An experienced and accomplished leader, Lynn Holleran brings more than 30 years of experience in numerous facets of the University and athletics administration to Penn State. A member of the Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics leadership team since March 2015, Holleran was promoted to Deputy Director of Athletics for Administration in July 2018.
In her role, Holleran is a member of the department's executive team and is responsible for the day-to-day administrative operations of Penn State's broad-based and highly successful 31-sport athletic program.
Holleran coordinates the sport administration operation and has oversight of compliance and a number of internal processes. She is also ICA's primary liaison with the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes, and numerous University units such as, the University's office of General Counsel, Office of Government Relations, Faculty Senate and the Office of the Faculty Athletics Representative, Dennis Scanlon. In addition, Holleran serves as the sport administrator for men’s and women’s basketball, field hockey, and men’s and women’s soccer.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Holleran took a strong leadership role in Penn State's COVID-19 management, not only from an Athletics perspective, but also University perspective. She served on numerous University-wide COVID-19 committees to help create a safe environment for Penn State’s students, faculty, staff and community. She served on the COVID Management Team, co-chaired the University's large-scale events committee and served on the COVID operations control center, as well as the return to campus and community task force.
A Pennsylvania native, Holleran joined Penn State after serving 12 years at the University of Minnesota, most recently as the director of the McNamara Academic Center for Student-Athletes from August 2010 through March 2015.
During her four-plus years as director of the McNamara Academic Center, Holleran supervised an academic support operation that served approximately 750 student-athletes in 25 varsity programs. Under Holleran's direction, she helped improve Minnesota's Academic Progress Rates (APR) to their highest numbers in University history, with the overall 2012-13 APR score ranking No. 4 among all Football Bowl Subdivision institutions. Her efforts also resulted in the highest cumulative grade-point averages and graduation rates for the Golden Gophers' programs.
Holleran began her 12-year affiliation with the University of Minnesota in 2003, serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the President. In her role, she assisted the University president, vice president and chief of staff with strategic planning and supervision of several areas, including intercollegiate athletics, as well as the day-to-day President's Office operations and budget. Holleran also was a member of a cross-functional team that managed the logistics of planning and launch of the new TCF Bank Stadium on campus.
Prior to Minnesota, Holleran was a Senior Associate Athletic Director and the Senior Woman Administrator at Boston College from 1993-2003. She was the primary administrator for 12 programs and had oversight of compliance, policy development/analysis and Title IX adherence for all 31 programs among her responsibilities.
Holleran began her career in intercollegiate athletics at Northwestern University, serving as the Assistant Director of Academic & Student Services from 1986-93, while attending graduate school.
Born in Pittsburgh, Holleran earned a bachelor's degree in economics and business management at Beloit College, where she was a standout basketball, soccer and softball student-athlete. She was inducted into Beloit's Hall of Honor in 1997. Holleran earned a master's degree in management/organizational behavior and marketing from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management.
