ISU Athletic Director Bruce Van De Velde has found his right-hand person.

Laird Veatch, former assistant athletic director for development at the University of Missouri, has been hired as senior associate athletic director at Iowa State.

Veatch said he is thrilled to be in Ames and a part of the ISU community. He said he’s most excited about the people he’ll get to work with in the athletic department and the community.

“I’m so excited to be a part of this,” Veatch said. “It’s a great opportunity for me not only from a career standpoint, but it’s a great staff and it’s a great community. It’s what I’m used to in many ways. The Big 12 is kind of home. I think it’s great for us.”

Veatch’s duties at Iowa State will include overseeing external affairs, primary dealing with increasing revenue and helping the staff grow, he said.

He also plans to help Van De Velde with the management of the athletic department and help him achieve his goals for the department.

Van De Velde did not return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday.

He addressed Veatch’s hiring in a press release issued by the athletic department.

“I believe his interpersonal skills, background and work ethic will greatly enhance our department and serve our student-athletes, coaches and staff well,” Van De Velde said. “Laird is an outstanding individual with great organizational skills and a person of high integrity.”

Despite the slow economy and last year’s budget crunch-induced elimination of two sports programs at Iowa State, Veatch remained confident that Iowa State is headed in the right direction. He said he hopes to expand on the course the department has been taking.

“It’s constantly a battle to generate the revenue to remain competitive,” Veatch said.

Nevertheless, Veatch said he’s up to the challenge.

While at Missouri, Veatch oversaw all of the fund-raising activities for the athletic department, according to the press release. He was mainly focused on facility and capital fund-raising projects.

He said his new position with Iowa State is definitely a step up from his duties at Missouri.

“I’ve been brought up with the system,” Veatch said. “I’ve worked closely with the person that was in my shoes at Missouri. I’ve seen all that happen. As they say, I maybe wasn’t the person, but I was in the room.”

Veatch, a former Kansas State football player, has also assisted with the development program and external affairs at the University of Texas during his career.

He said he was encouraged to hear head football coach Dan McCarney and head women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly speak at Monday’s Cyclone Club outing in Marshalltown about how their programs can help some of the smaller athletic programs at Iowa State.

“That’s a refreshing and very positive outlook,” Veatch said. “The most important thing to understand is that it’s about all of our student-athletes.

“Everything we do has a big picture on it. The revenue generated from [football and basketball] is to help all the programs. It’s a big-picture issue.”