Volkert is pleased to welcome Jay Roberson to our team as Assistant Vice President for Business Development. Jay comes to Volkert with over 20 years of experience in marketing, sports administration, and elective office. Jay will be based in Birmingham and assist multiple Volkert regions in developing client relationships and project opportunities. In July, Jay will transition to Volkert from his role as a Vice President for the 2022 World Games, which open in Birmingham on July 7.
A native of Birmingham, Jay has served in multiple roles in athletics and politics as President of the Birmingham Iron, as a collegiate athletics administration as a senior executive in Division I Athletics, as the owner of a sports marketing/management company, and serving on Birmingham City Council (2009-2018) as President Pro-Tempore. Roberson served as the Secretary of the BJCC Board and was a key player with many others in negotiations for the development of Protective Stadium and the expansion of Legacy Arena.
For 19 years, Roberson’s company Top Ten Management, LLC has been responsible for managing sporting events, marketing, working on public policy for sports, business development, and strategic partnerships with various organizations throughout the United States and internationally. As a senior-level executive in collegiate athletics, Roberson served the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Associate Commissioner (2002-2005) and Associate Director of Athletics at Samford University (2005-2013). At both of these well-known collegiate organizations, he developed product licensing programs, led fundraising efforts, and created strategic partnerships that created millions of dollars of revenue to support sports and its member institutions. A highlight was Roberson’s groundbreaking negotiations with ESPN on a 7-year television deal to broadcast Historically Black Colleges football games on a national stage while at the SWAC.
With nearly 10 years in public office, Roberson focused on enhancing the overall visual appearance of the City of Birmingham. Roberson served as the Secretary of the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Complex Board (BJCC) and was a key player with many others in the negotiations for the development of Protective Stadium in Birmingham, AL. He also led the drive for development as a City Councilor to eliminate a food desert in southwest Birmingham by negotiating a commercial shopping center that now features the largest Publix Supermarket in the metropolitan area. Due to a large part of Roberson’s consistent discussions with the private sector, there has been over $1 Billion of development that he has led or been a part of in Birmingham. Roberson is very civic-minded and has served on several prestigious boards including The Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Board (2012-2018); the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Board (2012-2018), the A.G. Gaston Boys and Club Board of Directors (2011-current), and Lakeshore Foundation – United States Olympic & Paralympic National Advisory Council (2021-2023).
Roberson received an athletics scholarship in football to Middle Tennessee State University in 1991. He transferred to Alabama A&M University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications in 1996. Roberson was an all-conference quarterback for the Bulldogs from 1992-1994. Roberson received his Master of Science in Hospitality Management with a Sports Hospitality concentration in 2021 from the University of Alabama. Roberson and his wife, Niva have three children: Lia, Tre’, and Ava.