{"id":98191,"date":"2026-04-07T08:37:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T12:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/?p=98191"},"modified":"2026-04-08T08:39:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:39:42","slug":"interim-leaders-named-for-athletics-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/04_07_2026\/interim-leaders-named-for-athletics-marketing","title":{"rendered":"Interim Leaders Named for Athletics, Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Interim leaders have been appointed in Rocket Athletics and the Office of University Marketing and Communications.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Lutz, senior associate athletic director of compliance and integrity, will lead The University of Toledo\u2019s intercollegiate athletic program as interim vice president and director of athletics effective April 11. Bryan B. Blair, UToledo\u2019s vice president and director of athletics since 2022, has accepted an offer to serve as Syracuse University\u2019s athletic director.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_98193\" style=\"width: 177px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-98193\" class=\"wp-image-98193\" src=\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brian-lutz-06112010-1811a.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Brian Lutz\" width=\"167\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brian-lutz-06112010-1811a.jpg 600w, https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brian-lutz-06112010-1811a-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 167px) 100vw, 167px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-98193\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lutz<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Jen Sorgenfrei, executive director of marketing and communications, will lead the marketing team as interim vice president effective April 16. Meghan Cunningham, who joined UToledo in 2010 and has most recently served as vice president for marketing and communications since 2023, has accepted an offer to serve as chief communications officer at the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrian and Jen are well-respected leaders on campus, and I appreciate their willingness to serve the University in this new capacity to ensure our continued success during this period of transition,\u201d UToledo President James Holloway said. \u201cI want also to sincerely thank Bryan and Meghan for their dedicated service to UToledo and wish them well on the next chapters of their careers. We will miss you both.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>National searches are underway for the next leaders of UToledo\u2019s athletics and marketing efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Lutz has served in his current role since 2018 where he is responsible for managing the department\u2019s compliance to NCAA, MAC and institutional rules and guidelines. He also serves as sport administrator for women&#8217;s soccer, women&#8217;s track and field, women&#8217;s cross country and men&#8217;s cross country.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_98194\" style=\"width: 177px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-98194\" class=\"wp-image-98194\" src=\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jen-sogenfrei-07092025-4668a-cropped.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Jen Sogenfrei\" width=\"167\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jen-sogenfrei-07092025-4668a-cropped.jpg 600w, https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jen-sogenfrei-07092025-4668a-cropped-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 167px) 100vw, 167px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-98194\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sorgenfrei<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Lutz has been a Rocket since 2003 when he came to UToledo from Kansas State University. He began his athletics compliance career at West Virginia University. He has a master\u2019s degree in sport management from West Virginia University and a bachelor\u2019s degree in criminal justice from Duquesne University.<\/p>\n<p>Sorgenfrei has served in her current role since 2023 and has been a Rocket since 2015, leading UToledo\u2019s marketing efforts across the academic and healthcare operations. She joined UToledo from ProMedica where she was a media relations manager. Earlier in her career, she served as a marketing communications associate at WellTower, public information officer for the city of Toledo and an account executive at FLS Marketing.<\/p>\n<p>A UToledo alumna, she has a master of public administration and bachelor\u2019s degree in political science from the University.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/04_07_2026\/interim-leaders-named-for-athletics-marketing\"><img width=\"120\" height=\"120\" src=\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/brian-lutz-jen-sorgenfrei-interim-leaders-utoledonews-150x150.jpg\" class=\"alignright tfe wp-post-image\" alt=\"Headshots of Brian Lutz, who will serve as interim vice president and director of athletics, and Jen Sorgenfrei, who will serve as interim vice president for marketing and communications.\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><p>Brian Lutz will serve as interim vice president and director of athletics, and Jen Sorgenfrei will serve as interim vice president for marketing and communications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":98192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,56,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98191"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98196,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98191\/revisions\/98196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}