University of Nevada, Reno
Cary Groth has always been looking ahead. That was certainly the case during a highly decorated career in college athletics, during which time she became the first woman to be athletic director at two FBS institutions — Nevada and Northern Illinois.
From 1994 to 2004 while at her alma mater NIU, she orchestrated the Huskies’ move to the Mid-American Conference and assisted in the merger of the men’s and women’s athletic departments, along with development of numerous capital improvements. Last year, she was elected to the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame. At Nevada, the Wolf Pack captured 21 WAC championships during her tenure as AD.
Those trailblazing positions helped her launch an advisory firm called the Pictor Group, which has an all-female leadership team of distinguished administrative veterans who have consulted with 70 clients in the college space on an array of topics. Her success in the consulting business has led her to jobs with several national sport organizations, from fencing to gymnastics to rugby.
Her most recent visionary accomplishment took her back to Nevada, where she has worked with the university to create an undergraduate minor in sports management and offer a nine-month certificate program in leadership. The motivation behind her move back to campus at Nevada largely had to do with Groth’s desire to groom the next generation of sports business leaders.
“That’s something that just started because we need some good up-and-comers who learn the business the right way,” Groth said. “And I just felt like ethics was a class we needed, so that’s what prompted the sports ethics class” that she teaches. — Michael Smith
Cary Groth
Director of Sports Management, University of Nevada, Reno
Born: Omaha, Neb.
Education: Northern Illinois University, B.S. and M.S. in education
More about Cary
Something that instantly makes my day better: Walking my dogs!
Advice to my younger self: Develop other interests besides your profession/work.
If I did not work in sports, I would pursue … : Wine making.
I wish more people understood … : That I am naturally a shy person.
Biggest career risk: Changing institutions.
Proudest professional achievement: Celebrating graduation with our first cohort of students in 2022.
Person in sports business I’d most like to meet: Ora Mae Washington, Black female tennis and basketball player champion in the 1920s and ’30s at a time where women, specifically Black women, were not as welcome.
