Carla Williams was named Virginia’s director of athletics October 22, 2017.
Previously, Williams served as an athletics administrator at the University of Georgia for 13 years and was named deputy director of athletics in 2015. During Williams’ tenure as an administrator at Georgia, its athletics teams won 16 NCAA team championships and 37 Southeastern Conference titles.
With the appointment, Williams became the first female African-American athletics director at a Power Five conference institution and is the fifth active female athletics director at that level.
In her role as deputy director of athletics at Georgia, Williams was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the department and its $127 million budget. She served as administrator for the Bulldogs’ football and Lady Bulldogs’ women’s basketball programs and also had supervisory responsibility for academic support services, business operations, compliance, event management, external operations, facilities and new construction, human resources, sports facilitators (21 sports and 15 head coaches), sports medicine, strength and conditioning, student services and ticketing. She helped to oversee $162 million in facility additions, upgrades and improvements for the UGA athletics program.
Williams has the unique background of competing, coaching and administering at the highest levels of intercollegiate athletics. She was an All-SEC guard on the basketball court, then helped recruit and coach some of the greatest teams in Georgia’s history before moving on to become one of the highest-ranking female administrators in Division I athletics.
Williams began her administrative career at Georgia in 2004. She served as associate athletic director (2004-2008), senior associate athletic director (2008-2011) and executive associate athletic director (2011-2015) before being promoted to deputy director of athletics.
Williams was instrumental in Georgia’s programming to enhance the lives of its student-athletes and prepare them for a life beyond athletics, including its comprehensive “The Georgia Way” program. She also helped build ties for Bulldog alumni, including the creation of UGA’s NFL alumni development program. Her involvement at Georgia included serving as a member of the student-athlete conduct committee and student wellness committee.
A native of LaGrange, Ga., Williams was a three-year starter for the Lady Bulldogs from 1987-89. She finished her career with 1,115 points, 425 assists and 285 steals. Those tallies ranked No. 10, No. 2 and No. 3 among Georgia’s career leaders at the completion of her career.
Williams and her husband, Brian, who held the title of associate professor of public administration & policy in UGA’s School of Public & International Affairs, have three children: daughters, Carmen and Camryn, and a son, Joshua.