Carla Williams currently serves as Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Virginia. She was appointed Director of Athletics at UVA in October 2017, making history as the first female Director of Athletics at UVA and the first African-American female athletics director at a Power Five conference institution.
Drawing on 41 years of industry experience as a student-athlete, coach and administrator, Williams has brought a highly-competitive, forward-thinking approach to leading the Cavaliers through unprecedented times in collegiate athletics. Under her leadership, UVA has continued to achieve national success, bolstered by record-setting fundraising, $240 million in facility investments and innovative strategic planning to position UVA Athletics for success in this new era of Name, Image and Likeness, and revenue-sharing.
The basketball scholarship Williams received to attend the University of Georgia opened doors that shaped the course of her career. After earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology and master’s degree in public administration from Georgia, she began her coaching career before rising to become one of the nation’s leading athletics administrators. Having experienced firsthand the transformative opportunities higher education and sports can provide, Williams is passionate about creating those same opportunities for others. She challenges student-athletes to maximize their potential and pursue excellence in both their personal and professional lives.
During her nine-year tenure at UVA, Williams has witnessed countless history-making moments for the Cavaliers, including 12 national championships.
The Virginia men’s basketball team won the program’s first NCAA Championship in 2019, and the Cavalier men’s tennis team captured NCAA team titles in 2022, 2023 and 2026. The UVA women’s swimming and diving team won consecutive national championships in 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. Men’s lacrosse captured NCAA team titles in 2019 and 2021. The Cavaliers registered a fourth-place finish in the Directors’ Cup all-sports standings in 2023 and added fifth-place showings in 2024 and 2026.
In 2019, the football program won the Coastal Division and played in the ACC Championship game and Orange Bowl. In 2025, the Cavaliers won a school-record 11 games, advanced to the ACC Championship game and defeated Missouri in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl.
UVA has won 26 total ACC Championships during Williams’ tenure at Virginia.
In the classroom, UVA student-athletes have set record numbers for placement on the ACC Honor Roll, achieved the highest-grade point average totals in program history, and been recognized by the NCAA for outstanding achievement on academic progress reports. In all, 26 UVA student-athletes have earned ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors in their respective sports since 2020.
In 2018, UVA launched the Athletics Facilities Master Plan which set the course for generations of future Hoos. The plan included multiple renovations and upgrades that benefitted Virginia’s 27 sports programs. The cornerstones included the Molly and Robert Hardie Football Operations Center which opened in June of 2024, and the Harrison Family Olympic Sports Center which opened its doors in September of 2025. A central element of the plan also included the establishment of the “Center for Citizen Leaders and Sports Ethics” where student-athletes benefit from UVA’s vast network of alumni and supporters while being exposed to learning opportunities that focus on leadership, career and personal development and community engagement.
The Center for Citizen Leaders and Sports Ethics launched its groundbreaking Pathways program which uses University, community and alumni resources to connect student-athletes with areas of interest to help jump-start their career goals, enhance valuable skills and accelerate their leadership abilities.
In 2019, Williams was selected to serve on the NCAA’s initial NIL Legislation Solutions Group to examine student-athlete name, image and likeness rights and was also selected for the NCAA Federal and State Legislation Working Group.
In 2021, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips appointed Williams to the newly-formed ACC Football Subcommittee that works with the conference office and head football coaches to advance ACC football nationally.
The success of UVA under Williams and her involvement in some of college athletics’ top issues have not gone unnoticed. She was named the Women Leaders in College Sports 2019 Administrator of the Year for all NCAA Division I FBS athletics programs. In 2021 and 2024, the Sports Business Journal named her one of its finalists for Division I athletics director of the year.
In 2024, she was appointed to a three-year term on the College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee. She became the first female athletic director to participate in the selection process to establish the field to determine the CFP National Champion.
Prior to coming to Virginia, Williams served as an athletics administrator at the University of Georgia from 2004-17, where she rose through the ranks from associate athletics director to deputy athletics director, responsible for the day-to-day operations of the department and the supervision of Georgia football and women’s basketball.
Before joining the Bulldogs’ staff, Williams was an assistant director of athletics (2000-03) and an associate director of athletics (2003-04) at Vanderbilt. From 1997-98, she was coordinator for student-athlete development and life skills at Florida State. While completing her Ph.D. in sport administration at FSU, Williams was also a graduate assistant for athletic academic support from 1998-2000.
A native of LaGrange, Ga., Williams played for Georgia from 1985-89 where she was an All-SEC guard and three-year starter for the Lady Bulldogs. She finished her career ranked 10th in points (1,115), second in assists (425) and third in steals (285).
Following her playing career and master’s education, Williams was an assistant coach on Hall of Fame coach Andy Landers’ staff from 1991-96, including teams that reached the 1995 and 1996 Final Fours, with an NCAA runner-up finish in 1996. The Lady Bulldogs won the 1991 and 1996 SEC championships.
At the conclusion of the 1995-96 season, Williams moved into administration. She served as UGA’s assistant director of compliance from 1996-97 before continuing her ascent up the administrative ranks at Florida State, Vanderbilt and Georgia.
The Southeastern Conference named Williams as one of its SEC Trailblazers in February of 2022 as part of its celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
Williams and her husband, Brian, who holds the title of associate professor of public policy at UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, have three children: daughters Carmen and Camryn, and son Joshua.