Jill Fonte Joins ITA Board of Directors

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association added longtime tennis industry professional Jill Fonte to the association’s Board of Directors on Wednesday. Fonte will join the Class of 2022.

“Jill has strong educational, business, and competitive tennis experience, as well as leadership and business skills that will benefit the ITA and the Board moving forward,” ITA Chairman of the Board Jon Vegosen said. “We are looking forward to working with Jill.”

Fonte has extensive experience with the USTA and in the tennis retail space. She was the executive director of the United States Racquet Stringers Association – a 7,000 member world-wide trade association for tennis retailers. Fonte divested the organization in 2000. She has also served as National Chair of the USTA’s Tennis Innovation Committee, former President of the USTA’s Middle States section, and former Chief Operating Officer of the USTA’s Eastern section.

Fonte is known for excellence in leadership. Under her guidance, the USTA Middle States and Eastern sections were tapped as the “Section of the Year.” 

”I have known Jill for a long time and am excited that she is joining #TeamITA,” Timothy Russell, the ITA’s CEO, added. “In addition to her vast experience and passion for our sport, Jill is a person of high integrity and great commitment.”

Her ties to college tennis run deep. Fonte played four years of varsity tennis at Simmons College in Boston. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in nutrition from Simmons and went on to later earn an MBA from University of California, Irvine.

“As a life-long tennis player, tennis industry veteran, and former college tennis player, I look forward to contributing to the collegiate side of our sport,” Fonte said. “I feel strongly that tennis can play an important role in the development of young adults, and that college tennis teams can make a significant contribution to their local communities.”

In addition to her tennis industry experience, Fonte was a successful public speaker, executive coach and organizational development consultant for ten years. Her clients included the Human Performance Institute, Merrill Lynch, Rambus and many other organizations.

Previously, Fonte has served on the Tennis Industry Association’s Board of Directors, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association’s Racquet Sports Committee, and the Advisory Board for Ferris State University’s Professional Tennis Management Program.

About the Intercollegiate Tennis Association - Originally founded in 1956 by the legendary UCLA men’s tennis coach, J. D. Morgan, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) is the governing body of college tennis, overseeing men’s and women’s varsity tennis at all levels – NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College. Officially incorporated in 1978 as the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association (ITCA), for over the past four decades the ITA has worked hard to achieve its charter goals: (1) “To foster and encourage the playing of intercollegiate tennis in accordance with the highest tradition of sportsmanship and consistent with the general objectives of higher education.” (2) “To develop among the intercollegiate coaches a deeper sense of responsibility in teaching, promoting, maintaining, and conducting the game of tennis.” And, (3) “To educate and serve those individuals and groups who are involved in collegiate tennis: junior and college players, their coaches and parents, and the at-large tennis public.”