Virginia Tech Names Omar Banks Senior Associate AD for Finance and Administration

BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock announced the hiring of Omar Banks as Senior Associate Athletics Director for Finance and Administration on Thursday. Banks will serve as Chief Financial Officer and will oversee the athletics department’s business operations and human resources, including budgeting, financial reporting, policies and procedures, and capital projects funding.

Banks comes to Virginia Tech from the University of Cincinnati, where he served as the Executive Senior Associate AD for Internal Affairs/CFO. Banks has been at Cincinnati since 2009 and worked with Babcock during Babcock’s tenure as the AD at Cincinnati from 2011-13. Banks’ time at UC also overlapped with Tech’s Deputy Athletic Director, Desiree Reed-Francois.

“We’re fortunate that Omar and his family are joining our team at Virginia Tech,” Babcock said. “He is a Virginia native (Newport News) and a product of the student-athlete experience himself.  When the opportunity arose to fill this leadership position on our executive staff, Omar was the top candidate on our list. We were very fortunate to recruit him to Virginia Tech. I trust him implicitly as a good steward of our resources who can provide valuable counsel and financial planning for our department among many other duties. He will be a wonderful addition to our team and to our continued momentum.”

Banks oversaw all aspects of a $61 million budget at Cincinnati and provided strategic advisement to the athletics director on contracts, capital project financing, revenue agreements, personnel planning, departmental policies and procedures, and scholarship support for 19 sport programs. Banks also handled oversight for football, men’s basketball, men’s soccer, facilities, information technology, athletic equipment operations, and he managed human resource operations for more than 300 coaches, staff members, graduate assistants and volunteers.

A past participant in the NCAA’s Leadership Institute, Banks currently serves as president of the College Athletic Business Management Association.

A former defensive back for the University of Richmond, Banks began his collegiate athletics career in 1998 at NC State as a media intern within the sports information department. Following successful stints as a project manager and data consultant for IBM and finance manager for Fidelity Investments, he returned to athletics in 2005 as ticket manager and fiscal administrator for Hampton University. In 2007, he moved on to Virginia Commonwealth University, where he supervised ticket operations, event management and staffing, and all accounts receivable for the athletics department.

Banks earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Richmond before graduating cum laude from North Carolina Central University with an MBA. He graduated summa cum laude from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Master of Science in sports leadership.

Banks and his wife, Ellen, will relocate to Blacksburg with their children Omar II and Marianna.