After previously serving the conference as both the Associate Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner for Strategic Communications and the Director of Media Relations since his hiring in October of 2010, Rafferty changed roles to the Associate Commissioner for Operations & Championships in August of 2023.  

Rafferty will now oversee the league’s day-to-day operations and will plan and execute all aspects of each of the ECC’s championships. Before moving into his new role, Rafferty managed the conference's promotional and publicity efforts including maintaining the ECC website and social media accounts. He also spearheaded the league's effort to create the ECC Hall of Fame and the ECC Network, the conference-wide streaming platform where he also served as producer of conference championship broadcasts.

Additionally, Rafferty has been active with NCAA committees during his time at the ECC. He currently serves as the conference's administrative representative on the NCAA Regional Advisory Committee in the sport of men's basketball after a previous stint in the same capacity for women's tennis. He also previously served a four-year term as the East Region representative on the NCAA Division II National Baseball Committee. In the role, he chaired the region's Regional Advisory Committee and assisted in administering the NCAA Division II Baseball National Championship. 

No stranger to the ECC, Rafferty spent time as both a baseball student-athlete and as a graduate assistant in the Athletic Communications office at former conference member, Dowling College. During his time at Dowling, Rafferty assisted in the promotion and publicity of their 15 NCAA varsity athletic programs. He served as the primary media contact for the women's soccer, men's basketball, women's lacrosse, and baseball programs, which entailed staffing all home contests, providing statistical support, and maintaining the athletic website along with securing feature stories in local media outlets. In addition, Rafferty was responsible for designing promotional materials for the athletic department and headed the technical aspects of the Dowling Athletics Awards Banquet.

Prior to Dowling, Rafferty spent a year as the Sports Information Director at Suffolk County Community College and oversaw the media relations of the college's 12 athletic programs. Additionally, he served as the Assistant Tournament Director for the NJCAA Cross Country National Championship, Region XV Men and Women's Basketball Tournament and Region XV Baseball Tournament.

Rafferty graduated from Dowling with a Bachelor's degree in Sport Management. He went on to receive a Master of Business Administration degree, also at Dowling, in General Management and Leadership.

A native of Averill Park, N.Y., Rafferty currently resides in Lynbrook, N.Y. with his wife Beth, daughters Natalie and Audrey, and son Calvin.