In one of his first official moves as Penn State’s new Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Patrick Kraft announced the members of his department’s executive team Tuesday afternoon.

Vinnie James and Adam Miller will serve as the university’s newest deputy athletic directors, as announced in a press release. Both James and Miller previously worked under Kraft at Boston College, where he served as athletic director before accepting the role at Penn State.

“I am thrilled to have Vinnie and Adam join me at Penn State,” Kraft said in the release. “We have a long history together, dating back to our time at Temple, and work well together to develop conditions for our student-athletes to be successful.”

James will slot into the role of Penn State’s deputy athletics director for internal operations, while Miller will occupy the deputy athletics director for external affairs and engagement.

As deputy AD for internal operations, James will generally be responsible for strategic planning and analysis, as well as capital projects, facility and event operations, information technology, Penn State Golf Course operations, and equipment operations.

For the last two years, James served as senior associate athletics director for business administration at Boston College. Before that, he was a seven-year member of Kraft’s staff at Temple.

At Temple, James was Kraft’s senior advisor. There, he established, monitored, and reported on the department’s goals and objectives. James also served as sport administrator for Temple’s football program.

Prior to those positions, James also operated in executive roles at La Salle and spent one year interning in Villanova’s Director of Athletics office.

“[James] is a longtime confidant who has a terrific strategic vision and will propel us to the next level, just as he did at our previous institutions,” Kraft said.

As deputy AD for external affairs and engagement, Miller will oversee the Nittany Lion Club’s development efforts, ticket sales and services, revenue strategy, new business development, the All-Sports Museum, facility rentals, data analytics, and event parking.

Miller previously served as senior associate athletics director for development at Boston College and as a member of Kraft’s executive team at Temple. At Boston College, Miller successfully helmed multi-million dollar fundraising efforts for 11 capital projects. At Temple, he and his team achieved the largest fundraising year in university history.

Prior to those positions, Miller also operated in executive roles at Memphis, Wisconsin-Green Bay, and Florida Southern College.

“[Miller] has established himself as one of the best development leaders in the country,” Kraft said. “His addition to our Penn State staff will allow us to provide our student-athletes with the facilities and resources they need to develop them as the whole person – mind, body, spirit.”

Elsewhere, Kraft announced the internal promotion of Dr. Lauren Rhodes to deputy athletics director for student-athlete welfare and development. Rhodes joined Penn State as the senior associate AD (among other roles) in August 2021.

Lynn Holleran and Scott Sidwell will remain in their original positions: deputy athletics directors for administration and external operations, respectively. Holleran began her tenure in July 2018, while Sidwell began in February 2019. Both were named to the department’s executive team by former athletic director Sandy Barbour, who retired in March 2022.