The New England Patriots, San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Blackhawks. Whether you like these teams or not, these dynasties have something in common: there is a desire throughout the organization to reach a certain level of consistent excellence from the players on the field to the brains working the front office.

The Grand Valley State athletic department feels like they found that type of person who accepts that philosophy after hiring Jared Alexander to the assistant athletic director for Sales and Marketing position Thursday, Feb. 2.

Athletic Director Keri Becker said the position became available after she “reorganized the cabinet,” promoting Doug Lipinski to his current position of deputy director of Athletics for External Relations.

When looking for the replacement, Becker said she was looking for someone with a competitive drive to sell the GVSU brand better than ever. Luckily for her, she came across Alexander.

“The one thing that stuck out to me about him was how motivated and competitive he was to working to make the GV brand better than ever,” Becker said. “You want someone that’s intrinsically motivated to win and dominate each and every day—even if it’s not on a field or court.”

Alexander graduated from Indiana University in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in sport communication and earned his master’s degree in sport management from the University of Central Missouri in 2015.

Before his new position with the Laker family, Alexander was the assistant director of Athletics for External Operations at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he provided direct supervision over corporate and community partnerships, athletics development and departmental marketing.

But once the position at GVSU opened up, Alexander was quick to jump onto the opportunity, even if it meant leaving the warmer climate of Missouri to the somewhat unbearable winters of West Michigan.

“Today (Feb. 7), the temperature hit a high of 68 degrees. But when I set the weather aside, what was really important to me is that I wanted to apart of an organization, university, and community that is built around the idea of excellence,” Alexander said. “Doug, Keri, and the rest of the staff has showed so far that this team is about working together.

“But more importantly, it’s about being apart of a team that committed to excellence because that really jives with everything I believe in.”

Not only does Alexander see the excellence that the Lakers have at the Division II level athletically, but has noticed the drive of the GVSU student athletes to be anything but average.

“What I see from Grand Valley State athletes is that they’re not looking to be in the middle of the pack in the GLIAC or pretend to be competitive, but they’re looking to compete for national championships,” Alexander said. “That drive gets my blood flowing. It’s really exciting to be a part of something where everyone buys into what they’re trying to accomplish.

“One thing I’m excited for is the ability to be around student athletes and see them grow from freshmen who are learning their way to seniors who have learned about themselves, being a good leader, teammate, and what it means to compete at the highest level.”

Although he begins his first day of work Feb. 27, Alexander has already set out and created some major goals for his position. Those goals revolve the idea of understanding GVSU’s brand, the athletic department’s relationship with internal and external organizations on campus, and how to best promote GVSU throughout the state and to the rest of Division II athletics.

But his No. 1 initiative is to best understand and solve one question: What can GVSU athletics do right in our backyard and for the community?

“My job starts with building relationships. It’s all about going out and being one of many faces who’s going out into the community and looking for partnerships and mutually benefitting corporate partnerships,” Alexander said. “I think Grand Valley has a fantastic product and exposure that they can offer.

“And it’s not only with the people working athletics. Everybody has told me about why the people are so great at GV. Being a part of the Laker family defines everything I see in about being the best.”

Throughout the entire athletic department, it was a clear consensus that the excitement—as well as expectation—has been set high for Alexander.

“We are excited to have Jared join our team,” Lipinski said. “His corporate sales and game operations experience will be a great asset to our department.”