxford after a stint as Director of Athletics at Western Kentucky University where he quickly established an atmosphere of success. The youngest athletics director of the 120 NCAA FBS programs when hired at WKU, Bjork has an extensive career in intercollegiate athletics with more than two decades of experience as an administrator and student-athlete, having worked on the senior staffs at UCLA, the University of Miami and the University of Missouri. He began his administrative career at WKU as an Assistant Development Coordinator in 1996-97.
Bjork is a native of Dodge City, Kansas, and received his bachelor’s degree in recreation administration from Emporia State University in 1995 where he was a two-year starter at fullback. Bjork was honored by Emporia State with the 2017 distinguished alumni award. He earned a master’s degree in athletic administration from Western Illinois University in December 1996. Bjork has served in numerous leadership roles around college athletics during his career including NAADD President in 2006-07, NACDA Executive Committee, SEC awards committee chair, NCAA men's basketball oversight committee and the NCAA transfer working group.
