College Baseball Foundation Welcomes Hertz And Merritt To Board Of Trustees

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The College Baseball Foundation (CBF) announced the addition of Jared Hertz and Jim Merritt to its Board of Trustees.

Hertz, a former collegiate baseball player at both Gonzaga and UCLA, now serves as a senior associate athletics director for major gifts at Gonzaga University. Merritt played baseball at Richmond and now is the vice chancellor for principal gifts at Pepperdine University.

“We are excited to welcome these outstanding individuals to become members of the Board of Trustees,” CBF CEO and Executive Director Tom Jacobs said. “Each of them bring outstanding energy and passion for the great sport of college baseball and have a collective history of connectivity to the sport, both of them having played at the collegiate level and now working in higher education. Both Jared and Jim have deep and specific skill sets in fundraising and development that will be of great benefit to the Board as we continue to work towards the opening the College Baseball Hall of Fame in Overland Park, Kan.”

The CBF is the parent organization of the College Baseball Hall of Fame (CBHOF). The new members are among 20 trustees who present annual player and coach awards and induct a new class of Hall of Fame honorees each year, including the 2025 College Baseball Hall of Fame class, which was recently announced and will be honored at the Night of Champions on February 11-12, 2026, in Overland Park.

The College Baseball Foundation Board of Trustees are led by chairman Craig Ramsey, vice-chairman Rick Greenspan, treasurer Chris Snead and secretary Aaron Hill. Other Board of Trustees members include Dale Ancell, Lori Bertman, Justin Dedeaux, Mike Fiore (CBHOF inductee), Tim Fitzpatrick, Jim Hendry, Hertz, Jana Howser-Stephenson, Gerald Jones, Tai Kreidler, Arlene Matthews, Merritt, Gene Stephenson (CBHOF inductee), Kevin Trainor, Alfred White and John Winters.

Jared Hertz

Jared Hertz is the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Major Gifts at Gonzaga University. Prior to his current role, he served as an Assistant Athletics Director for Business Operations for the Bulldogs. Hertz began his collegiate baseball career at UCLA, spending 1996-98 with the Bruins. He then transferred to Gonzaga where he played for the Bulldogs from 1999-2001. During his tenure in Spokane, he earned first-team All-West Conference and Academic All-America honors. Hertz received his undergraduate degree in business administration, earning Summa Cum Laude honors. He also earned his master’s in business administration from Gonzaga.

Jim Merritt

Jim Merritt serves as the Vice Chancellor for Principal Gifts at Pepperdine University. Prior to his stint in Malibu, Merritt spent 24 years in various university and athletics roles at his alma mater the University of Richmond. He was a major gifts officer and regional development officer for the university. In his tenure with the athletics department, Merritt served in several marketing and business development roles as well as serving as the Director of the Spider Athletic Fund and Spider Club. A four-year baseball letterman for the Spiders, Merritt was a member of Richmond’s 1986 Colonial Athletic Association championship team that earned an NCAA Regional berth. He was a two-time all star as a position player and pitcher in the Ban Johnson league in Kansas City, including winning pitcher of the year honors in 1986.