Entering his 21st year with the Patriot League, Wanninger was elevated to Senior Associate Commissioner for External Relations in August 2012. He joined the League in August 2005 as an Assistant Executive Director, and promoted to Associate Executive Director for External Relations in the summer of 2006. He is responsible for the oversight of the Patriot League Men's Basketball and Lacrosse Championships, as well as the League's television and digital packages, marketing and sponsorship initiatives, and the overall promotion of the League. He serves as the general manager of the League's live event digital efforts (ESPN+), and is the League's main contact with CBS Sports Network and JMI Sports. Wanninger works with the football, men's basketball and lacrosse officiating programs, various sport scheduling strategies and other League initiatives.
He interacts with each institution's athletic administration, including serving as the primary contact with sports medicine, multi-media, ticketing, development and athletic equipment staffs.
Wanninger directed the League's 25th anniversary as an all-sport conference during the 2015-16 academic year. He also spearheaded the League's 25th-anniversary celebration for the sport of football during the 2011-12 academic year after the League's 20th-anniversary celebration as an all-sport conference in 2010-11. In addition, Wanninger played an instrumental role in the League's expansion with the addition of Boston University and Loyola University Maryland as League members. During his first two years, he was the Director of each of the Patriot League's 18 championships. He also was responsible for the Patriot League receiving NCAA Women's Basketball Grants for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 campaigns.
Wanninger came to the Lehigh Valley, after four years at the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency where he served as Director of Communications and Public Affairs. While at USADA, he developed and implemented communications and public affairs plans, and managed editorial content for various publications and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency website, and assisted with various educational and government relations projects.
Other experiences in Colorado Springs included holding the post of Communications Director for USA Cycling and working at the U.S. Olympic Committee. A veteran of six Olympic Games and numerous other major international and national championship events, Wanninger has an extensive background in the fields of communications, marketing, and event and press operations. Wanninger managed the Main Press Center at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and was the Director of External Affairs for the U.S. Olympic Festival-'95, which was held in Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.
He also worked at USA Volleyball as the Director of Communications and got his start in intercollegiate athletics as an Assistant Sports Information Director and student assistant at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.
Wanninger received his Master's Degree from the University of Colorado in Public Administration after earning his undergraduate degree in journalism from ASU. He completed the executive management program at the Sports Management Institute, which provides specialized executive management programs for sports management professionals, as well as completing the Leadership Certificate Program at the Dale Carnegie Institute.
He served on the NCAA Football Rules Committee iand was the Football Rules Committee’s representative on the NCAA Committee for Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport (2021-25) as well as being a member of the CSMAS Drug-Testing Subcommittee. Wanninger was also a member of the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee (2011-15) and the Sports Video Group (SVG) College Sports Advisory Committee. In 2025, Wanninger joined the Executive Board of the Men;s Lacrosse Officiating Group (MLAXOG).
He was selected to the Sun Devil 100 Class of 2023 and 2024, an annual awards program that recognizes the fastest-growing Arizona State University alumni-owned or -led organizations. A member of the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Board of Directors (2006-2011), Wanninger also served as USILA president (2008-11). In 2018, he was a recipient of the CoSIDA 25-Year Award and garnered of five Best In The Nation awards, he also served as an adjunct professor.at De Sales University in Center Valley, Pa. Wanninger volunteers with the Arizona State University Mentoring Network and the Lehigh County Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program.