Erin McDermott

Erin McDermott is Harvard’s eighth John D. Nichols ’53 Family Director of Athletics - leading the largest Division I intercollegiate program in the country, with 42 varsity teams. During her first year with the Crimson, McDermott guided the department through the academic calendar without competition, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With a focus on structure, culture, and the future of Harvard Athletics, she implemented a department-wide restructuring in the spring of 2021. McDermott arrived at Harvard after a seven-year tenure in the same position at the University of Chicago. Under her leadership, the Maroons experienced their first and a total of six top-20 finishes in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Division III standings. Additionally, McDermott spearheaded several major milestones, including the department’s first department-wide agreement with Adidas, “The Friends of Maroon Athletics” annual giving society, and the addition of varsity women’s lacrosse. Prior to UChicago, McDermott spent 16 years in the Ivy League at Princeton and Columbia. A Division I student-athlete at Hofstra, McDermott was a captain of the women’s basketball team and was named the school’s top female senior scholar-athlete. She graduated with a bachelor’s of business administration in international business, before obtaining her master’s degree in sport management, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The Definition of Me is “innovator, change-agent, respect”.