Former Athletic Director, University of Oregon
Pat Kilkenny has had unprecedented success both as a college athletic director and as a private businessman.
Kilkenny is the former chairman and chief executive officer of the San Diego-based Arrowhead General Insurance Agency. Under his leadership, the privately held company grew into one of the largest general insurance agencies in the country.
His time as University of Oregon athletic director started March 1, 2007. As athletic director for the Ducks, Kilkenny reinstated baseball, launched a plan to build a new baseball stadium and hired highly respected baseball coach George Horton. In addition, he added women’s competitive cheer as a new UO sport and helped create a Legacy Fund of private gifts to take the department from self-sufficient to self-sustaining.
Kilkenny also led the efforts to build Oregon’s new $200 million basketball arena, which opened as Matthew Knight Arena in 2010. In honor of his contributions to University of Oregon Athletics, the floor has been named the “Kilkenny Floor”.
Kilkenny has served on a number of prestigious boards, including the University of Oregon Athletic Department Advisory Board, the Board of Trustees for the University of Oregon Foundation, the University of California-San Diego Athletic Advisory Board, San Diego State University Athletic Director’s Cabinet, the St. Vincent de Paul Village in San Diego and, the San Diego International Sports Council, which named him 2006 Man of the Year for his contributions to sports in San Diego.
A native of Heppner, Oregon, Kilkenny attended the University of Oregon in the early 1970s.