In late July, 2007, Thorr Bjorn became the 11th Director of Athletics in University of Rhode Island history. Since that day, he has worked tirelessly to instill a new championship culture in Kingston.

"We want to be champions in the three most important areas: in competition, in the classroom, and in the community," Bjorn said. "Our athletics department is wholly committed to making the necessary changes in order to achieve a true winning attitude."

In competition, Rhode Island's 2007-08 athletics programs made great strides toward Bjorn's championship culture. The men's track & field program captured its second consecutive - and seventh in the last eight years - Atlantic 10 outdoor championship team title. The rowing program won its first-ever A-10 championship, ending Massachusetts' 12-year run.

In December, 2007, Bjorn made another strong commitment to winning when he hired former URI All-American Darren Rizzi as head football coach. Rizzi, who returned to his alma mater after a successful stint at Rutgers, said at his press conference: "Thorr Bjorn's energy, enthusiasm, vision, goals, and his passion for this University is the number one reason why I'm standing here today."

In the classroom, 204 Rhode Island student-athletes earned a 3.30 grade-point average or better and were named to the Dean's List. An additional 157 Rhody student-athletes earned a spot on the Atlantic 10 Commissioner's Honor Roll for the 2007 Fall semester. Damian Gresko earned his second consecutive CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American honor, posting a 3.98 grade-point average as a double major in finance and accounting.

"It is a true point of pride to have over 200 University of Rhode Island student-athletes earn a spot on the Dean's List," said Bjorn. "To have so many of our student-athletes performing on and off the field of competition is a tribute to the hard work of so many involved with Rhode Island Athletics."

Many of the Rams' athletic programs and student-athletes have made an impact in the community. Several teams participated in a National Reading Week promotion this past April, traveling to local elementary schools to read and interact with the students. Additionally, URI athletics sponsored its second annual "Pink Out" during a nationally televised men's basketball game, which raised close to $10,000 for a local breast cancer awareness charity.

Bjorn's championship attitude is rooted in a philosophy in which everyone in the URI athletics department is a fundraiser and marketer.

"We need to be tireless in our efforts to bring in external dollars - not just to sustain, but rather to grow all of our programs," Bjorn explained. "As we go out into the community, we have the opportunity to `sell' URI and our mission to our current and future donors, sponsors and ticket buyers. We have to continue to move forward and become increasingly creative in how we accomplish our goals."

In just his first 10 months, Bjorn has overseen donations of close to 1.5 million dollars toward the Student-Athlete Development Center (SADC). Included in that total is a 1 million dollar gift to the baseball program - URI's first-ever seven-digit donation to the athletics department.

"To reach that dollar amount in such a short period of time shows the tremendous passion for URI athletics by our alumni and friends," he added. "We expect that this is just the beginning, as we work to raise $3.5 million for the SADC and another $1.5 million for other important athletic facility upgrades under the umbrella of the University's `Making a Difference' capital campaign."

A member of the Atlantic 10 television committee, Bjorn is working to improve the local, regional, and national coverage for URI and league teams.

Bjorn came to Kingston after spending 15 years at his alma mater - the University of Massachusetts - in a variety of athletic administrative roles. At the time of his hire, Bjorn had entered his fourth year as the senior associate athletic director at UMass, serving as the day-to-day sport supervisor for football and ice hockey, while also overseeing the men's and women's lacrosse programs.

He directly supervised the UMass athletic marketing staff, corporate sales - including the UMass Radio Network, coaches shows and signage - and ticket operations. Bjorn also served as liaison between the athletic department and Global Spectrum - the management company for the William D. Mullins Center, home of UMass basketball and hockey.

Bjorn played an integral role in UMass' department-wide apparel deal with adidas, oversaw all aspects of the funding and installation of a multi-million dollar video scoreboard system in the Mullins Center, and helped to secure funding sources for a new artificial surface at Alumni Stadium - home of the nationally-ranked Minutemen football program.

From Sept. 2003-Feb. 2004, Bjorn was the interim athletic director at UMass. In that role, he oversaw all the department, including supervising a senior administrative staff of 10 associate and assistant athletic directors, as well as the head football, men's basketball, and men's ice hockey. During his tenure, he negotiated a contract extension with Don "Toot" Cahoon, head men's ice hockey coach, and was the athletic department liaison in a viability study on elevating to Division I-A (now "BCS") football status.

After a three-year stint as the director of regional sales and marketing for Resorts Sports Network in Portland, Maine, Bjorn returned to UMass in April of 2003 as the Associate AD/External Affairs. At RSN - a company which provides cable systems with programming at ski resorts - he was personally accountable for $1 million in television and web advertising revenue.

In his role as Associate AD, Bjorn was responsible for soliciting all radio and television advertising and corporate sponsorship dollars for the athletic department, Mullins Center, and UMass Magazine - a total exceeding $1 million dollars. Under his watch, annual sponsorship revenue increased by over 135 percent. Bjorn also directed the department's retail merchandise program, coordinated advertising campaigns and directed the ticket office. He also established "MinuteFan Park," an interactive fan experience at Alumni Stadium.

After graduating from UMass and spending six months as an intern in the business office at the University of Connecticut, he returned to his alma mater as assistant athletic director for tickets and game operations in December of 1990, a position he held until being promoted in 1996.

A three-year letterwinner for the Minutemen football program, he earned his bachelor's degree in sports management from UMass in 1990, following with a master's degree in higher education from his alma mater in 1995.

He met his wife Cyndy at UMass, and the couple has three daughters, twins Stephanie and Robyn, 11 and Rachael, 8. The Bjorn family resides in North Kingstown.

updated: 6/19/08