Announcing Our New Director of Athletics and Strategic Partnerships

After a national search in partnership with The Finney Group and with several impressive candidates, we are excited to announce that Allie Tennyson has been appointed as Director of Athletics and Strategic Partnerships at GPS. Allie is currently the Director of Athletics at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, Texas, where she oversees and manages the athletic department at the largest coeducational private high school in the state. Her responsibilities encompass the management of 19 head coaches, 36 assistant coaches, and seven full-time staff members. 

 

Allie holds a Masters of Educational Leadership from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising & Public Relations from The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), where she also competed on their nationally ranked women’s soccer team.

In addition to collaborating with her school’s admission, marketing, and academic teams, Allie has considerable experience working beyond the walls of her school, developing relationships with community partners as an ambassador of her school’s athletic program. She also serves as the district president of TAPPS 1-6A, where she oversees and manages all compliance issues, works closely with leadership at district schools on concepts of sportsmanship and fair play, and oversees the management and distribution of district schedules and playoff structures.

Prior to her role at Bishop Lynch, Allie worked in wellness, communications, and admission at Ursuline Academy of Dallas, an independent all-girls school and her alma mater, where she coached soccer and led the Bears to two consecutive TAPPS Division I State Soccer Championships. “Attending an all-girls school was a transformational experience for me,” Allie says. “I’ve been yearning to get back and give back to the all-girls experience. When I visited GPS, I walked away with an overwhelming feeling of belonging.”

Her desire to return to a girls’ school stems from the observation of a “component of welcome resiliency and a comfortable approach to challenges” in the all-girl environment. “Girls are expected to see challenges as opportunities and to rise to the occasion and learn from mistakes. At a girls’ school, students can look to their right and left and see their peers doing the same thing that they’re doing. We all need girls building each other up.” Allie is also eager to reach beyond campus and seek connections in our community. “Everything about me is about prioritizing relationships, and having a strong brand like GPS behind me will help cultivate those community bonds.”

One of Allie’s colleagues noted that she is “great at nurturing relationships in an authentic way,” and that people relate to her because she listens. Another admired her ability to “lead with strength and big ideas while very confident in her solutions to problems.”

During Allie’s campus visit, our colleagues and students met with her and shared their impressions. One colleague commented that Allie possessed a “very strong sense of herself” and was “confident, credible, and collaborative.” A student shared that she had “never seen someone light up quite so much at the prospect of teaching at GPS, and I think that is an invaluable trait in a new administrator.”

Allie and her husband, Jordon, enjoy traveling, working out, and watching good TV and movies and are avid college sports fans. Please welcome the Tennysons to the GPS community and to Chattanooga. Allie will join our school this summer.