Donna Lopiano

Donna Lopiano (born September 11, 1946) is the President and founder of Sports Management Resources,^[1] a consulting firm that focuses on bringing the knowledge of experienced, expert former athletics directors to assist scholastic and collegiate athletics departments in solving growth and development challenges.

Lopiano was the Chief Executive Officer of the Women's Sports Foundation from 1992 to 2007^[2] and was recently named one of "The 10 Most Powerful Women in Sports" by Fox Sports. The Sporting News has also listed her as one of "The 100 Most Influential People in Sports."^[3] She received her bachelor's degree from Southern Connecticut State University and her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California. She has been a college coach of men's and women's volleyball, women's basketball and softball.

As an athlete, she participated in 26 national championships in four sports and was a nine-time All-American at four different positions in softball, a sport in which she played on six national championship teams including the Connecticut Brakettes.^[4][5] She is a member of the National Sports Hall of Fame, the National Softball Hall of Fame^[6] and the Texas Women's Hall of Fame, among others. In 2003, she was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame.

While playing for the Brakettes, she compiled a career record of 183–18. She delivered 1633 strikeouts in 817 innings, for an average of just under two per inning. She finished her Brakettes career in the top ten of several categories including hits, RBIs, runs and home runs.^[5]

Lopiano served for 17 years as the University of Texas' Director of Women's Athletics, from 1975 to 1992, and is a past president of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.^[7]

Notes

References

Skaine, Rosemarie (2001). Women College Basketball Coaches. Foreword by Betty F. Jaynes. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland. ISBN 9780786409204.