Vice President, Communications
Gene Dias joined the Astros in February of 2009 and now enters his 15th season with the ballclub. Prior to joining the Houston organization, he spent close to 20 years with the Philadelphia Phillies in both Media and Community Relations.
Following the 2017 season, Gene was named the recipient of the 2017 Robert O. Fishel Award for Public Relations Excellence. The Fishel Award goes to the ¡°active, non-uniformed representative of Major League Baseball whose ethics, character, dedication, service, professionalism and humanitarianism best represent the standards propounded by Robert O. Fishel.¡±
Gene plays a major role in baseball and business communications for the Astros and supports initiatives throughout the organization. He has guided his staff through seven of the last eight postseasons, including Houston¡¯s first World Series Championship in franchise history in 2017 and it¡¯s second World Series title in 2022, along with its AL Pennant-winning runs in 2019 and 2021. Since 2017, the Astros have played more postseason games (86) and have the most postseason wins (53) of any club in baseball, having advanced to the ALCS in each of the past six seasons and the World Series in four of the last six seasons.
In 2017, the Astros received the Allan H. Selig Award for Philanthropic Excellence in recognition of the Houston Astros Community Leaders program. Additionally, Gene and his staff oversaw the Hall of Fame inductions of Craig Biggio (2015) and Jeff Bagwell (2017), who were the first two Astros ever to reach Cooperstown. The Astros¡¯ Communications team assembled far-reaching media campaigns for each player.
From 1989 to 2008, Gene worked for the Phillies, first as an intern in the ticket sales office before joining the Media Relations staff full-time. After serving as Media Relations Manager, he was promoted to Director of Community Relations in 2000, where he was instrumental in creating a number of community-based programs and events, many of which are still in place today. Gene also helped to grow the club¡¯s footprint in the community through increased media coverage and by increasing the dollars raised for the club¡¯s charity. He was successful in increasing the player¡¯s community involvement and was a member of the Phillies Charities, Inc. Board of Directors. In 2003, the Phillies received the prestigious Philadelphia Sports Congress Community Service Award for the first time. Prior to joining the Phillies, Gene worked as a sports editor for Associated Newspapers in Stoughton, MA.
Throughout his career in baseball, Gene has worked with Major League Baseball, assisting with the media relations duties at several World Series, League Championship Series and All-Star Games. Gene is also currently a board member of the Houston Chapter of the NAACP and volunteers his time to assist with the charitable efforts of the Astros Foundation.
Gene received his Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Massachusetts where he was a member of the varsity baseball team. He and his wife Kandee live in Kingwood, Texas and have two children, son Maxwell and daughter Sydney. Maxwell is a current member of the University of New Orleans baseball team.