Lisa Yenush '90 was named Interim Director of Athletics in July 2025 and named officially as Director of Athletics and Recreation on July 1, 2026.
The Massachusetts native returned to her alma mater on August 13, 2012 as Associate Director of Athletics, before being elevated to Senior Associate Director of Athletics. Prior to returning to Wheaton, Yenush spent the previous 13 years, including eight as a head coach, at Salve Regina University.
She served as Wheaton's Interim Director of Athletics over the past year and oversaw tremendous success and growth. The men's soccer program advanced to the NCAA National Tournament Quarterfinals as part of the Elite Eight for the first time since 2003 and finished the season ranked number seven in NCAA Division III. The men's basketball team played in the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Championship game for the first time since 2005. All told, 17 of Wheaton's athletics programs advanced to post-season play, while 10 Lyons earned All-America honors. The men's volleyball program celebrated its inaugural season by tying for the most wins in the nation of any first-year program, while Yenush managed the most varsity athletics programs in school history.
Yenush, who served as the associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator (SWA) for five years, began her career at Salve Regina in 1999 as head coach of both the women's soccer and softball programs until her promotion from assistant to associate director in 2007.
Among her many duties at Salve, Yenush handled NCAA compliance, had sport oversight, coordinated community service projects and oversaw game management. She was the department's academic advising liaison and monitored academic performance, support programs and eligibility. Yenush also spearheaded the department's annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) clinic and assisted organizing activities in conjunction with the NCAA Choices Grant.
Yenush has chaired numerous committees within the athletics community. She chaired the NCAA Northeast Region women's basketball committee, Conference of New England (formerly the Commonwealth Coast Conference) SWA committee and was active in the Rhode Island Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (RIAIAW). She served on the CNE's and the New England Womens' & Men's Athletic Conference's officiating committees and was selected to be a facilitator at the 2010 NCAA Leadership Forum.
Graduating Wheaton magna cum laude in 1990 with a bachelor's degree in economics, Yenush was a four-year player in basketball, soccer and softball. Yenush graduated Magna Cum Laude from Wheaton and became the school's first Academic All-American during her junior season in 1989. She was also voted New England Women's 8 Conference (NEW 8) Player of the Year that same spring.
Yenush was honored with the 1990 Linda Frances Epstein Award, presented to a graduating senior who embodies respect for and commitment to the traditions of Wheaton in the achievement of academic excellence and dedicated performance in athletics. Earning a master's degree in athletic administration from Springfield College in 1998, Yenush picked up the Provost Award for having the major's highest grade-point average.
