Allie Ware joined the VAF in July of 2025 as the Chief of Staff, bringing over a decade of experience in college athletics development to UVA. As Chief of Staff, she serves on the VAF Executive Team, leads the Foundation’s stewardship strategy, manages the VAF Board of Trustees, and oversees cross-functional engagement and programmatic initiatives to support VAF’s evolving business needs.
Prior to Virginia, she most recently served as Deputy Athletic Director for Development at Georgia Southern University. A member of the Athletic Department’s Executive Staff, Ware supervised all athletic fundraising activity and led a team of eight, overseeing major gifts, premium seating, planned giving, annual fund programs, and served as a sport administrator for multiple sports. She led the Athletic Foundation to a record-setting fiscal year in 2025.
Prior to her stop at Georgia Southern, Ware held leadership roles at Mississippi State, Yale, the University of Richmond, and Mercer University. At each institution, she led successful capital projects, launched stewardship and alumni engagement initiatives, and significantly increased donor acquisition across multiple platforms. While at Yale, she co-founded the Yale Women’s Athletic Network and helped raise $5 million for women’s athletics endowments. At Mercer, she created the Mercer Women’s Athletic Endowment, an initiative that became the first endowment of its kind in the Southern Conference and one of the first in college athletics.
Ware earned her bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Richmond, where she was captain on the women’s lacrosse team. She also holds a master’s degree in Higher Educational Leadership from Mercer University and a Sports Industry Essentials Certificate from Columbia University. In 2017, she was the first female from her high school (Milton, Ga.) to be inducted into its Hall of Fame. She was also inducted into the US Lacrosse Georgia Chapter Hall of Fame in 2021.