On Friday, the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) announced that it had hired Andrea Williams as the school’s new director of intercollegiate athletics.
Williams is the current Chief Experiential Officer of the Utah Jazz, where she’s worked in that position since 2021, and she will begin her new role at the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) school on November 16th.
“Andrea Williams brings a wealth of experience across collegiate and professional sports and a proven track record of success in managing complex athletic programs, and expanding partnerships with other institutions, conferences and organizations,” said Marie Lynn Miranda, chancellor of UIC, in a statement. “Her strategic vision for our athletic programs will elevate UIC’s national profile for our Division I teams while remaining deeply committed to the academic success and personal growth of our student-athletes.”
Williams will arrive in Chicago with 25 years of experience in both professional and collegiate sports.
After working at the Big Ten for a decade, she headed to Utah in 2016 as the new Commissioner of the Big Sky Conference, making her the first Black woman to lead an NCAA Division I conference.
In 2018, she left the Big Sky to become the Chief Operating Officer of the College Football Playoff, where she remained until returning to the state of Utah in 2021 with the Jazz.
Now she returns to college athletics, where she first made her mark as a two-sport athlete at Texas A&M and the first Aggie to letter in both volleyball and basketball in the same season. After graduating, she got her MBA from Ohio University and began her athletics career with stops at the NCAA, Sun Belt Conference and the Big Ten.
“I am thrilled about joining the Flames family and working to further elevate UIC’s nationally competitive athletic programs,” said Williams. “It is an honor to be selected as UIC’s next director of athletics, and I am grateful to Chancellor Miranda and the search committee for extending this incredible opportunity. UIC offers outstanding opportunities for student-athletes to achieve success across its many athletic programs while also being supported academically and personally at one of the nation’s top public research universities. UIC is positioned to excel athletically at the conference and NCAA levels, and I am excited to join the Flames’ tremendous athletes, coaches and staff on that mission.”
Congratulations Andrea!
