Stuart Sutton, Ph.D., joined the VAF in August of 2025, as Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Sutton oversees internal operations, integration across fundraising and engagement functions, and strategic execution to ensure alignment with VAF’s mission and goals. Sutton brings over 15 years of experience in college athletics, including roles at Wisconsin, Ole Miss, Alabama, Illinois, and most recently Syracuse.
During his time at Syracuse, Sutton served as the Associate Athletic Director for Development and External Sales where he led a 14 person Sales & Service team through a 5-sport re-seat in the newly renovated JMA Wireless Dome, growing ticketing, premium seating, donations, and hospitality revenue year over year. As a part of the ’Cuse Athletics Fund leadership team, overall fundraising exceeded $50M with consecutive record-breaking years. The momentum was spearheaded by successfully closing out a $1.5 billion Forever Orange campus campaign in December 2024 with Athletics leading all campus units. In February 2025, Sutton helped launch a three-year $50M Champion Cuse campaign aimed at fielding championship-caliber teams and winning championships in the revenue share era.
Prior to that while at Wisconsin, he played a pivotal role in executing capital campaigns for two major football projects totaling $350 million and a $40 million basketball project. He was instrumental in the successful launch and sell-through of a new multi-level football south end zone premium seat expansion and helped Wisconsin Athletics break its all-time fundraising record in 2022 ($62.3M).
Sutton holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a master’s in Sports Management from the University of Alabama, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Mississippi. A former varsity baseball player at Illinois State, he also holds a private pilot’s license.