President Berger-Sweeney Appoints New Athletic Director

BRENDAN HORAN ’21
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Former senior associate athletic director of Dartmouth College Drew Galbraith will be assuming the title of Trinity College Athletic Director, starting this January. Galbraith’s new position also includes the title of Chair of Physical Education. According to an announcement from President Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Galbraith has worked in athletics at Dartmouth since 2004, including spending the last 6 years as the executive director of Dartmouth Peak Performance, “a program that integrates services and resources to help student-athletes achieve excellence.” In addition, he had several other roles at Dartmouth. These included being a sports administrator to over a dozen varsity teams over the years, most recently football, as well as acting as a liaison between student athletes and health professionals.
According to his Dartmouth profile, Galbraith served on the NCAA Skiing Committee for 6 years, and is currently a member of the NCAA Administration Cabinet. He also served as chair of the NCAA Division I Soccer Committee from 2014-2016.
Galbraith earned his bachelor’s and law degrees from the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Before arriving at Dartmouth, he worked in media relations/broadcasting and compliance, at William and Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Nebraska Omaha.
In 2016, he was named to the Hudl 100: Key Players in Sports and Technology for “educat[ing] the sports community about progressive professional development techniques.”
In describing to the Tripod why he decided to come to Trinity, Galbraith said:
“Trinity is an outstanding liberal arts institution with a clear mission. We have the opportunity to capitalize on the great foundation in place at Trinity and create a model Division III athletic program. That encompasses not just our varsity programs, but the club, PE and recreational offerings. The Athletic Department can reach almost every student on campus and we should capitalize on those educational moments.”
Additionally, when asked about his plans for the athletic department, he stated:
“Once I arrive on campus, we will start a planning process to set goals for the department that support the institutional mission and allow our students, coaches and staff to achieve on and off the field.”
Galbraith succeeds Michael Renwick, who stepped down as athletic director over the summer after serving the college since 2010. In the meantime, Kristen Noone has been the interim director of the athletic department, whose leadership was praised by Berger-Sweeney as “steadfast”.
The nationwide search for a new athletic director was conducted by the executive recruitment firm Witt/Kieffer. Galbraith was ultimately selected due to his “depth of experience, his coaching and teaching philosophy, and his understanding of and admiration for the role of athletics at Trinity College.” Berger-Sweeney said in her announcement. She also pointed to Galbraith’s ability to “strategically plan,” and his experience in using the Dartmouth athletic department to support the mission of the overall institution. This includes the development of student-athletes as leaders, which Berger-Sweeney said “perfectly aligns” with Trinity’s own athletic philosophy. She also noted that it was under Galbraith’s guidance that Dartmouth football won their first Ivy League championship in almost 2 decades in 2015. Berger-Sweeney said, “We love championships and look forward to many more under Drew’s leadership!”