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Marquette Names First On-Campus NIL General Manager

3/21/2023 10:13:00 AM | General

Former women's soccer player Madison Dunker returns to MU

Madison Dunker, former BIG EAST All-Academic women's soccer player at Marquette, has been appointed as the first full-time, on-campus General Manager of Marquette University Athletics' NIL program by Altius Sports Partners (ASP).

In her new role, Dunker will lead Marquette's efforts to support athletes, coaches, and staff to maximize their NIL opportunities. She will oversee the program's day-to-day operations and lead the implementation of athlete-focused NIL education on marketing, personal branding, and content creation strategies. Additionally, she will be responsible for the ongoing support and guidance of external stakeholders for the advancement of NIL efforts. She will educate local and regional brands to help increase NIL opportunities. The ASP GM Program centralizes NIL support services as a standalone vertical within athletics departments.

"I am honored to be back at Marquette in this new capacity," said Dunker. "I am excited to work with our student-athletes and coaches to provide them with the tools they need to succeed in the new NIL landscape."

Marquette has been a leader in the NIL landscape having developed MARQ-U, which is designed to prepare athletes to leverage their respective NIL. ASP became Marquette's NIL strategic planning and educational consultant in March 2022, a partnership designed to further bolster its athlete-driven NIL program to benefit all men's and women's sports programs.

"With Madison's appointment and the dedicated resources allocated through this program, Marquette's NIL efforts are poised to reach new heights," said Brittney Whiteside, ASP VP of Collegiate Partnerships. "She has a wealth of experience in athlete development and has demonstrated her ability to collaborate with various stakeholders. We are thrilled to have her lead Marquette's efforts in maximizing NIL opportunities for Golden Eagle athletes."

During her tenure as Assistant Director of Marquette Mentors, Dunker collaborated closely with alumni, campus partners, and University Advancement staff in support of Marquette Mentors, which has more than 300 annual participants. Prior to that, she served as the Illini Way Student-Athlete Development Coordinator at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she developed an NIL educational curriculum leveraging alumni and campus resources with a focus on Brand and Strategy Development, Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Financial Literacy while managing strategic partnerships.

"Madison has a proven track record of developing successful programs for student-athletes," said Marquette Athletic Director Bill Scholl. "Her experience and expertise will be invaluable in further enhancing our NIL program and ensuring our student-athletes are well-positioned to capitalize on their NIL opportunities."

As a member of the Marquette women's soccer team from 2014-17, Madison was selected to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team for two seasons. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Advertising from Marquette and her Master of Arts in Sports Administration from Ball State University.

The ASP GM program includes education for all stakeholders and a customized approach for each department in directly navigating the shifting environment. ASP personnel offer the benefit of understanding the national landscape and provide unrivaled experience in the areas of licensing, sponsorship, agents, employment, labor, collective bargaining, Title IX, and other impending issues. Ten schools – including Marquette as the first representative from the BIG EAST – are participating in the program and have integrated full-time trained ASP personnel on campus, ensuring athletes have the tools and resources to maximize their opportunities.

Those interested in connecting with Marquette athletes on NIL opportunities may contact Madison.Dunker@altiussp.com.

About Altius Sports Partners

ASP is the leading advisor to elite collegiate athletics programs and sports properties offering strategic planning, compliance support and education to its clients. ASP provides strategic solutions on topics ranging from NIL to the shifting terrain of employment and media rights within college athletics. In three years, ASP has gone from launching with two school partners (LSU and Texas) to currently supporting 32 universities, including almost half of the Power Five. Last year ASP launched a first-of-its-kind on-campus, in-house NIL GM Program with top programs and scaled its blue-chip NIL advisory and education services through the launch of ASP Academy. ASP clients include Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, Cincinnati, Clemson, Duke, Georgia, Georgetown, Indiana, Kansas, LSU, Marquette, Miami, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Nevada, Northwestern, North Alabama, North Carolina, Oakland, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, South Carolina, USC, Tennessee, Texas, Tulane, Villanova, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Additional strategic collaborations include Women Leaders in College Sports, the NFL and NFL Players Association. Providing all stakeholders with resources they need to thrive in the new age of college athletics, ASP leverages its deep reservoir of sports business sophistication to help those impacted to prepare and excel. It has built a team of cross-disciplinary leaders to reach higher levels of education, higher access to opportunities and higher standards of excellence.