John Junker

Junker became the Executive Director of the Fiesta Bowl in 1990 and was named the President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2000. He began at the Fiesta Bowl in 1980 and was responsible for the development of the bowl's marketing department and participated in negotiations with Sunkist Growers, which resulted in the first corporate sponsorship of a New Year's Day bowl game. Junker left the Fiesta Bowl in 1989 to serve as the executive director of the Sun Bowl. He stayed at the Sun Bowl for one year, before returning to the Fiesta Bowl in 1990 as the bowl’s fourth executive director. Junker served three years as the chair of the College Football Bowl Association, where he led the executive directors of the 19 bowl games and represented the bowls at meetings between the CFBA and the NCAA Postseason Football Committee. He also served as assistant press venue director for boxing in the Games of the XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles and as press center director for the Pastoral visit of Pope John Paul II to Phoenix in 1986. Junker originally got his start in collegiate athletics at Scottsdale Community College and Arizona State University, where he worked in the sports information office at both institutions. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Catholic Life Productions and was named to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism Hall of Fame at Arizona State University. A native of Akron, Ohio, Junker graduated from Arizona State University in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcasting. He and his wife, Susan, reside in Phoenix with their daughter, Lucy, and son, Michael.