Dr. Shelby McKay serves as Vice President of Student-Athlete Success for the Atlantic Coast Conference. In this role, she provides strategic leadership for conference-wide initiatives that support the academic achievement, personal development, leadership growth, career readiness, well-being and overall success of ACC student-athletes. She also supports the ACC and NCAA governance processes related to student-athlete success, health and safety, and academic matters.
McKay leads the ACC’s student-athlete development, academic programming and healthcare administrative support, including the ACC Unity Tour, Career Trek, Health & Safety Summit, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) engagement, leadership development initiatives and recognition and scholarship programs. She works closely with member institutions to identify shared priorities, elevate effective practices and create experiences that prepare student-athletes to lead and thrive during and beyond college.
McKay joined the ACC in October 2022 as Associate Commissioner for Student-Athlete and Institutional Programs. Prior to joining the Conference, she served as Senior Associate Athletic Director for Staff and Student-Athlete Development at Washington State University. There, she led student-athlete and staff development programming, served as chief diversity officer, oversaw mental health services and sexual violence prevention education and developed the department’s name, image and likeness education program. Previously, McKay served as Senior Student-Athlete Development Associate at The George Washington University after nearly five years as a student-athlete academic adviser.
McKay is actively involved with the National Association of Academic and Student-Athlete Development Professionals (N4A), Women Leaders in Sports and NCAA student-athlete development initiatives. She is the Division Director for Educational Initiatives for N4A and a member of the organization’s Board.
A 2013 graduate of Elon University, McKay began her connection to the ACC as a game day operations intern. She earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from The George Washington University. Her doctoral research examined the perceived value of mid-major college athletics.