Leah Beasley joined the Penn State Athletics staff as Deputy AD for Strategic Engagement and Brand Advancement in September 2025. Beasley comes to Happy Valley with nearly 20 years of experience, most recently serving as executive AD for external engagement at the University of Oklahoma.
In her role at Penn State, Beasley will lead Penn State’s strategic efforts to amplify the voices and stories of its student-athletes, while also fostering a meaningful connection with fans and stakeholders. The creation of Beasley’s position is an indicator of Penn State Athletics’ commitment to empowering student-athletes to grow their brands through innovative platforms in this new era of college athletics. In addition to her strategic engagement and branding responsibilities, Beasley will also collaborate with key stakeholders to lead revenue generation initiatives to enhance the student-athlete and fan experience, drive departmental growth and enhance financial sustainability.
She will oversee the departments of strategic communications, social media, creative services, branding and marketing. She will also serve as the architect of ROAR+ and the Penn State Brand Academy, developing content and NIL education platforms to empower student-athletes in the evolving collegiate athletics landscape.
At Oklahoma, Beasley drove the key external strategies of revenue generation, student-athlete and fan experience/promotion and brand management. She led a broad portfolio of departments including communications, creative strategy, digital strategy and revenue innovation, licensing, marketing and fan engagement, external NIL, SoonerVision, strategic partnerships and ticket operations and sales. Beasley has served as the sport administrator for a number of teams during her career, including football, women’s basketball, women’s gymnastics and baseball.
She played a key role in university-wide initiatives at OU, chairing the Trademark Advisory Committee and serving on the President’s Marketing Leadership Cabinet, Critical Issues Committee and Signature Student Experiences Committee. She also served on the board of directors for the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) and NCAA Women’s Basketball Advancement Committee. She is also an active member of Women Leaders in Sports, the Paciolan Advisory Committee and the SEC’s Chief Revenue Officer group.
Prior to her tenure at Oklahoma, Beasley spent nearly a decade at Mississippi State University, where she rose to the role of deputy athletics director for external affairs. Her leadership there encompassed broadcast operations, communications and creative content, digital innovation, fan experience, outbound ticket sales, marketing and sponsorship activation.
Beasley began her career at Louisiana Tech University, rising to the role of associate athletics director for sales, marketing and event management.
A four-year letterwinner for the Louisiana Tech softball program, Beasley earned both her bachelor’s in marketing and master’s in business administration from LA Tech.