Born and raised on the East Coast, Sean Lester is ready to give Midwestern living a try.

“I’ve not been in Kansas, but I’ve known about Kansas for many years because of athletics. Kansas’ name in athletics is tremendous,” said Lester, a 36-year-old native of Storrs, Conn., who Friday was named KU associate athletic director of internal affairs. Lester spent the past six years working at UConn on the staff of first-year Jayhawk AD Lew Perkins.

“It’s very exciting to be here. I’m looking forward to a change — a change in lifestyle and professionally. The opportunity here is tremendous because it’s the Big 12. It’s Kansas athletics. It’s awesome,” Lester added.

A former college soccer player, Lester earned a bachelor’s degree from Eastern Connecticut State University in 1992 and a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1996.

At UConn from 1996 to 2001, Lester served as director of athletic operations and event services. He was in charge of a customer-relations program, negotiated marketing proposals, helped increase annual gift-giving and helped to restructure the entire department.

After spending seven months as a general sales manager at Clear Channel Communications, Lester returned to UConn in December of 2001 as assistant AD for facility management and planning.

He was responsible for a $4 million budget and seven departments, including video services, event management, facility maintenance, ice arena services and concession services. He also was responsible for capital projects, and was UConn’s main contact during the construction of a $91 million, 40,000-seat football stadium that opened last month.

“Above all else, I am a student-athlete guy. Working for Lew, it gets in your head,” Lester said. “Lew is all about helping the student-athlete and the coaches.”

Of Lester, Perkins said: “We feel very fortunate that Sean agreed to join our staff at KU. He is an extremely talented and bright young person who has a great future in this business.”

Though his duties at KU were not announced, Lester will be involved in strategic planning with members of various departments who will report to him.

“I have not been here long enough to know what all the coaches need,” Lester said, asked about facility improvements. “Lew’s mission is to have coaches succeed. He will try to give them everything they need. To recruit, coaches need top-notch facilities.”

There is a project to move the football offices to Memorial Stadium. As far as Allen Fieldhouse, the wish list includes a videoboard, Hall of Fame area, cleaning of the outside of the building and improving the restrooms on the first floor.

“Allen Fieldhouse has history. You walk in there, it’s awesome. It’s preserving the history and what you have in there while making it as comfortable as possible for patrons,” Lester said.