California Irvine Athletics

A member of the UC Irvine Athletics Department since May 2022, Brandon Leimbach serves as the Senior Associate Athletics Director, Executive Director of Development.
 
In his role, Leimbach provides oversight for the Anteater Club. He is directly responsible for managing all philanthropic efforts for the Athletics Department. In addition, he serves as the sport supervisor for Baseball and Men's Basketball.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the Anteater Club set records for most dollars ever raised in a year, secured the largest gift in the history of the program, executed a fourth straight Giving Day record total, and in a three-year span saw total giving increase by over 629%. The Anteater Club is currently at 97% towards the $20,000,000 athletics goal of the campus-wide, UC Irvine Brilliant Future Campaign.

In his previous role at Fort Lewis College, Leimbach served as the Director of Athletics and facilitated record setting Giving Day totals three years in a row, securing the largest gift in the history of the College to construct an 11,000 square foot strength and conditioning center.

Prior to Fort Lewis, he was the Director of Development for the Buff Club, the fundraising arm of the University of Colorado Athletics where he secured the largest gift in the history of the CU football program and was responsible for managing the Southern California Buff Club from San Diego to Santa Barbara. He also spent three years on the CU campus working for Learfield as Senior Manager, Business Development for Buffalo Sports Properties where he managed a list of nationally recognized corporate partners. 

Leimbach has spent his entire career in collegiate athletics, including his role as the Director of Athletics at NCAA Division II Dominican University of California from 2013-2015 following a stint at Colorado School of Mines, where he served as Associate Director of Athletics from 2002-2013, and a two-year stop at UC Irvine as the Assistant Director of Recreational Sports from 2000-2002.

He started his career at the University of Notre Dame after attending Saint Mary's College of California where he earned his bachelor's degree in Kinesiology and his master's degree in athletic administration. He played football and rugby for the Gaels. 

A native of Southern California, Leimbach is a member of the Fountain Valley High School Sports Hall of Fame in football and basketball, was named FVHS's Male Student-Athlete of The Year as a senior in 1994 and honored as the MVP of the Sunset League in basketball.