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Kurt Svoboda
| Title: | Assistant Director of Athletics |
| Phone: | (617) 495-2206 |
| Email: | ksvoboda@fas.harvard.edu |
| College: | Colby-Sawyer '00; Harvard ALM '09 |
- Follow Kurt via Twitter: @ksvoboda
- Follow Harvard Athletics via Twitter: @HarvardCrimson
Kurt Svoboda has been at Harvard since 2005 and is an Assistant Athletic Director serving as the department's chief public and media relations executive. Svoboda is the departmental spokesperson responsible for disseminating information for the nation's largest Division I intercollegiate athletic program, with 41 varsity programs, to appropriate organizations.
Svoboda leads the communications team in integrating relationships between the public and Harvard athletics – including general counsel, marketing, development, alumni relations, facilities and event operations. Working directly with athletic marketing, Svoboda executes branding and promotional efforts in the department's print and online platforms.
On the individual sport level, Svoboda works directly with football, men's basketball, baseball and skiing. He has also served as the contact for men's and women's soccer, men's and women's golf, men's and women's squash and men's and women's water polo during his tenure.
In 2006, Svoboda oversaw more than 200 media members as the host coordinator for the NCAA Women's Final Four at the TD Banknorth Garden. His office also hosted the 2008 and 2009 Men's Lacrosse Championships at sold-out Gillette Stadium with the Division I Final Four and the Division II and III championship games. The tournaments set attendance records in both years with over 100 media members on hand.
Prior to Harvard, Svoboda served as the director of sports information at Saint Anselm College from 2001-05, becoming the youngest director in the nation at any level with his appointment in 2001. He was the recipient of 18 district and national publications awards, including the nation's top baseball media guide (Division B) in 2003, the best media guide cover in 2005 and a second-place finish for his 2002-03 men's basketball media guide.
In 2009 Svoboda completed his master's degree from Harvard in liberal arts management with a concentration in finance and control, graduating with honors. Svoboda is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Colby-Sawyer College with a B.S. in exercise and sport sciences and a discipline in sport management.
As an undergraduate, Svoboda was a four-year letterwinner with the baseball team, earning academic all-conference honors and playing on two conference championship squads. After graduating, he served as the first James "Lou" Gorman Publicist for the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) while also working as an assistant director of sports information and assistant baseball coach at Franklin Pierce University.
After a two-year stint as an assistant baseball coach in the NECBL, he returned to the central office as deputy commissioner of the league, responsible for player contracts and eligibility while serving as the liaison with the Major League Baseball scouting bureau.
Svoboda has served as an official scorer for the N.H. Fisher Cats AA-level baseball team (Toronto Blue Jays affiliate) and the N.H. Wolves Arena Football League team. He is currently active in regional youth baseball and has coached with successful programs including the New Hampshire Blackflies, New England Ruffnecks and Nokona USA Baseball travel programs.
Svoboda resides in Jamaica Plain, Mass., with his wife, Joanna, and their son, Jaxon.









