Peter "Pete" Bevacqua succeeded Jack Swarbrick as vice president and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics on March 25, 2024. Bevacqua joined the University on July 1, 2023, in the role of Special Assistant to the President for Athletics, benefiting from the mentorship of Swarbrick before assuming leadership of the athletics department.
In his short time leading the Athletics Department, Bevacqua has already squarely positioned himself as a leading voice nationally in regards to collegiate athletics, media rights, the importance of student-athlete experience, and name, image and likeness.
In his term on campus prior to moving into his Athletic Director position, Bevacqua helped negotiate an extension to Notre Dame and NBC’s partnership and developed a framework with the College Football Playoff Management Committee to solidify a new television contract with ESPN.
Prior to his time at Notre Dame, Bevacqua was the third chairman in the history of NBC Sports, leading NBC Sports in its unprecedented collection of assets and platforms, which included the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, Major League Baseball, the English Premier League, NASCAR, WWE, the Kentucky Derby, IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500, the Tour de France, French Open, USFL, the B1G Conference, Notre Dame Football, and numerous golf properties, including the PGA Tour, USGA Championships, the Men’s and Women’s U.S. Open Championships, LPGA, Ryder Cup and DP World Tour.
Bevacqua serves as a co-chair of RISE, an alliance of major sports organizations, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and the NCAA that promotes racial equality across the U.S. sports landscape.His RISE co-chair is Troy Vincent, executive vice president of football operations for the NFL.
He previously served as chief executive officer of the PGA of America. Among his many accomplishments, Bevacqua moved up the PGA Championship—one of golf’s four majors—to May in the golf calendar and created the United States Ryder Cup Task Force.
Prior to the PGA, Bevacqua served as Global Head of Golf at CAA. He was also Chief Business Officer for the USGA and served as the first Managing Director of the U.S. Open Championship. Additional roles Bevacqua has had include: World Golf Foundation Board of Directors’ Chairperson; a PGA World Alliance leadership team member; Chairperson of the International Golf Federation; and a special advisor to the Captains Club for The Memorial Tournament.
A 1993 graduate of Notre Dame, he went on to earn his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 1997, where he graduated cum laude. He began his career as an associate at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. Bevacqua and his wife, Tiffany, have three children.