In June 2017, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne announced that he had hired a new senior associate athletic director overseeing development. His name was J Batt, and he was hired after a successful four-year tenure as senior associate AD at East Carolina.
“J impressed all of us in his interview, and we are thrilled to add him to our staff at Alabama,” Byrne said in a statement.
A little more than a year later, the athletic department announced that it was starting a 10-year, $600 million capital campaign for projects that included renovation of Bryant-Denny Stadium and renovations or enhancements of nearly every Crimson Tide athletic facility. Byrne gave Batt oversight of the campaign.
Four years into the project, more than 85% of the goal has been reached, a credit to the work of Byrne and Batt. Undoubtedly, Batt’s fundraising prowess caught the notice of Georgia Tech president Ángel Cabrera and interim AD Frank Neville, who hired Batt to be the new athletic director, only the 10th in school history.
Batt’s success as a fundraiser also landed him on the Sports Business Journal’s 40 under 40 list in 2021. An article on Batt highlighted his ability to secure major gifts.
“You have to love the enterprise and love how you can help people,” Batt said in the article. “I still believe that most people give to help others, not to see their name on a building.”
At East Carolina, according to his Alabama bio, he led development operations that in 2016 secured funding that was more than 60% greater than the previous best year in the athletic department’s history.
Batt, 40 and married with two children, comes to Atlanta with some familiarity with the ACC and, perhaps by extension, Tech. He grew up in Charlottesville, Va., home of the University of Virginia. He played soccer at North Carolina (he was a backup goalie on the Tar Heels’ 2001 national championship team) and later worked at the school. Another stop on his way to Alabama was another ACC school at the time, Maryland. According to the UNC’s 2001 soccer media guide, his full name is Jason Michael Batt. At the time, he went by Jay.
At North Carolina, he earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication and then received his master’s in sports administration.
In the SBJ article, Batt listed the Alabama Wildlife Federation, his family’s church and local youth soccer as causes he supports and named workouts on his Peloton as a hobby he picked up during the pandemic.
He said he gets fired up “when the connection between a donor’s philanthropic passions and an institutional need align, the light goes off and they take the leap to ‘How can I help?’”
As he begins his Tech tenure begins, he’ll need to hear that question often.
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