Penn State names associate athletic director for ticket sales and service

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour has announced the hiring of Robert Kristiniak as associate athletic director for ticket sales and services.

“I am very excited to welcome Rob Kristiniak and his family back to their roots in Pennsylvania and to the Penn State community,” Barbour said. “He brings a wealth of experience in the ticket sales and service area, and I look forward to the innovation, customer service focus, collaboration and leadership Rob will bring to the role every day. His background with a variety of universities, IMG Learfield and professional sports teams gives him a strong breadth of knowledge and experiences that will be invaluable in helping us to continue to grow and improve in our sales and service areas. He’s a leader, a great family man and the consummate teammate. I’m thrilled he’s now a part of the Nittany Lion team.”

“Penn State is a special place to me and my family, and I couldn’t be more honored and humbled to come home to Pennsylvania and join the Nittany Lion team,” said Kristiniak. “I’d like to thank Sandy, Scott [Sidwell] and the entire search committee for entrusting me with this incredible opportunity to serve the great student-athletes, coaches and fans of Penn State. I’d be remiss to not thank the amazing people at the University of Washington for investing in me and preparing me for this next chapter. We are excited to get to Happy Valley and get to work.”

Kristiniak spent the last four years as the associate athletic director for sales, service and ticket operations at the University of Washington. In his role with the Huskies, Kristiniak oversaw the entire sales, service and ticket office operations, leading to consistent revenue growth in football and men’s basketball. During his tenure, Kristiniak restructured and revamped the strategy behind the department’s sales, retention and ticket units. He also was responsible for implementing mobile ticketing for student tickets in football and men’s basketball. Washington earned the 2019 PACnet Innovator of the Year Award and was a finalist for the Newcomer of the Year Award in 2018. 

Prior to his time at Washington, Kristiniak served as the director of group sales for the Florida Panthers of the NHL. His responsibilities with the Panthers included group sales initiatives for Panthers games, as well as concerts, events and shows at the BB&T Center. He also was in charge of employee training, data management and campaigns for sales.

Kristiniak spent one season as the general manager for sales and service for IMG Learfield Ticket Solutions at West Virginia University. He increased ticket revenues for football and men’s basketball and also advised WVU on new sales and service initiatives. During his time in Morgantown, WVU won IMG Learfield’s Rookie Property of the Year.

Kristiniak guided the sales and service efforts at the University of California for two years, where he implemented a sales and service strategy that increased revenues. He was responsible for the game day supervision of the football stadium and developed a pricing strategy and ticket timeline for football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball and baseball. Cal received the Innovators of the Year award from PACnet in 2013. 

The native of Philadelphia also has spent time with the Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Phantoms and Philadelphia Flyers.

Kristiniak graduated with a degree in sport administration from Lock Haven University in 2006. He was a football student-athlete for the Bald Eagles, playing quarterback.

Kristiniak and his wife, MacKenzie, have a daughter, Leona.