RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Vice President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque announced on Wednesday six administrative staff promotions, including Eddie Galvan to Assistant Director for Ticket Sales and Operations, Jonah Goldberg to Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communications and Championships, Sara Hernandez, the Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Strategic Initiatives, to Senior Staff, Erica Hirsch to Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance, Seth Jones to Chief of Staff/Associate Athletic Director for Revenue Generation and Devin Oliveira to Assistant Director for Facilities and Game Operations.
 
UTRGV Athletics is on an incredible upward trajectory. The 2022 fiscal year saw department records in ticket sales, corporate partnerships and philanthropic giving which resulted in UTRGV Athletics raising over $2 million. The department has several capital projects in the works as part of the $30 million investment to improve facilities as well. 
 
As the department continues to grow at an impressive rate and UTRGV student-athletes reach new heights in academic and athletic success, Conque felt the promotions were important to continue serving and offering a first-class experience for the student-athletes and coaches, and to maximize UTRGV's potential to continue its upward momentum.  
 
"We are blessed at UTRGV to have one of the hardest working administrative teams in the country. These promotions are deserved and position our department for continued success and significant growth," Conque said. "We are fortunate to elevate and retain tremendous professionals who care deeply about the success of UTRGV and the Rio Grande Valley. As we reflect on our success the last couple of years, we know sustaining our momentum is important and continuity is key. We have much work in front of us and these individuals, along with our entire team, will continue to play a critical role in the success of our student-athletes and coaches we serve." 
 
Eddie Galvan 
Galvan was promoted to Assistant Director for Ticket Sales and Operations in August after spending one year as the Ticket Sales and Operations Assistant. He is currently working toward a Master of Business Administration at UTRGV and is expecting to graduate in December. 
 
Four months into his tenure, a personnel change left Galvan to run the ticketing office single-handedly during the second half of basketball season and all of baseball season. Still, the Vaqueros never saw a dip in attendance and had a record-breaking, 6,418-person crowd when the baseball team hosted Texas because of the hard work Galvan did. 
 
During that time, Galvan quickly built the trust Conque and Seth Jones have in his abilities. Galvan appreciated the freedom he was allowed to do things in a way that worked best for him while flying solo, which helped him grow professionally and put the office in a good position going forward. 
 
Galvan manages the ticket sales website, deals with season-ticket holders, helps groups set up visits to competitions and works with other areas of the athletic department to handle other tasks related to bringing in supporters. The ticketing enterprise is often referred to as "the front porch" of UTRGV's athletic department, and that's where Galvan's strengths of creating and sustaining relationships shine.  
 
Relationships also drive Galvan to work hard every day. There's a quote in his office that reads, 'Being lazy is disrespectful to the people that believe in you,' and he said it motivates him to put his best foot forward. 
 
"My main focus is getting out there and expanding the fanbase, connecting with the community, selling them on UTRGV and the athletic department and winning over supporters," Galvan said. "Seth and Chasse and everyone are really trusting me and have shown me that they want to support me and want me to grow, and that motivates me. I've loved the job from the start and I love the people I work with, and that makes it easy to put in my best effort in and take care of my area because I know everyone else is taking care of theirs and I don't want to let anyone down." 
 
Jonah Goldberg 
Goldberg's title is growing to Senior Associate Athletic Director for Communications and Championships. He will continue his duties leading the athletic communications team, which he has done since joining the department in 2011, and has been promoted to being in charge of securing and preparing for Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championship hosting opportunities. 
 
He is responsible for putting bids together – through a digital "packet," he provides information, photos and selling points highlighting UTRGV's facilities and the Rio Grande Valley – to convince the WAC's sports administration committee and head coaches to choose to have a respective sport's conference championship at UTRGV. Then, he coordinates with the conference, UTRGV athletic staff and, when applicable, the host facility to ensure the success of the championship. 
 
The Championships position was put in place to send a message to student-athletes, coaches, staff and the entire conference that UTRGV is elevating the importance of hosting championships to enhance the collegiate experience for the Vaqueros and the fan experience, and Goldberg is thrilled to be the first in the role. Since earning the promotion, he has secured the 2023 Swimming and Diving Championships will be hosted by the Vaqueros. UTRGV has two active bids for upcoming conference championships as well. The Vaqueros will host the 2022 Volleyball WAC Championships and Goldberg will be the point person making sure everything runs smoothly. 
 
"It's such a cool concept to have this position because WAC Championships are the biggest events we're going to host in any given year. To be the person that's told, 'The success of this is on you,' that's an amazing feeling because it shows the trust and the confidence that the administration has in me," Goldberg said. 
 
"I really want to thank Chasse for believing in me and putting me in this position. Getting promoted to this spot directly reflects on Danny Elizondo, Claire Cruz and Mikey Rodriguez, because if I didn't have a team as hardworking, dedicated and talented as those three, I wouldn't be able to spread my wings this way." 
 
Sara Hernandez 
Hernandez has been the Associate Athletic Director for Marketing and Strategic Initiatives since July 2021 and has now been promoted to join the athletic department's Senior Staff. A former track & field student-athlete for legacy institution UTPA, Hernandez has been associated with the department since 2007 and rose from being a graduate assistant to joining the staff full-time in 2013. 
 
