PC Degree: Bachelor of Science degree in business management

Activities Participated in as a PC Student: Men's basketball team manager

Career Path Highlights: Marinatto began his career in sports administration during his PC student years as a men's basketball team manager for then-Friars Coach Dave Gavitt ('89Hon.). After graduation, he served at PC as associate director of alumni/development and as director of sports information before being named director of athletics by the College in 1987.

As director of athletics (he later was awarded the additional title of assistant vice president for athletics), Marinatto oversaw all aspects of PC's athletics program, including a $10 million annual budget and a staff of more than 100 people.

During this time, Marinatto served as chairman of several BIG EAST committees, including as chairman of the BIG EAST Athletic Directors' Executive Committee from 1996-2000--the longest tenure of any athletic director in conference history.

Following his service as director of athletics, Marinatto moved on to the BIG EAST Conference. He became an associate commissioner in 2002 and served as the conference's chief operating officer in charge of all administrative operations, including NCAA governance, finance, compliance, communications, television, and championships.

Named senior associate commissioner in 2005, Marinatto served as a member of the NCAA Management Council and the NCAA Business and Finance Cabinet, and as the conference's representative to the NCAA Leadership Council. He also served as the chief financial and business officer of the Bowl Championship Series.

In late 2008, after a unanimous vote by BIG EAST chancellors and presidents, Marinatto was named commissioner of the BIG EAST Conference effective July 1, 2009. He succeeded longtime Commissioner Mike Tranghese '09Hon. The BIG EAST Conference is the nation's largest Division I athletic conference.

Service to the Community: Over the years, Marinatto has worked with a number of community organizations and charities including the Big Brothers of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Infantile Paralysis Association, the R.I. Center for Domestic Abuse, and the Make a Wish Foundation, among many others.
 
Staying Involved with Providence College: Marinatto received the Mal Brown Award from the Mal Brown Club, the Greater Providence Chapter of Providence College's National Alumni Association, in April 2009. The award is bestowed upon alumni/nae who have exemplified the love and loyalty for PC that was characteristic of Mal Brown. 

Marinatto established the Marinatto Family Scholarship Fund at the College in 1994.

Named the Providence College Student Congress Person of Year in 1991, Marinatto received the College's Sine Qua Non Award, an athletics award presented annually to undergraduate students "without whom there is nothing."  

"Transforming" Quotes: "Providence College provided me with a family-style, values-centered education. I think this was personified through the many people I had the pleasure of being associated with, including Father (Thomas) Peterson, Father (John) Cunningham, Lou Lamoriello, and Dave Gavitt." [The late Very Rev. Thomas R. Peterson, O.P. '51 and the late Rev. John F. Cunningham, O.P. '50 served as presidents of PC, while Lamoriello is a former longtime men's hockey coach and athletic director, and Gavitt is a former longtime men's basketball coach and athletic director.]  ..."Father Cunningham in particular influenced me in countless way-both philosophically as well as pragmatically. Father was directly responsible for the actual interviewing methodology I employed when evaluating coaching candidates at Providence College, and which I continue to use when I meet with candidates for various other positions today in order to determine if they are committed to the highest ideals."