Robert Addison Bowlsby (born January 10, 1952) is an American college athletic administrator. Bowlsby most recently was the fourth commissioner of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

a position he held from 2012 to 2022. Prior to that position, he served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

at the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social and Behavioral Sciences and gra ...

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 c ...

, and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

Career

Born in

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Falls ...

, Bowlsby was the AD at the University of Northern Iowa, until taking over as the athletic director at the

from 1990 to 2006 prior to becoming Stanford's sixth athletic director in 2006. In 2012, he was hired to be commissioner of the

. Bowlsby was selected as the NCAA Basketball Selection Committee Head in 2006. He was also a part of the United States Olympic Committee for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

. On April 5, 2022, Bowlsby announced his intention to step down as Big 12 Commissioner later in 2022.

Personal life

Bowlsby graduated from Moorhead State University (now called

Minnesota State University Moorhead Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) is a public university in Moorhead, Minnesota. The school has an enrollment of 7,534 students in 2019 and 266 full-time faculty members. MSUM is a part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities s ...

) in 1975 and earned a master's degree from the

in 1978. He is married with four children.

References

External links

Big 12 Conference bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowlsby, Bob 1952 births Living people Big 12 Conference commissioners Iowa Hawkeyes athletic directors Stanford Cardinal athletic directors Northern Iowa Panthers athletic directors Minnesota State–Moorhead Dragons wrestlers University of Iowa alumni Sportspeople from Waterloo, Iowa