Derek van der Merwe is entering his fifth year at the University of Arizona as Associate Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, working on the day-to-day internal management of the department and chief financial officer duties.
Van der Merwe has worked in higher education for more than 25 years and currently serves as the sport administrator for football while directly supervising facility and event management as well as marketing, ticketing, communications, business operations and equipment. His supervisor duties include medical services, which includes oversight of physicians, strength and conditioning, athletic trainers, nutrition, and sport psychology.
In 2019, he led the creation of the department’s first-ever comprehensive strategic plan. Entitled
“The Wildcat Way”, Arizona Athletics’ strategic plan is aligned with the University of Arizona’s strategic plan. He also led the department’s efforts in the process of negotiating the new $33 million university-wide beverage agreement with Coke and led the negotiations for a new agreement with ClubCorp to manage premium seating and club spaces at Arizona Stadium. His involvement in the ClubCorp project also helped create faculty and staff club at Arizona’s football facility. This agreement is estimated to generate over $25 million in new revenue for the department over the term of the agreement with negotiations also including a new training table financial model for student-athletes as a part of deal.
Van der Merwe also has oversight and management responsibility for the department’s $90 million annual operating budget and is responsible for leading the department’s comprehensive master planning process.
Currently he is working with the University’s Campus Health Department to create a new Independent Medical Care model that is aligned with the new medical recommendations from the NCAA and the Sports Science Institute to prevent catastrophic injuries and death in intercollegiate athletics
He came to Arizona after spending five years at Austin Peay State University. As Vice President of the University, he was responsible for fundraising, community relations, public relations, marketing, communications, alumni relations, and developing APSU’s first comprehensive strategic plan. During his tenure, the University experienced the second and third highest fundraising totals in the institution’s history and enrolled its three largest freshmen classes. Austin Peay was recognized by the Nashville Business Journal as the top non-profit in the region and also received recognition from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in 2017 with the Education Award of Excellence for Overall Improvement in fundraising. The University has been identified by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) as one of the fastest growing public institutions.
While at Austin Peay, van der Merwe served as the Executive Director of the Austin Peay Foundation and was involved in re-writing its bylaws and policies. He also played a key role in preparing the foundation, and the University. for a comprehensive fundraising campaign. Van der Merwe also served as a board member on the Tennova Healthcare hospital board and on numerous other University and community committees, including a county committee working to construct more than $100 million multi-purpose events as well as a basketball and hockey venue.
Van der Merwe started at Austin Peay as the Director of Athletics for two years before being promoted to Vice President and serving on President Alisa White’s senior leadership team responsible for the overall management of the University. As Athletics Director, he oversaw the construction of the new football stadium and secured a $2.5 million naming rights agreement. His first year leading the athletics department saw the creation of a new comprehensive strategic plan, redefinition of corporate sponsorship and priority seating strategies in addition to the creation of a new brand and identity position for the campus and athletics department.
Van der Merwe arrived at Austin Peay from Central Michigan University where he served as the Deputy Athletics Director and Chief Operating Officer. He tenure at CMU began in the mid-1990’s as an academic advisor and life skill coordinator before becoming an associate director of athletics of NCAA compliance for the eight years. In 2005, he took on overall supervision of business, event management, facility operations, and was assigned sport supervision responsibilities. While in Mount Pleasant, he supervised the $22 million renovation and expansion of the University’s basketball arena and events center. Van der Merwe would later go on to oversee communications, ticketing, and fundraising as well as developing and coordinating two comprehensive Title IX Gender Equity studies and reports. He also served as an NCAA peer reviewer for multiple Division I institutions going through NCAA membership certification in the early 2000’s and oversaw CMU’s NCAA membership certification process.
He finished his tenure at CMU in 2013 with sport supervision responsibilities for football, basketball, baseball, softball, and field hockey. He also served a four-year stint on the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee, from 2007-11, including one year as its chair.
A former student-athlete himself, van der Merwe was an offensive lineman at CMU from 1991-95. He helped the Chippewas to the MAC title in 1994 and earned Academic All-MAC honors as a co-captain in 1995. He received both a bachelor's degree (1996) and a master's degree (2005) from Central Michigan.
Van der Merwe was born and raised in South Africa in a missionary family. He is passionate about health, fitness, reading, and his family. He is married to Stephanie Paris, a former collegiate softball player and coach, and has four children: Emily, Lauren, Ian, and Patton.
