(she/her)
vanessa@wecoachsports.org

A veteran leader with 20+ years of experience in athletic administration, Vanessa Fuchs joined WeCOACH as Chief Executive Officer in March 2022. Before WeCOACH, she served 12 years as Senior Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator at her alma mater, Florida State University.

In her first three years, WeCOACH membership has grown 1,300 percent, now serving over 18,000 women coaches in the WeCOACH Community. In addition, grant funding has more than doubled, Academy Scholarships funding has septupled to over $50K, and new leadership programs have launched to advance the WeCOACH mission to recruit, advance, and retain women in coaching.

Vanessa’s tenure at FSU began in 2010, where she served in a variety of important leadership roles over the past decade. Named the 2015 Women Leaders in Sports Division I Administrator of the Year and an FSU Champion Beyond the Game honoree in 2016, she was instrumental in providing strategic direction for departmental initiatives focused on student-athlete welfare, enhancing athletic performance, fundraising and new revenue generation, gender equity, and diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility & belonging (DEIAB).

In June of 2013, former Florida State President Dr. Eric Barron named Fuchs the school’s interim Athletics Director as she became the first woman to lead the Seminoles’ Athletic Department. The former Seminole basketball player was one of just seven women leading an athletics department among the 124 schools that participated at the FBS level in 2012.

Prior to arriving at Florida State, Vanessa committed seven years to the NCAA in Indianapolis in Academic and Membership Affairs. She got her start as a Championships Intern with the ACC in 2001. The Pompano Beach, Florida, native was a four-year letterwinner for the Seminoles’ women’s basketball team from 1997-2001. She was the team co-captain in her senior year and finished her career as a four-time ACC Honor Roll selection.

Vanessa graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in communications at Florida State University and earned her master’s degree in Sport Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Vanessa resides in Tallahassee, FL with her longtime partner Chrissy and their two French Bulldogs, Fenix and Frankie (aka, “The UNcoachables”).

(she/her)
Maria@wecoachsports.org

Maria Lopez has over 18+ years of tennis coaching experience at all levels of the game, with twelve of those years at the collegiate level, with her most recent stop as the Associate Head Coach at Boise State University where she helped implement a vision of excellence through community  outreach, alumni engagement, player and program development, revenue generation and fundraising, as well as driving and collaborating on DEI initiatives for the athletics department.

She has coached five conference titles and two NCAA national championship teams at the collegiate level, as well as being named the ITA Regional and National Coach of the Year on two different occasions. She also worked with a Top 50 WTA player. As a player, she was the former number one player in Venezuela during her junior career and a two-time All-American in 2001 and 2002. In addition, she was a three-time All-Sunshine State Conference selection. She is currently a board member for the Latina Tennis Coach Association and volunteers some of her time with the Sports Equality Foundation.

She is a graduate of the 2022 NCAA Women Coaches Academy Class #51 and an active member of the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) since 2010. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in E-Commerce and a Master’s Degree in Sport Management from Barry University. She is passionate about equity in women’s sports, particularly for women coaches, and is committed to empowering change to create inclusive environments to help benefit the lives of others.

(she/her/hers)
erica@wecoachsports.org

A 20+ year veteran of the sports industry, Erica Nelson-Flowers has amassed a career working at some of the country’s most successful brands.  Since March, 2021 she has served as the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for USTA Texas.  In this role she is responsible for the development and implementation of strategies to grow tennis on and off the court amongst historically underrepresented communities.    

Prior to joining the USTA, Erica worked for 11½ years leading Student-Athlete Development departments at the University of Arkansas and the University of South Carolina.  Her foundation for supporting athletes off the playing field began early in her career when she worked in the Player Development department for the NBA.  Erica’s first job in sports came as the Sports Manager for NYC2012, the U.S. representative city and an international finalist to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  In this role she managed the involvement of 2,000+ Olympians and Paralympians from more than 60 countries, amongst many other duties.  

The diversity in her career path has led Erica to hold the rare distinction of attaining experience collaborating with athletes on the grassroots, collegiate, professional and Olympic levels.     