As a member of the Senior Staff, Hernandez will take a more active role in decision-making and helping to handle all things related to the department. She continues to lead the marketing and strategizing to promote the athletic program, enhance the student-athlete experience and grow the brand. Hernandez coordinates #RallyTheValley initiatives and works hard to make the Lower Valley a priority for engagement. 
 
"I build relationships on campus and that's something that's important to me, to make sure that our department is well positioned on campus and in the community. I've seen the transition from when I arrived here as a student-athlete in 2007 to now and I care about our community and I can see how our department plays a big role in our community's growth," Hernandez said. 
 
"At the end of the day, everything we do is for our student-athletes. I always say that athletics changes lives because it changed my life and I hope that I can help athletics change other lives." 
 
Erica Hirsch 
Hirsch has been working with UTRGV since June 2017, beginning her tenure as the Corporate Sales Administrator. After serving as the Compliance Coordinator since May 2019, Hirsh received a hard-earned promotion to Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance in Sept. 2022. 
 
Hirsch's time in compliance has been a whirlwind. She had just one semester of "normalcy" in her new compliance position before the role changed when COVID-19 impacted the entire world. Then, she spent seven months as the only compliance coordinator in the department, in charge of handling the administrative duties for all 14 teams by herself and learning a lot of things very quickly. 
 
The challenges never slowed her down, and she thanked Deputy Director of Athletics/Senior Woman Administrator Molly Castner for taking on some of the workload to help her out while she was working alone. Hirsch's communication skills, willingness to ask questions and have open conversations, organization and resiliency showed that she was deserving of her new role. 
 
As a compliance director, Hirsch is a liaison between the university, the athletic staff and UTRGV's coaches and student-athletes. She helps student-athletes get accepted to UTRGV by knowing the NCAA and University requirements they must meet. The compliance office monitors a variety of things to ensure NCAA, UTRGV, UT System and department rules are being followed. But most importantly to Hirsch, she gets to be a voice for the student-athletes and coaches. 
 
"We always say that our role to student-athletes is to make sure they're happy, healthy and safe, and if we're doing that, we're doing a good job," Hirsch said. "If things aren't working for them, we're there to communicate that to campus and work with campus to come up with a better solution. 
 
"Molly and Chasse, and everyone, really, supported me and motivated me and also let me know that I did a good job. It does make me feel like I do deserve this promotion. It makes me feel like all the hard work I went through was worth it and I feel so appreciative that they recognized that." 
 
Seth Jones 
Jones has been promoted to Chief of Staff/Associate Athletic Director for Revenue Generation and is another new addition to the Senior Staff. He has worked in the department since Oct. 2019. 
 
His day-to-day role overseeing the corporate and ticketing enterprises remains unchanged; his mission as Chief of Staff will be making sure special projects are being managed and completed to achieve Conque's vision for the department. He'll have weekly meetings with Conque to touch base on project process and ideas for the department, then collaborate and communicate with all areas of the athletic department and "being a second layer or safety net" to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. 
 
Jones will be working closely with Conque in his Chief of Staff role, which is nothing new for the pair. Their relationship dates back to 2017 at Little Rock. Jones is looking forward to continue serving so close to Conque and working with the entire staff in new ways to ensure the best is yet to come for the Vaqueros.  
 
"Chasse and I have always worked closely together, we've built a very strong relationship. Everything is relationship based and I think my role building relationships with our coaches, external staff, stakeholders, donors, whoever it is, played into this promotion," Jones said. "I thank Chasse for trusting in me. Thanks to my team. It's all about your people, and Eddie Galvan and Ryela Rodriguez have done a really good job and it helps me do my job when you can trust your team and have good people around you." 
 
Devin Oliveira 
Oliveira joined the department in Sept. 2021 as the Events Coordinator. He has been promoted to Assistant Director for Facilities and Game Operations. 
 
He oversees game operations, including supervising and training part-time gameday staff and coordinating with the visiting teams and officials, and assists with day-to-day management of athletic facilities. As part of his new role, Oliveira is also assisting with and spearheading some of the development projects taking place at UTRGV. 
 
One of his top projects is the $250,000 renovation of the home baseball clubhouse, which is part of the $30 million facilities enhancement plan. Additionally, Oliveira is working with the Championships Committee and will manage tournament operations for the WAC Volleyball Tournament which will be hosted by UTRGV from Nov. 17-19. 
 
Oliveira credited John Evans, the Senior Associate Athletic Director for Operations, for his on-the-job training approach which had Oliveira doing some similar tasks in his previous role that he will be taking on in his advanced position, getting him ready for the additional responsibility. 
 
"It comes down to trust. John tested me early on with several sink-or-swim moments. He had to know if he could trust me to pay attention to the details, to handle myself in big moments and to buy-in to what he and our team are trying to engineer here at UTRGV. I'd like to think I proved my value and affirmed his trust in me was well-placed," Oliveira said. 
 
"I'd like to thank both John and Chasse for the opportunity to learn and develop under their leadership. Being from the Valley, it's exciting to contribute to what we're building for the Rio Grande Valley." 

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