RIVERSIDE, Calif. – University of California, Riverside Athletics Chancellor, Kim A. Wilcox, announced on Tuesday, January 12, that UCR Athletics' Chief of Staff and Senior Associate Athletics Director, Wesley Mallette, has been named Interim Director of Intercollegiate Athletics. Mallette succeeds Tamica Smith Jones who is heading to Kennesaw State University as the Owls' Chief Operating Officer and will lead the Highlanders Athletics program forward.
 
"Wes joined UCR Athletics in 2018 and has done a great job for us over the past three years," said Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox. "I appreciate his willingness to step up in an important leadership role during a challenging time. In addition to leading UCR Athletics, Wes will work closely with me, the Athletics Working Group, and its chair Brian Haynes in the next phase of its work determining the future of athletics at UCR.
 
"Among other responsibilities, Wes serves as chief of staff, oversees all external relations, communications, marketing, ticketing, media relations, fan experience and events and has sport administration responsibilities for Baseball," Wilcox added. "A former student athlete at James Madison University, Wes has extensive experience in intercollegiate athletics and the private sector. He served as associate athletics director at UC Berkeley, vice president of communications at Pac-12 Networks, and in corporate and brand communications roles at BET and Viacom."
 
"It is an honor to be asked to serve as the Interim Athletics Director at this pivotal time," said Mallette. "I want to thank Chancellor Wilcox and AD Jones for this opportunity. I look forward to partnering with the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor Haynes, our campus leadership, and our team in Athletics as we forge ahead. There are challenges in front of us, but I believe we have a lot of great pieces in place here. Our coaches, staff, student-athletes, alumni, donors and students love our program and they are quite passionate about it. I am proud to be a part of this team."
 
In his role as Chief of Staff and Senior Associate Athletics Director of External Relations, Mallette serves on the leadership team and is responsible for managing multiple units within Athletics. In the summer of 2020, he led Athletics through a comprehensive visual identification brand redesign along with an internal restructuring of the Athletics Department. 
 
Mallette earned his M.A. in Journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park. A New Jersey native and former football and track and field student-athlete at James Madison University, he currently resides in Southern California with his spouse (Onita), son (Houston) and daughters (Soledad and Nola).