William & Mary Athletics

Lisa Liotta joined William & Mary as Deputy Athletics Director in July of 2026. In her role, she is a member of the senior management team and has oversight of student-athlete development, sports medicine, compliance and academic support, among other areas.
 
Liotta previously held the same title with Canisius University in Buffalo, N.Y., where she was a member of the Golden Griffins' staff since 2018.
 
At Canisius, she was the Senior Woman Administrator (SWA), a role she once again holds at William & Mary, and the sport administrator for seven varsity programs. Liotta represents Canisius as a member of the Executive Committee on the Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) Board of Directors and serves on various committees within the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Council of Athletic Administrators, including the current chair of the swimming and diving committee.
 
At the NCAA level, she is currently the vice chair of the NCAA Division I Membership Committee and former member of the defunct Division I Council and Strategic Vision and Planning Committee.  She is also a member of the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Oversight & Championships Committee "It is important to have representation within the national landscape and I am honored to have served in various capacities throughout my career," said Liotta. "I am 100 percent a product of the opportunities for service and personal development that the NCAA extends to student-athletes and administrators."
 
Prior to Canisius she was Associate Director of Athletics for Student-Athlete Welfare and SWA at the University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio.  Before that, Liotta was the Associate Athletic Director and SWA at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, where she helped the school transition from NCAA DIII to DII and in 2015 she was honored as ECAC (Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference) Division II Female Administrator of the Year. 
 
As an advocate for women in sports, Liotta is a member of Women Leaders in Sports and a graduate of the Women Leaders Executive Institute, along with serving on various committees throughout her career. She is also a graduate of the NCAA Pathways Program and the DI-AAA and D2-ADA Mentoring Programs.
 
Liotta is a native of Chardon, Ohio.  She was a first generation college student and finished undergraduate school as a magna cum laude graduate of Baldwin Wallace University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sport management, business administration and athletic coaching.  While at Lake Erie, she earned an MBA degree and while at Canisius she earned a business analytics advanced certificate. 
 
She was a varsity softball player and team captain for the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets where she earned first team All-Ohio Athletic Conference all-academic and academic All-American honors.