Cavalier Corner is the publication just for UVa sports fans!
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1320235
DECEMBER 2020 29 the athletics department as a whole, and you're willing to invest in that." Palmer, who lives in Jacksonville, Fla., and is the president and chief executive officer of Regency Centers Corps, and her mother, Fran Palmer, provided the lead gift for the school's new softball stadium, Palmer Park, which opened in early March. The Palmers previously had endowed a soft- ball scholarship. Griffin, who played volleyball at UVA, has a similar viewpoint. "Having been an athlete herself, Carla talks the talk and walks the walk," Griffin noted. "The administration found someone who cares deeply about the state of athlet- ics." Griffin pledged $5 mil- lion in 2011 to help renovate Lannigan Field, the home of the Cavaliers' track and field programs. She also supported renovations to Memorial Gym- nasium, home of the UVA vol- leyball program. More recently, Griffin gave $200,000 for the operating en- dowment of the Center for Citizen Leaders and Sports Ethics, a student development program Williams has launched. She also donated $100,000 for a Griffin Leadership Fellowship that will help cover the operat- ing expenses for student development pro- gramming, including career, leadership and personal development, as well as commu- nity engagement and academic achieve- ment. "Carla is so in tune," said Griffin, a 1998 alumna. "She sees things from the ground up, and she came in and recognized the little things as well as the big things." Early in her tenure, Williams had lunch with Hardie, whose husband serves on UVA's Board of Visitors and had worked with Williams. That lunch inspired Hardie to stage an event for women to meet Wil- liams and listen to her message. "She's a very eloquent speaker, but she's also very humble," Hardie said. Working with UVA alumna Pam Edmonds, who also lives in Charlottesville, Hardie orga- nized an event for women called Hoos With Carla. It was held in May 2019 at Farmington Coun- try Club and drew 230 women. "We thought it was the great- est feeling sitting there in that room of women supporting women," Hardie said. Booth attended the Hoos With Carla event with her daughter Rachel. Booth and her husband, Rich, live in Charlottesville and are longtime supporters of UVA athletics. "We've known Carla from the begin- ning and have never been disap- pointed," said Booth, who has another daughter Morgan that graduated from UVA this year. "She's amazing, with her com- bination of being very frank and very clear-eyed about what's good, what's not good and what needs work." The Booths are especially en- thusiastic about the Center for Citizen Lead- ers and Sports Ethics, a major component of the Master Plan. "Maybe because I'm a mom, it spoke to me as the athletics direc- tor looking to the athletes as peo- ple, not just as athletes," Roxanne Booth said. "She understands that there's more to the success of the program and the success of the athletes than what happens on the court or the field." Skinner, who grew up in Charlottesville, graduated from UVA in 1985. She and her husband, Peter, lease a suite at Scott Sta- dium and have given substantial amounts to the Master Plan and for facility improvements in football, bas- ketball and baseball. Skinner worked in develop- ment at the University for six years in the 1990s, including four with the Virginia Student Aid Foundation, which is now known as the Virginia Athlet- ics Foundation. Before that, she served as director of annual giving for the Georgia Tech Athletic Association dur- ing the period when head football coach Bobby Ross built a championship program in Atlanta. "I was fortunate to be a part of that build- ing process, and it was very exciting," Skin- ner said. "When Carla came in and I got to meet her, I recog- nized that same energy that she was bringing in. "It was easy for Peter and me to cut checks and do the fun stuff — go to the basketball and football games and support those teams — but I wasn't emotion- ally invested in the success of the overall department." That changed when she met Williams. "She's just amazing," Skinner said, "and she's inspirational, with how hard she works and her integrity." Skinner's closest friends include Weiler, who graduated from UVA's McIntire School of Commerce in 1985. Weiler was a student-manager on the football team during her four years at the University, her fi- nal three seasons for head coach George Welsh. Weiler, whose maiden name is Kopsidas, later married Chris Weiler, who played for Welsh at the U.S. Naval Academy. Weiler and her husband have three chil- dren, all of whom played Division I sports. (The oldest, Matt, played soccer at Ken- tucky before transferring to UVA, where he played soccer and later joined the football team as a walk-on.) The Weilers met Williams in November 2018 at the UVA-Maryland men's basket- ball game in College Park, Md. "We got to spend the evening with Carla and talk to her and get to know her," Wei- ler noted of the time that inspired them to pledge $500,000 for the Master Plan. Brinker Simmons, a 1979 graduate, com- peted in two sports at UVA: tennis and cross country. A member of the VAF's Board of Trustees, she has created and funded an athletics scholarship endowment at UVA. She's also committed to funding a tennis court in honor of her mother, the late Maureen "Little Mo" Con- nolly Brinker, at the new UVA tennis complex at the Boar's Head Resort. A resident of Dallas, Brinker Simmons returns to Charlottesville several times a year, and she appreciates Williams' impact on UVA athletics. "I'm just excited for what she's going to be doing in accelerating what's already an excellent program, certainly in all of our sports, but more specifically in women's sports," Brinker Simmons said. Williams is grateful for the support of this special group of women and all the other females who donate to UVA athletics. "The philanthropy of these women isn't limited to athletics," Williams said. "They have a heart for service and their desire to make a difference is positively impacting everyone, but especially women, young ladies and little girls who dream of being a part of something bigger than them- selves." "Our goal is to provide the best student-athlete experience in the country." WILLIAMS MOLLY HARDIE AMY GRIFFIN JANE-ASHLEY SKINNER ROXANNE BOOTH