Mary Berdo joined the Yale Athletic Department as Deputy Athletic Director in the spring of 2019. She is the sport supervisor for volleyball, women’s soccer, men's basketball and men's lacrosse.
Berdo has direct oversight of Brand Management, Events and Championships Management, Campus Recreation, Athletic Medicine and the Yale Golf Course.
Berdo comes to Yale by way of Colgate University, the NCAA national office and the University of Michigan.
Berdo served as Associate Athletic Director at Colgate University and was promoted to Senior Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator in 2018. She was a member of the department's executive senior staff and oversaw the areas of Sports Performance, Equipment Services, the Trudy Fitness Center, and Physical Education and Recreation.
The administrative veteran created a sport administration program and had sport oversight of men's basketball, women's basketball, field hockey, women's lacrosse, women's soccer, volleyball and men's and women's swimming and diving. Berdo also served on several athletics working groups that developed financial responsibility practices, and facilities and financial aid strategic plans for the university Board of Trustees.
Prior to Colgate, Berdo worked eight years at the NCAA national headquarters in the Championships and Alliances Department. She served as the Associate Director of Championships from 2015 to 2017, and Assistant Director from 2009 to 2015.
Berdo oversaw and managed championships for Division I field hockey, women's lacrosse, women's soccer (College Cup), men's swimming and diving, women's tennis, volleyball, wrestling, Division II softball, Division III women's basketball and women's golf, and the multidivisional championship for men's gymnastics.
Before joining the NCAA, Berdo spent five years as Assistant Director of Events and Championships at the University of Michigan. She was the on-site manager for 15 varsity sports and served as assistant tournament director for 10 NCAA and 12 Big Ten championships hosted on the Michigan campus.
Berdo is a native of Washington, Iowa. She earned her bachelor's degree in communication studies in 2001 at the University of Iowa and added a master's in sports administration in 2004 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Berdo played collegiate basketball at Iowa, helping the Hawkeyes to the 2001 Big Ten tournament championship and automatic NCAA berth. Berdo was the first Iowa prep to score 2,000 career points in the five-player era, finishing with 2,206. She later was inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Hall of Fame. In 2018, the Des Moines Register named her as one of the "Top 50 Best High School Basketball Players" in the state.
