NEW YORK—Columbia University Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Peter Pilling announced today that Cara Holdsclaw has been named Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs. At Columbia, Holdsclaw will be responsible for the strategic direction, oversight, coordination, leadership and active participation in the revenue generation and external functions.
 
"Cara is a great fit for our athletics program," Pilling said. "She has put together an impressive array of experiences and contacts which will help us continue to grow our alumni and fan outreach at Columbia. We are excited to add Cara to our senior management team at Columbia."
 
"I am excited to join the Columbia University athletics team," Holdsclaw said. "I look forward to assisting in maximizing our resources and strengthen our revenue-generating opportunities for the betterment of our student-athletes and the athletic department."
 
Holdsclaw arrives on Morningside Heights after serving as the Director of Business Operations with the NBA G League's Agua Caliente Clippers for nearly three years. As part of her duties with the franchise owned by the Los Angeles Clippers, she handled daily operations of the business as well as marketing, communications, game day staff, and talent operations, community relations, social responsibility, media/PR, merchandise and served as the administrative liaison to Basketball Operations, and financial reporting and approval processes. She was also the main contact for the NBA G League front offices, Broadcast for Twitch, Eleven Sports, NBA TV, and Facebook Live, and the Toyota Arena/Ontario Convention Center.
 
She served as the Associate Athletic Director of Business Administration, Senior Woman Administrator, and Assistant professor of sport management at Alabama A&M University from 2016-17.
 
Before her year at Alabama A&M, she worked as Director of Africa Operations and Basketball Programming Consultant for the Center for Global Sports from 2015-17. Among her many duties with the organization, she collaborated with the Senior Vice President for Global Sports Programming in creating the basketball curriculum from grade school through professional competition, developed a budget and strategic plan for sustainability for basketball and focused on culture and diversity for various operations in Rwanda.
 
From 2012-15, Holdsclaw held the position of Senior Sales and Service Executive with Indiana Pacers Sports & Entertainment, where she was identified as a top-10 salesperson in the WNBA during her final two seasons in sales.
 
She also has served as an adjunct professor at Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and the University of Indianapolis in their respective sport management departments as she has taught either on campus or through online courses from 2008-19.
 
Holdsclaw earned a Ph.D. in Sport Management from Indiana University in 2012. In addition to her doctorate work, she was involved as a graduate advisor for HSBO and AI, served as an intern in the IU athletic department, and volunteered in the IU athletics marketing department. She spent a total of four years in Bloomington as she graduated in 2009 with a Master of Science/Sports Management degree.
 
She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communications management from the University of Dayton in 2006, where she also played on the women's basketball team.
 
In addition to her professional work, Holdsclaw has been involved in a variety of volunteer activities including serving as a board member for the Catch the Stars Foundation, NBA Basketball Without Borders, National Foundation of Cancer Research (sports fundraising), Habitat for Humanity, and the Food Pantry poverty alleviation. She is a member of the Black Sports Professionals, Sports Industry Network, and is the founder of Black Women in Sport.
 
She is the daughter of former Indiana assistant basketball coach (1981-90) and player Joby Wright, who played professional basketball for five seasons, and served as head coach at Miami, Ohio (1990-93) and Wyoming (1993-97).
 
The former Cara Wright married Chamique Holdsclaw in 2016. The couple has one son, Cairo.