Alanna Wren, C'96 begins her fifth year as the T. Gibbs Kane, Jr. W'69 Director of Athletics and Recreation at the University of Pennsylvania in 2025-26.
Penn has achieved significant competitive success in Wren’s four years at the helm, finishing a school record 52
nd in the Learfield Directors’ Cup in 2023-24 after tying the all-time best mark of 60
th in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 (out of more than 350 Division I programs). It is the best four-year span in the Directors’ Cup standings in Penn history. The Quakers have won 18 regular season conference team championships during that time and another eight postseason conference titles.
Penn teams have also had success on the national and international stage. Men’s squash won the national championship in both 2024 and 2025, and Salman Khalil defeated teammate Omar Hafez to win the individual national title in 2025. A year prior, men’s fencer Bryce Louie won the NCAA foil championship by beating teammate Blake Broszus. Women’s lacrosse has advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals two straight years and men’s lightweight rowing was the IRA runner-up in 2024. Twelve Penn alumni or current student-athletes competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Gymnastics has won four straight GEC regular season and postseason titles. In 2022-23, baseball, men’s soccer and women’s lacrosse all won NCAA Tournament games, while women’s rowing and fencing each finished sixth at the NCAA Championship and women’s golf advanced to the NCAA Regionals. In 2021-22, Penn boasted two individual national champions, men’s squash finished as the national runners-up and men’s lacrosse reached the NCAA quarterfinals.
The physical footprint of Penn Athletics has also been improved, including the opening of renovated facilities such as the Burk-Bergman Boathouse on the Schuylkill River, Tommy Lasorda Field at Meiklejohn Stadium for Penn’s baseball program, and the Coulson Family Training Complex in Franklin Field. The Ott Center for Track & Field opened in the fall of 2024 followed by the T House powered by Quaker Fuel, a student-athlete fueling station and community space. Sheerr Pool was also renovated and opened for varsity and campus utilization in the summer of 2025.
Other highlights in Wren’s first four years include:
- Hiring of Penn’s first athletics mental health professional;
- Addition of a full-time sports dietician;
- Hiring of Penn’s first Head of Community Engagement and Wellbeing, in a shared position with Wellness at Penn;
- Hiring of a new Director of Campus Recreation, and the creation of partnerships with PennMed and PennHr to bolster campus community wellness via utilization of campus recreational facilities via subsidized memberships;
- Launch of fundraising campaign specifically for women’s athletics, Power the Next 100;
- Growth of the Penn Athletics Wharton Leadership Academy;
- Successful return and growth of the Penn Relays following two years off due to the pandemic;
- The hiring of 11 new head coaches;
- The growth of the Young Quakers Community Athletics program to include men’s and women’s basketball in addition to men’s and women’s lacrosse and men’s and women’s track & field;
- More than $110M raised in commitments for annual, endowment and capital needs, including securing two gifts of more than $20M (Pottruck-Reina Wrestling Center and Ott Center for Track & Field)
"We set out to bring to Penn a trailblazing leader in intercollegiate athletics and that is exactly what we have with Alanna Wren," said former Penn President Amy Gutmann at the time of Wren’s hire. "Alanna has the vision, experience, expertise, and energy to ensure that Penn Athletics continues its commitment to excellence both on and off the playing field. For nearly two decades, Alanna proudly donned the Red and Blue as a student athlete, coach, and administrator. Today, we are thrilled to welcome her back home to Penn."
Wren was formerly Vice Provost for Student Affairs at Johns Hopkins University for two years after serving there from 2016 to 2019 as Director of Recreation and Athletics. At Penn, she was Deputy Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator from 2012-2016 and Executive Director of the Penn Relays from 2011 to 2016, capping an almost-twenty-year career at Penn that she began as Assistant (and then Interim Head) Women's Lacrosse Coach. She played women's lacrosse for all four years as an anthropology major in the Class of 1996 and went on to earn an EdD and MS in Higher Education Administration from the Graduate School of Education, while working as an Assistant, Associate, and Senior Associate Athletic Director.
"Alanna Wren is the ideal leader to chart the future of Penn Athletics and Recreation," said former Provost Wendell Pritchett. "She has been a dynamic member of our community for more than half her life – across a brilliant career that brought her from Captain and MVP of the women's lacrosse team to Deputy Director of Athletics and Executive Director of the Penn Relays. She has a deep understanding of the role of athletics and recreation in our shared life on campus, which will be invaluable as we emerge from the pandemic together in the years ahead."
"It's an honor to return to Penn, a University and athletics department with a storied history which continues to excel today," Wren said. "Penn provides student-athletes with an unrivaled experience — an outstanding education coupled with the opportunity to achieve competitive excellence. As a former Penn student-athlete, coach and administrator there is no place I'd rather be. The opportunity to lead a program that had such a profound impact on my life is a dream come true."
As Deputy Director of Athletics, Wren managed all aspects of Penn's highly successful 33-sport intercollegiate athletics program – with direct oversight of the football, basketball, and lacrosse programs – including recruiting, budgeting, Title IX compliance, academic services, and alumni relations. As Director of Athletics and Recreation at Johns Hopkins from 2016 to 2019, she oversaw the university's 24-sport athletic program, leading it to the most successful years in university history, with 37 conference titles and three consecutive top ten finishes in the Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup standings, including a second-place finish in the 2018-19 academic year.
She made a priority of advancing the academic and personal development of student-athletes, creating the first full-time directorship of Student-Athlete Success and launching a leadership development program for student-athletes. As Vice Provost for Student Affairs since August 2019, she has continued to focus on student well-being, developing a new Hopkins Student Center, expanding the O'Connor Center for Recreation and Well-Being, leading the university's efforts to reimagine the student experience during the pandemic, and managing all aspects of academic, residential, and extracurricular university life for more than 8000 graduate and undergraduate students.
What They Are Saying About Alanna Wren
"This is such a great hire for Penn Athletics. Alanna's passion for Penn will be such an awesome addition to an already strong athletic department. She's a great leader with a strong understanding of how to get things done. Welcome home Alanna! Go Penn!!" –
W. Joseph Blood Head Coach of Baseball John Yurkow
"We are all so excited to have Alanna back at Penn as our new AD. Alanna was a lacrosse player as an undergraduate and then coached the year preceding me before becoming an administrator. She knows Penn better than anyone and truly cares about this University and the success of our teams and department. She is wonderful to work for as she understands what coaches deal with and yet has built tremendous relationships on campus. She is truly the perfect AD for Penn as we move into a new phase and future of Penn Athletics. As she said, this is her home and we are all so happy to have her back!" –
Lois S. Leitner Head Coach of Women's Lacrosse Karin Brower
"It's a special day here at Penn as we welcome back Alanna Shanahan as our new Director of Athletics & Recreation. Alanna brings the ideal combination of intelligence, experience and a great work ethic to Penn Athletics. She is the perfect person to lead our program on the journey ahead. It's so exciting to have Alanna and her family back in the Red & Blue. Go Penn!" -
James P. Tuppeny/Betty J. Costanza Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Steve Dolan
