Vice President, Communications
Gene Dias joined the Astros in February of 2009 and now enters his 18th 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.
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 eight of the last nine postseasons, including Houston’s first two World Series Championships (2017, 2022) in franchise history along with its AL Pennant-winning runs in 2019 and 2021. Since 2017, the Astros have played more postseason games (97) and have the most postseason wins (59) of any club in the American League, having advanced to the ALCS in a record seven straight seasons (2017-23) and to four World Series in that span.
For several years leading up to Billy Wagner’s Hall of Fame induction in 2025, Gene and his staff put together an effective, far-reaching media campaign on Wagner’s behalf, targeting Hall of Fame voters. The Astros communications team also assembled similar campaigns for both Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell leading up to their respective Hall of Fame inductions in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
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, some of which are still in place today. He was also successful in increasing the player’s community involvement and was a member of the Phillies Charities, Inc. Board of Directors, playing a role in increasing the amount of dollars raised for charity. 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, Mass.
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 has also served as a board member of the Houston Chapter of the NAACP and volunteers his time to assist with the charitable efforts of the Astros Foundation.
Over the years, Gene has been recognized for his work on several occasions. In 2025, he was named as a winner of the President’s EMMY Award from the Lone Star EMMY Board of Governors, receiving this award at the annual Lone Star Sports EMMY Awards Gala in Dallas in August. In December of 2023, Gene received a “Trailblazer” award from the Houston Association of Black Journalists “in recognition of outstanding service in media and community.” 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.” In 2017, the Astros organization also received the Allan H. Selig Award for Philanthropic Excellence in recognition of the Houston Astros Community Leaders program, with the nomination being submitted by the Astros communications staff.
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, who played college baseball at the University of New Orleans and at Southern Nazarene University, was a late-round draft pick by the Astros in 2019 while Sydney is a junior at Texas A&M and a member of the Aggie Dance Team. She also competed in the Miss Texas pageant in 2025 and the Miss Texas Teen pageant in 2023, finishing second runner-up.