Keiko Price-Carter was appointed as the Clyde Partin Sr., Director of Athletics in November 2020. Since her arrival, she has steered a Division III athletic program with a long and distinguished record of excellence to even greater heights.
Through Price-Carter’s lead, Emory’s run of success has continued with Eagle programs winning seven national championships and 26 University Athletic Association titles during her tenure. The Eagles have posted four consecutive top 10 finishes in the Learfield Directors’ Cup in each year of the competition under Price-Carter (no Directors’ Cup in 2020-21 and 2021-22 due to COVID-19), including the department's first-ever Directors' Cup championship in 2024-25 – with a program-record 1,198.75 points.
Individually, Emory athletes have won 25 national championships, 15 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships, 44 CSC/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors and 247 individuals have earned All-America status. Academically, the Eagles have recorded a higher grade-point average compared to the general Emory student body in each of the five years with Price-Carter at the helm.
Student-athlete development has flourished as well under Price-Carter’s guidance with the creation of student-athlete identity groups. Furthermore, Emory was the first Division III institution to partner with INFLCR as college athletics moved towards a new era with Name, Image and Likeness. The Eagles have also seen a rise in student-athlete development programming with the Eagle Edge initiative, and the implementation of a mental health clinician as Emory continues to put its athletes’ mental health well-being as a top priority.
Away from the field, Emory recently saw the completion of a $4 million renovation to the outdoor track & field spaces, as well as the overhaul of the second floor of the WoodPEC with The Nest – a dedicated area highlighting Emory’s expansive history of its highly-decorated athletic programs. Additionally, Price-Carter has remained committed to addressing deferred maintenance and repair issues within Athletics & Recreation facilities.
Attendance figures and the gameday experience have seen improvement as well with innovative external approaches through dedicated marketing, collaboration with campus partners and social media promotion. At home events, Emory now offers a robust experience featuring live in-game entertainment, free promotional items and giveaways, food trucks, and merchandise sales with Emory-branding apparel for each athletic program. Furthermore, the student-athlete experience has improved, notably with the program’s uniform partnership with Nike through BSN.
Under her guidance, Emory Athletics has achieved unprecedented milestones in both fundraising and revenue generation, setting new annual and campaign-related records and seeing significant growth in varsity sports program endowments. Her strategic approach has also strengthened alumni engagement, fostering meaningful connections across all varsity team sports and elevating the spirit of our athletic community. As part of her strive for excellence mindset and vision for Emory Athletics & Recreation, the program has authored a strategic plan, focused around four main pillars: Community, Health & Well-Being, Leadership Development and Competitive Excellence.
To go along with her role as Director of Athletics, Price-Carter began her Emory stint as Assistant Vice President of Campus Life and was elevated to Associate Vice President in January 2023. She serves as a member of the Campus Life Executive Leadership Team, reporting to the Vice President and Dean. At the NCAA level, Price-Carter is a member of the Division III Management Council which handles the implementation of policies adopted by the Association’s Board of Governors and Division III Presidents Council. Through the Council, Price-Carter serves on the Walter Byers & Jim McKay Scholarship Committee and on the Subcommittee for Legislative Relief.
In January 2024, Price-Carter was the recipient of the 2024 Diamond Award in the category of Excellence in Higher Education, Philanthropic, Humanitarian, and Community Engagement. The award was presented to her by the Board of Trustees of the Atlanta-based Not Alone Foundation Inc. and the affiliated Academy of the Diamond Awards.
Prior to Emory, she held the title of Senior Associate Athletics Director at University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. There, she served as the sports administrator for men’s basketball, baseball, men's and women's golf, women's gymnastics, swimming and diving and soccer. She originally joined Illinois in 2013 as Associate Director of Athletics, Academic Services.
Her background at U of I included providing executive oversight of diversity and inclusion initiatives for the athletic department. She also served as a member of the university chancellor’s Diversity and Leadership Council, the Women’s Resource Center Advisory Committee, the USA Swimming’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council, and several NCAA and Big Ten committees. In 2018, she was awarded U of I’s Lorraine Y. Cowan Make a Difference Award.
Before her tenure at Illinois, Price-Carter worked at the University of California-Berkley as Director of Football Student-Athlete Development from 2010 through 2013 and served a stint as assistant athletic director for student-athletes at Stanford University.
Price-Carter is a native of Hawaii and completed her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a graduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley. While at UCLA, Price-Carter was a 22-time All-American swimmer, school record holder and recipient of numerous athletics and academic honors with the Bruins. She was inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame in 2021.
She currently resides in Atlanta with her husband, Sidney Carter, and their son, Masaya.
