University of Houston Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Senior Director of Development
- Email:
Keifer Ackley joined University of Houston Athletics in August 2026 as Senior Director of Development overseeing Major Gifts, bringing a distinctive background in major-gift fundraising, athletics revenue generation, NIL strategy, and law.
At Houston, Ackley manages a portfolio of major-gift prospects and develops strategies to identify, qualify, cultivate, solicit and steward philanthropic support for Houston Athletics. His work includes advancing the Nantz Leadership Society and its principal giving priorities — the AD Excellence Fund, Student-Athlete Success Fund, and Houston Athletics Facilities Initiative — while developing relationships with alumni, donors and business and community leaders throughout Houston and beyond. He also serves as a development liaison for men’s basketball and men’s and women’s golf, working alongside coaches and athletics leadership to align donor interests with the competitive and strategic needs of their programs.
Ackley arrived at Houston after serving at his alma mater, McNeese State University in Lake Charles, LA, where he played a key role in the resource strategy behind the university’s emergence as a nationally recognized mid-major athletics program. As McNeese made a strategic investment in athletics, NIL, and competitive success to expand the university’s visibility and engagement, Ackley helped drive the fundraising and NIL strategy supporting that vision. He expanded NIL resources, cultivated and upgraded donors, built sport-specific fundraising pipelines, and developed new corporate relationships throughout Southwest Louisiana.
Working closely with current LSU men’s basketball head coach Will Wade, McNeese head coach Bill Armstrong, and current Georgia women’s basketball head coach Ayla Guzzardo, Ackley helped align fundraising and resource strategy with the competitive priorities of McNeese’s basketball programs. During his tenure, men’s basketball earned consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, highlighted by the Cowboys’ 2025 upset of Clemson for the first NCAA Tournament victory in program history. The success continued under Armstrong with 28 wins, the Cayman Islands Classic championship, a third consecutive Southland Tournament title and another NCAA Tournament appearance in his first season as a collegiate head coach. Ackley also worked closely with Guzzardo on fundraising and revenue-sharing strategy during the winningest season in McNeese women’s basketball history, a 29-win campaign that included a Southland Conference championship and postseason road victory over Texas A&M in the WBIT before Guzzardo was named head coach at Georgia.
Ackley also helped McNeese capitalize on its growing national profile beyond competition. Following the Clemson victory, he helped execute high-profile NIL activations with Epic Games/Fortnite through VaynerSports and Raising Cane’s, including a team-wide Fortnite activation featuring viral student manager Amir “Aura” Khan that generated more than 150,000 Instagram likes. McNeese’s increased athletics visibility occurred alongside significant institutional momentum, including sustained enrollment growth, and increased applications, reinforcing Ackley’s belief in strategic athletics investment as a driver of competitive and institutional growth.
As college athletics transitioned into the revenue-sharing era following the House v. NCAA settlement, Ackley helped shape McNeese’s strategy for adapting its fundraising and NIL operation to the new landscape. Drawing on his legal background, his work spanned revenue-sharing strategy and operations, third-party NIL, agreements and agent-related matters, donor communication, and collaboration with coaches and athletics leadership, with an emphasis on developing a sustainable, donor-friendly model for generating competitive resources.
Beyond fundraising, Ackley led student-athlete development initiatives at McNeese, including creating the Southland Conference’s first NIL & Life Skills Summit, which connected more than 250 student-athletes with over 30 Southwest Louisiana businesses for NIL opportunities, internships, and career placement while providing education in financial literacy, career development, and NIL compliance.
Prior to entering collegiate athletics, Ackley practiced law for three years in Southwest Louisiana, representing homeowners and businesses in first-party property insurance litigation following Hurricanes Laura and Delta, as well as clients in personal injury matters. He remains a licensed Louisiana attorney and active at the intersection of law and athletics, including serving as a presenter on NIL and sports law for Louisiana State Bar Association continuing legal education programs.
A native of Sulphur, La., Ackley earned bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Sociology from McNeese State and his J.D./D.C.L. from the LSU's Paul M. Hebert Law Center, where he served three years as class president and competed in professional basketball negotiation competitions hosted by Tulane and Fordham Law Schools. He has also served as President of the Southwest Louisiana Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section.
