Athletic Department 9/1/2026 10:30:00 AM

Julie Byron Named Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator

Canisius Vice President and Director of Athletics Bill Maher announced today that Julie Byron has been hired to serve as Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator (SWA). Byron joins the athletic department's senior leadership team after spending the previous seven years working in various roles at Marist University.

Byron will have administrative oversight of academic advising, compliance, sports medicine and Canisius' student-athlete development efforts. She will serve as the primary campus liaison to Canisius' academic operational and student-service units, and she will be the primary point of contact for Canisius' Faculty Athletic Representative. As the school's SWA, she will represent the University at all Metro Conference and NCAA meetings, and she will also have administrative oversight of several varsity sports programs.

"We are excited to welcome Julie to Canisius to help lead our department in this important university role," Maher said. "Julie joins our athletic department with a broad set of experiences as a former student-athlete, campus administrator and having spent time working in the conference office. She is an experienced administrator who I am confident will be a tremendous asset to our coaches, staff and student-athletes."

"I am excited and honored to join the Canisius athletic department and become part of a university that really puts a tremendous amount of emphasis on student-athlete welfare," Byron said. "Canisius' commitment to developing student-athletes in competition and in the classroom is exceptional, and I am excited to contribute to that mission. I am grateful to Bill Maher, the search committee, and the entire campus community that I met with during my interview for this opportunity. I look forward to working with our coaches, staff and student-athletes to continue building a culture of excellence, growth and success."

Byron comes to Canisius after serving as the director of university events at Marist for the last three years. Before moving to that position, she was the assistant athletic director for intramurals, club sports and camps from 2019-23. In that role, she facilitated and managed daily operations for Marist's 18 club programs, which consisted of more than 2,800 undergraduate students, and she also handled other administrative duties for Marist's varsity sports programs.

From 2006-22, Byron served as an event manager for ESPN Regional Television and the Basketball Hall of Fame. There, she helped organize numerous NCAA Division I Men's Basketball MTEs (Multiple Team Events) and managed relations and operational procedures among event promoters, host venues, broadcast partners, and participating schools.

A 1996 graduate of Hartwick College, who went on to earn her master's degree in athletic administration from Springfield College in 1999, Byron spent six years (2001-07) working at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (now the Metro Conference) office in Edison, N.J. There, she started as the league's director of special events before being promoted to assistant commissioner for women's basketball. In her time with the conference office, she served as the championship director of the league's women's basketball tournament, while also holding the same role for multiple sports at Disney's Wide World of Sports. The tournament manager for the 2006 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship First and Second Rounds and the 2002 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championship, she served as the assistant tournament manager for three other NCAA events, including the 2003 Frozen Four and the 2004 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship First and Second Rounds. Both of those events were held at KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo.

Byron and her husband Sean, who was recently named the head men's volleyball coach at Daemen University, have two daughters, Grace and Calleigh.

Byron replaces former Canisius Deputy AD/SWA Lisa Liotta, who left Canisius in July to take a similar position at William & Mary.

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