Cathy Rossi was hired in April of 2016 and enters her 10th full year as deputy athletics director at Milwaukee in 2025-26. Rossi came to Milwaukee after two years as the director of budget and finance at the University of Minnesota and has over 15 years of experience at the NCAA Division I level.
Rossi manages the athletic department's $14 million budget and is the liaison to Human Resources, Information Technology and campus Business Finance. At Milwaukee, Rossi has overseen ticket operations, facilities & game operations and the baseball program. She is currently the sport supervisor for men's and women's track & cross country, and volleyball teams.
Rossi serves on the Division's Integrated Leadership team and represents the athletic department on various campus capacities. She also provides the strategic direction for the Varsity Club (comprised of student-athlete alumni) and is the lead project contact for the design and construction of the future Klotsche Annex.
“Cathy is one of the rising stars in the profession and I couldn't be more excited to welcome her to the Milwaukee family,” Milwaukee Director of Athletics Amanda Braun said at the time of her hiring. “Her knowledge and skills in the areas of financial management and managing athletics programs will be an excellent addition to our leadership team and help our department move forward. Cathy possesses great leadership qualities and is committed to the student-athlete experience."
At Minnesota, Rossi assisted with the management of a $110 million budget for a department that sponsors 25 varsity sports. In addition to developing and submitting the NCAA Financial Report and EADA Report, Rossi coordinated all aspects of the department’s external audit of the reports. She also provided budget reconciliation of all major external events at TCF Bank Stadium, including concerts, a 2016 NHL Stadium Series Game between the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks and facility use by the Minnesota Vikings.
Prior to her post at Minnesota, Rossi spent six years as assistant athletics director for business operations at the University of Richmond, where she managed a $25 million budget for athletics. At Richmond, Rossi also provided sport supervision to the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs, served as the department’s liaison to the human resources office and managed facilities and game operations.
She has also served as the athletics business manager at the College of William & Mary and worked in the athletics ticket office at Boston College.
A former student-athlete, Rossi was a two-time All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball player at UW-Whitewater. She earned a master’s degree from Old Dominion University.
