Dennis Cleary Jr.
Senior Director, Remote Production Operations
ESPN
About Dennis Cleary Jr.
Dennis Cleary Jr. is an ESPN veteran of more than 25 years currently serving as senior director of remote production operations at ESPN. In this role, he leads the technical and operational planning for a wide range of marquee events. His current portfolio includes the Masters, PGA Championship, NFL, WNBA, Olympic college sports, Special Olympics, the Rose Parade, and all four tennis Grand Slams: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
Cleary joined ESPN in 1997 as a studio technician in production operations before moving to remote production in 2001. He rose through the ranks with roles including operations coordinator, operations producer, and senior operations producer. He was promoted to manager in 2010, associate director in 2014, and named to his current position in 2018.
Throughout his tenure, Cleary has also overseen production operations for a wide range of sports and major events including college basketball, motorsports (NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA), boxing, soccer, Major League Baseball, the College World Series, Little League World Series, and the Scripps National Spelling Bee. He also led ESPN’s coverage of the Special Olympics World Games (Los Angeles 2015, Austria 2017, Abu Dhabi 2019) and USA Games (Seattle 2018), as well as the 2016 Invictus Games.
His contributions have helped earn ESPN multiple Sports Emmy Awards, including recognition for the US Open, NFL Draft, and College GameDay. He has been part of more than 20 Sports Emmy-nominated productions across different categories.
Cleary holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Quinnipiac University and lives in Connecticut.
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