During her tenure with the Charlotte 49ers, Director of Athletics Judy Rose was one of the most successful and well-respected Athletic Directors in the nation. She served as 49ers Director of Athletics for 28 years and was a member of the athletic department for 43 years. At the time of her appointment in 1990, she was just the third female to be put in charge of a Division I program.

Chief among Rose’s accomplishments with the university is the systematic growth of the 49ers program. That growth culminated with the unveiling of the Charlotte 49ers football program in 2013 – a start-up program that participated as an FCS independent for two years before moving to the FBS Conference USA in 2015. She oversaw the 49ers moves from the Sun Belt Conference to the Metro Conference to Conference USA to the Atlantic 10 and back to FBS C-USA in 2015.

Rose led the 49ers growth into a program that added seven sports during her tenure and is fully-funded at the NCAA level for athletic scholarships. In addition, she helped develop over $100 million worth of athletic facilities which covered all areas of the overall student-athlete development and fan experience. In 2012, the football fieldhouse was named in her honor: Judy W. Rose Football Center.

Rose served on several national committees over the years, most notably the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee (first woman ever named to this prestigious committee), NCAA Division I Council, NCAA Walter Byers Post Graduate Scholarship Committee (Chair), NCAA Sport and Championship Cabinet (Chair), NCAA Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee, and the NCAA College Basketball Partnership Committee. She served as President of the National Association of Collegiate Director of Athletics (2003-04) and was a 2019 inductee to the NACDA Hall of Fame.

Rose lettered in basketball at Winthrop University and did her graduate work at the University of Tennessee while serving as an assistant coach to the legendary Pat Summitt. Judy and her husband Ken reside in Denver, North Carolina, where she continues to be very active and recognized for her service to the Charlotte community.