The McKinney, Texas native came to DePaul after serving as the Executive Director of the Big Red Fund at the University of Illinois-Chicago.  Prior to his stint at UIC, Fort served for three years as the associate athletic director for external affairs at Florida International University in Miami.  During his time at FIU, Fort coordinated the department’s external efforts, including athletic development, marketing, radio and television, community and media relations, tickets, licensing and corporate sponsorships.

In addition, Fort spearheaded the FIU Community (Football) Stadium renovation project from Dec. 2003 until moving to UIC in September 2006 and generated over $5.7 million dollars in revenue during his three years at FIU.

During his tenure at FIU, Fort was instrumental in the Golden Panthers’ move to the NCAA Division I-A football ranks.  Fort oversaw the ticket campaign the increased football game ticket sales from a per game average of 10,095 in 2004 to an NCAA Division I-A qualifying mark of 15,477 in 2005.

After arriving at FIU in December, 2003 as the associate athletic director for development, Fort’s efforts included the largest athletic naming gift in FIU history (Pharmed Arena), the largest athletic endowment gift (Michael Feldsberg Memorial Scholarship), the department’s first athletic shoe apparel partnership (adidas) and a campus-wide cellular partnership (Cingular).

Fort also served as a member of the Golden Panther broadcast team as a color analyst on football, basketball and as the host and executive producer of the weekly FIU Sports Report.  In addition, Fort developed the Golden Panther Radio Network in 2006, the first in FIU athletic history.

Active in both Sun Belt Conference and NCAA, Fort served as a member of the NCAA Peer Review team in November 2005 at Valparaiso University.

Prior to his arrival at FIU, Fort served as the associate athletic director for external affairs at Stephen F. Austin.  Fort began his nine-year tenure at SFA as the school’s sports information director in 1990 and also coordinated and directed the institution’s first comprehensive capital campaign.  While at SFA, Fort developed the first campus-wide corporate partnership (Coca-Cola), supervised the Legacy Campaign that raised over $37 million and developed the Homer Bryce Stadium Pressbox renovation projected that included the sale of all suites and club seats.

A 1987 graduate of Austin (Texas) College, where he served four years as the sports information director, Fort’s intercollegiate experience also includes four years with Host Communications as the general manager at both the Texas Tech and San Jose State properties.

Before joining Jim Host’s staff, Fort was selected to create the Lubbock Sports Authority for the city of Lubbock.  Fort served as the LSA’s first executive director.

Fort is married to a women’s college basketball coach, Nicci Hays.  Hays-Fort currently serves as an assistant to Doug Bruno at DePaul University.