UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- Penn State Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour recently announced the promotion of three Intercollegiate Athletics staff members to assistant athletic director.
Herb Combs has been named assistant athletic director for outdoor athletic facilities, Ken Cutler has been named assistant athletic director for major gifts and Nikki Potoczny has been named assistant athletic director for the annual fund. All three will join ICA's management team.
Combs most recently served as athletic fields supervisor. He leads Penn State's nationally recognized grounds crew in the building, preparation and maintenance of approximately 200 acres of outdoor athletic facilities, which includes the intramural fields. A Penn State graduate, Combs was a member of the University of Minnesota athletic staff before returning to his alma mater in 2006. He helped Penn State earn "Field of the Year" for Jeffrey Field and was promoted to athletic fields supervisor in 2008. In 2010, Combs was named certified sports field manager, one of just 206 people worldwide to hold the distinction from the Sports Turf Managers Association. Combs and his wife, Christina, have two children.
Cutler has more than 30 years of experience in collegiate athletic development and most recently served as director of development for major gifts. He has spent more than 20 years in development at Penn State during two stints from 1991-98, returning in 2002 with a stop at the University of Connecticut in between. Cutler has provided successful leadership for two Penn State campaigns -- "Success with Honor -- A Campaign for the Penn State Way" and "For the Future -- The Campaign for Penn State Students." Cutler graduated from Queens College and has a master's in sports administration from Ohio State. He and his wife, Barbara, have two children.
Potoczny most recently served as director of the Nittany Lion Club and oversees the management and operations of the annual fund. The Nittany Lion Club has more than 22,000 members who provide financial support to Penn State Athletics and its approximately 800 student-athletes. Her efforts helped the Nittany Lion Club raise $16.6 million in 2014-15, an increase of 8.7 percent from the previous year, to assist Penn State's 31 programs and its student-athletes. A State College native, Potoczny joined the NLC staff in 2002 and previously was promoted to assistant director (2007), associate director (2011) and director (2013) of the Nittany Lion Club. A graduate of Ithaca College, Potoczny and her husband, Bill, have two children.