The Enquirer is identifying the most important people to watch in 2026 in Greater Cincinnati. Did we miss someone? Email Carl Weiser at cweiser@enquirer.com
Joe Sullivan, 33, is the assistant athletic director for development at Xavier University
College basketball has changed a lot since Joe Sullivan was an undergraduate student at Xavier and later served as a men’s basketball graduate assistant on Chris Mack’s staff.
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“NIL and transfer portal didn’t exist,” said Sullivan, whose role is to raise money for Xavier Athletics with a top priority of men’s and women’s basketball.
Such is the new world of college sports, where athletes are paid for their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). There are clear “haves” and “have nots” with schools bidding for some of the nation’s top players. Sullivan isn’t making dinner or picking out the ingredients but he’s helping raise the grocery money for Xavier to spend on potential Musketeers.
“You can spend money. I think we have fans that want to help us win, we have the donors that want to help us win,” Sullivan told The Enquirer. “We have the president, the athletic director, the head basketball coach and the whole athletic department in lockstep. This is a place where I can make an impact.”
See the full list The Enquirer’s 2026 People to Watch
Joe Sullivan (right) is Xavier’s Assistant Athletics Director for Development.
Who is Joe Sullivan?
Sullivan got his master’s from Xavier in sports administration while serving as a graduate assistant for men’s basketball. The Boston native then went to Harvard, where he was the director of basketball operations for one season.
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Sullivan took his first big leap when he reached out to his favorite college football team growing up, Boston College, hoping for an internship. He was offered a spot as a volunteer. He worked his way up the ladder at Boston College in the personnel department, serving as football recruiting assistant and director of player personnel.
While seeking a job outside of personnel, he was advised to get into development to eventually become an athletic director. After a few years working development at Boston College, a job at his alma mater opened up in Oct. 2024 and he made his second big leap.
“I love Xavier. It was a lot to move,” Sullivan said. “If you can help raise dollars, you can help win games. That’s what I care about. That’s what I think my purpose is − to help people in places I love achieve the things they want to achieve.”
This tracker inside Cintas Center counts the total number of donors to the Xavier Basketball Excellence Fund.
What Sullivan hopes for in 2026
Fundraising is a year-long endeavor for every university with NIL having taken college athletics by storm. Sullivan’s bottom line for 2026 is simple. Increase money given to Xavier’s All for One Fund (which provides funding to all 19 athletic programs) and to add to the tracker inside of Cintas Center that displays how many total people have donated to the Basketball Excellence Fund. As of Dec. 17, there have been 467.
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“To find more individuals who want to get involved and help a place that really impacts the city. We need to keep finding those people,” Sullivan said. “We’ve had great success recently in finding these donors. Their gifts are helping these student-athletes, helping our university, helping us win games and it’s been a great formula so far.”
Getting through the message that any donation directly impacts a team at Xavier is key. For every person who donates $25 a month to the Basketball Excellence Fund, they get a piece of a game-used net from Cintas Center. It’s an easy way to remind people that their donation will help the team one day cut down nets after a championship.
“We all want to go to a Final Four, we all want to win a national championship, we all want to go to the (NCAA) tournament every year,” Sullivan said. “It takes an investment. I’m here to help us reach that investment.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Joe Sullivan, a 2026 person to watch
