Kelly Mehrtens

Kelly Mehrtens is an extremely hard-working individual who has over twenty years of administrative experience in intercollegiate athletics and is the current Deputy Athletics Director and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Maryland.

Kelly is passionate about her job, as she is continually given opportunities to positively impact the lives of young people through sports and living a healthy lifestyle. On a daily basis, Kelly aims to engage her students and help them cope with balancing how to be a student and an athlete at the same time.

Mehrtens’ responsibilities at the University of Maryland over the last four years include being the leader of both the internal and external operations departments and playing an important role in helping Maryland shift smoothly into the Big Ten Conference. During Mehrtens’ initial three years the University of Maryland, she took on many authoritative roles and supervised nine service units for the athletic department, which included strength and conditioning, championships, sports medicine, facilities, business operations, event operations, human resources, information technology, and equipment. Furthermore, Mehrtens was also the football team, men’s lacrosse team, and Final Four women’s basketball programs’ sport supervisor.

Mehrtens proved to be exceptionally helpful in the external operations unit, which she transferred to in the summer of 2014, specializing in marketing, social media, ticket operations, and communications. Under her supervision, Maryland’s attendance to ticketed fall sports showed a significant increase, especially in sports like field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, and volleyball. The overall season ticket sales went up 25 percent from 2013 and 35 percent from 2012, many thanks to Mehrtens’ positive influence in the external operations unit.

Kelly Mehrtens has shown herself to be a successful leader in Maryland’s athletic department, where she has been recognized within an abundance of notable committees. These committees include the NCAA Division I Management Council, NCAA Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet, NCAA Track and Field Committee, and the NCAA Division I Academic/Eligibility/Compliance Cabinet. Mehrtens’ determination to improve the athletic program and make a major impact on the lives of student athletes is nothing short of amazing.