University of Richmond Athletics
Athletics Welcomes Abby Houser, Krista Huffman
08/22/2014 | General
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. – The University of Richmond Department of Athletics is proud to announce the additions of Abby Houser and Krista Huffman as new assistant directors of athletics.
Houser will be the Assistant Director of Athletics for Business Operations, while Huffman takes over the title of Assistant Director of Athletics for Marketing and Fan Development.
In leading the business office, Houser will be in charge of all team and department accounts, budgets and financial affairs for every aspect of Richmond athletics. Huffman will now oversee all of the Spiders' marketing efforts surrounding the game-day environment and all aspects of the fan experience.
“We are excited to welcome both Abby and Krista to our Spider athletics family,” said Director of Athletics Keith Gill. “Both of them bring significant experience from the highest level of Division I. They are energetic, and will give us a new perspective and fresh ideas in their areas and throughout the entire athletic department.”
Houser comes to Richmond from Wake Forest University where she served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Finance. In that role, she was responsible for all business operations including budgeting, financial reporting, procurement and accounting for the entire department. Prior to that promotion, she held the positions of business manager and assistant business manager at WFU from 2007-13.
She was an accountant in the athletics business office at the University of Cincinnati in 2006-07, during which time she earned a master's degree in Sport Administration from Xavier University.
Houser graduated magna cum laude from the College of William & Mary in 2005, majoring in psychology.
Huffman takes over at UR after serving as the Assistant Director of Marketing at the University of Alabama from 2012-14. She oversaw the strategic planning and experiential marketing efforts for volleyball, gymnastics, softball and the Big Al's Kids Club.
She helped Alabama set attendance records in gymnastics, averaging nearly 13,000 fans per meet, and softball, which averaged more than 3,000 fans per game. Softball led NCAA Division I in average attendance while gymnastics was second nationally. Revenue generation was also bolstered through a variety of platforms.
Prior to Alabama, Huffman worked at Arizona State where she was the marketing coordinator for Sun Devil athletics, working specifically with baseball, women's basketball, volleyball and gymnastics.
She also has experience at the College of Staten Island and the Akron Aeros minor league baseball club.
Huffman earned a master's degree in Education from Arizona State in 2012, while she received her undergraduate degree from Marietta College in 2008.
Houser replaces Cathy Rossi, who spent six years in the Spider athletic department before leaving for a similar position at the University of Minnesota. Huffman succeeds Jana Woodson, who accepted a marketing position at Rice University after eight years at Richmond.