In 2023 Erica was named to the “Top 50 Women Leaders in Austin” list by the organization, “Women We Admire”.  That same year she was inducted into the Slippery Rock University (SRU) Sport Management program’s “Hall of Fame” and also was the commencement speaker for the SRU College of Graduate Studies.  That Fall she also joined the National Board of Directors for the SRU Foundation, which exists to generate, develop, and steward charitable gifts and other resources to support the priorities of the university.      

Erica has a B.A. degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills and a M.S. degree from Slippery Rock University (PA) and currently resides in Dallas, TX.  

lizzy@wecoachsports.org

A veteran softball coach having spent the past 17 years as Associate Coach of the University of Notre Dame Softball team where she was the lead hitting and outfield instructor, Lizzy Ristano joined WeCOACH in September 2022. As a member of the ND coaching staff, the Irish softball team advanced to the NCAA tournament in all 17 seasons that Ristano was on staff. In addition, she was a part of a staff that received coaching staff-of-the-year honors in 2014, 2016 and 2017. She also spearheaded the team’s fundraising efforts as well as numerous leadership development opportunities with the players.

Lizzy grew up in Irvine, CA as a two-sport athlete playing Soccer and Softball at Woodbridge High School. Her Great Uncle played football for Knute Rockne, so It was always a dream of hers to attend the University of Notre Dame. She received a scholarship to play Softball at the University of Notre Dame, where she was a 4-year starter with the program. By her senior season, the Irish Softball team compiled the most successful season in school history with a 54-7 record and #7 national ranking. She graduated with a major in Sociology and a second major in Computer Applications in 2001.

After graduation from Notre Dame, Lizzy interned in the athletics department for one year under administrators Missy Conboy and Sandy Barbour. She attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst and received a Master’s degree in Sports Management (’03). After graduating from UMass, she spent one year with Boston College Athletics Development in the Flynn Fund as an intern. The development job at Boston College led to a job back home on the west coast at Stanford University in the Athletics Development office where she worked primarily with the Buck Cardinal fund, Stanford’s annual giving fund. After a year and half at Stanford, she headed back to Notre Dame to coach at her alma mater.

Lizzy currently resides in Annapolis, MD where her husband Chuck is the head baseball coach for the Naval Academy. The couple have 2 children, Jane (7) and CJ (3).

karen@wecoachsports.org

Karen Weatherington is a coaching veteran with 30+ years of Division I volleyball leadership. She recently capped off a career as the winningest and longest tenured coach in the history of the Charlotte volleyball program. Her impact at Niner Nation was prominently displayed by her team’s academic excellence, competitive growth, campus outreach and community service. She is an impactful fundraiser and connector of people and created and led DEI programming for the department. Prior to her time in the Carolinas, she led the Hampton to its first ever MEAC championship and back-to-back berths in the NCAA tourney.

She produced countless conference awardees and led numerous athletes to Player of the Year distinctions as well as AVCA All-America and All-Region honorees. Weatherington was named conference Coach of the Year at all three head coaching stops at Charlotte, Hampton and Kennesaw State. She served as an assistant at Butler, Clemson, Iowa State, Duke and her alma mater New Mexico State. Weatherington also served in various roles with the America Volleyball Coaches Association including stints as a Board Member, All-America Committee, Regional Advisory Chair and Assistant Coaches Chair.

Karen is a proud graduate of the 2005 NCAA Women Coaches Academy Class #5. She is an active member of the Delta Sigma Theta Public Service Sorority, Inc. She earned her Bachelors in Journalism and Psychology at New Mexico State University and Master of Education in Instructional Technology from Butler University. She is committed to supporting women coaches and empowering them with resources to excel in this ever-changing and challenging landscape of sports at all levels.

Karen resides in Mint Hill, NC. Her husband Eddie is the Senior Associate Commissioner of Governance and Compliance for Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). They are the proud parents of Zoe, a Penn State graduate who plays professional volleyball in South Korea.