For more than a decade, Roby—who served as Dartmouth's interim athletics director from February 2021 through June 2022 and is currently interim CEO of USRowing—was director of athletics and recreation at Northeastern University. During his tenure leading the 18-sport department, 17 teams won postseason conference championships and 15 teams competed in NCAA tournaments.
While at Northeastern, Roby served a five-year term as a member of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee, which selects and seeds the annual NCAA tournament field. Previously, he led Northeastern's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, which seeks to create social change using the influence and appeal of sports.
A government major at Dartmouth, Roby served as co-captain of the men's basketball team his senior year and began his coaching career as the team's assistant coach, going on to serve as an assistant coach for the U.S. Military Academy, Stanford University, and Harvard University, and six seasons as Harvard's head coach.
In 2007, Roby, who has a master's degree in leadership from Northeastern, was named one of the 100 most influential sports educators in America by the Institute for International Sport, and in 2020 he was inducted into Northeastern's Athletics Hall of Fame.
Roby served for eight years as a member of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which works to develop and lead change that prioritizes the education, health, safety, and success of student-athletes, and is a strategic consultant to the NCAA and its leadership development programs.
In addition to his work in athletics, Roby spent over 10 years at Reebok, including three as vice president of U.S. marketing. He has served as an at-large representative on the Dartmouth Alumni Council, as secretary of his class, and as a volunteer for the Dartmouth College Fund.
Roby and his wife, Debbie Gries, have five children in their blended family.