Staff Spotlight: Robert Silk

This is the 19th in a biweekly series spotlighting the men and women behind the scenes supporting Temple Athletics.

Robert Silk, who joined the Owl Club staff as the Assistant Director of Development in January 2020, was promoted to Associate Director in June 2021 and elevated to Major Gifts Officer in April 2023.

Silk is responsible for soliciting and securing leadership level annual gifts to support the mission of the University and Athletics Department.

A longtime supporter of Temple, Silk served as chair of the Owl Club Legends Society and a member of the Acres of Diamonds Gala Committee. He has 30 years of workforce experience, serving as the Vice President and Founding Partner of a successful multi-million-dollar small business.

Silk is a 1988 graduate of Temple with a degree in business. A four-year member of the Temple crew team, his Owls boats won four-straight Dad Vail Regatta heavyweight eight titles during his career.

You are in your third year on the Temple Athletics Staff. Talk about your decision to return to your alma mater in your current role?
"Coming back to Temple to be employed was like a dream. It was like coming home for real. I was not really sure what I was going to be doing and did not have any real experience in development, but Pat Kraft thought that I would be a good fit for it. I do not even consider it a job. I consider this like a fabulous hobby that I am paid to do. I am meeting with old friends, making new friends, connecting with alumni. I have been going to events for 30 years and now I am making it part of my job."

You have a long history with Temple, starting with your undergraduate days as a rower. What lured you to Temple from Canada as a high school rower?
"I rowed in high school up in Canada and I came down to the Stotesbury Regatta where we won the men's heavyweight eight by about two feet. (Temple coach) Gavin White then came up to me and said, 'Our program just won the Dad Vail for the first time in history and we want to continue to win the Dad Vails. I would like to offer you a full scholarship for the next five years to come to Temple.' My only question to him was, 'What's a Temple?"

I had never heard of Temple before then. I was excited that they believed in me, so my family and I traveled down from Canada about two weeks later for a tour of the campus. I fell in love with it from the moment I got here, and I said, 'Dad, this is the place for me.'"

Talk about your success in business and building a successful small business?
"I graduated from the School of Business at Temple and went to work for a huge company, Pitney Bowes, selling their copiers and their mail machines. I did not believe in their product, so I had a hard time selling it. My partner and I started a vending business when we were 25 years old, and we could sell our business because it was ours. We believed everything we were saying and that we were doing. So, if we made a promise, we did not have to worry about anybody else having to back it up.

I have sort of taken that mindset to Temple. I do not make promises that I cannot keep. If I say I can get you football tickets, I will get you football tickets. If I say I can get you a lunch with the Athletic Director or (Executive Sr. Associate AD) Ed Stoner or with a coach, I know I can back it up. I can sell if I can tell the truth. But when you are in some businesses selling stuff, they want you to "be creative" and I get very nervous and cannot stand being creative. I only like to sell something that I believe in."

What has been the most rewarding thing about your decision to join the Temple Athletics Staff?
"The number one thing that I am most proud of is putting the women's varsity eight in a brand-new boat last year. It wasn't hard for me to get all my classmates and friends to donate (for the men's team). I knew I could convince all my friends to support men's crew, but when (head coach) Rebecca (Grzybowski) came to me and said they had not had a new boat in eight years, I thought it would be easy, but it wasn't. They do not have major donors who will just write big checks. I had to grind for three months. I told the coaching staff that I would not raise money for the men's program until I was able to get them a new boat. When I was able to say, 'You have $50,000 go get a new boat' and then going down and watching our women unwrap it, it brought a tear to my eye. It was awesome."

What is your favorite Temple Athletics memory?
"Personally, when we got Sean Brennan, who was dying of brain cancer, his gold medal. His goal in life was to get a gold medal at the Dad Vail Regatta, and in 1985, when we crossed that line and got Sean him his gold medal. That was it.

He was our coxswain. He rowed at Father Judge High and his goal was to go to Temple. He knows he has brain cancer. He goes to Temple and wins a gold medal. It meant so much to him, and to all of us.

There were other great moments. Like seeing Mark Macon play basketball and being #1 in the country my senior year, but nothing means more to me than Shawn Brennan's gold."

Temple University Athletics

Staff Spotlight: Robert Silk

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