ATHENS – The Georgia Bulldogs have tabbed Ford Williams as their top fundraising executive.
Williams succeeds Matt Borman, who served as the athletic association’s executive associate athletic director for development since 2017. Borman left UGA in April to assume a similar position at LSU.
Borman and Williams have worked closely together since Williams came to UGA from Clemson to head up UGA’s major gifts program in the summer of 2017. Over that span, the Bulldogs have seen the Magill Society donor club grow to more than 1,400 members and have completed $184 million worth of facilities projects.
“Ford is a wonderful guy and I am so excited for him and his family,” Borman said from Baton Rouge on Monday. “Ford has done a great job running (UGA’s) major gift operation the past four years and building relationships with our donor base. He will be a home-run hire.”
Williams helped Georgia collect pledges for the construction of the $31 million indoor football practice facility, the $63 million West End improvements at Sanford Stadium and the ongoing $80 million football operations addition to the Butts-Mehre Complex.
Before coming to Georgia, Williams was assistant director of major gifts for Clemson’s “IPTAY” fundraising program from 2012 to 2017. Williams previously worked in fundraising at Georgia State, where he earned a master’s degree in sport management in 2009. Williams received his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from North Carolina, where he was a four-year starter for the men’s soccer team. He is married to former UNC gymnast Mikel Hester, and they have two young children.
UGA has not yet announced Williams’ hiring.
