Beth Tafolla-Voetsch, a proven leader in collegiate athletics and veteran member of Cal Athletics, has held the role of Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director, External, since the summer of 2025.
Tafolla-Voetsch has spent over a decade leading people and teams to drive and increase revenue and philanthropy in partnership and alignment with the community's passions and interests. She has amassed over two decades of experience on the external side of the industry across four institutions: Marshall University, University of Miami, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Valuing the opportunity to support student-athletes' access to a world-class education while competing at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics, Tafolla-Voetsch has risen up through the department as a senior leader.
In her role at Cal, she leads the 25-person development team and its efforts to support the athletic department’s 30 intercollegiate programs and 850 student-athletes, including principal and leadership gifts, annual strategy, and donor and alumni engagement. She also leads culture-building and succession efforts within the organization and has led the team through multiple periods of change. Tafolla-Voetsch is an integral member of the Athletics Director's Executive Team and Cabinet, along with the UC Berkeley Campaign Management Team.
Under her leadership and in partnership with the Cal family, Cal Athletics received a record $82 million from 2024-25, the largest amount given for a single year in its history. This is the fifth consecutive year Cal Athletics has received at least $35 million, which includes the first and third largest gifts in its history.
Through relationship building, authenticity, strategic thinking and a strong work ethic, Tafolla-Voetsch was the architect for the $350 million
Cal Athletics Campaign for Excellence. Following the Campaign and as a part of
the University's initiative to endow half of its sports programs by 2028, she played a key role in securing the eight-figure gifts to endow the
men’s aquatics programs and
men’s and women’s golf programs at Cal. Tafolla-Voetsch was a part of the team to secure the eight-figure transformational gift to create the Cameron Institute for Student-Athlete Development, led the
Gender Equity Campaign to raise $8M in support of new women's beach volleyball and softball facilities, and developed the Cal football men’s and women’s basketball philanthropic giving initiatives.
Tafolla-Voetsch is an executive committee board member for the National Association of Athletics Development Directors (NAADD) and Vice Chair of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Development Directors. She is a two-time recipient of the UC Berkeley Excellence in Management Award and developed and launched the first-ever
Emerging Leaders Program within the Cal athletic department. She participated in the two-year intensive Advancement Leadership Lab and has presented at NACDA and NAADD a myriad of times.
Tafolla-Voetsch received her bachelor's degree in sports administration from Wingate University, where she competed as a swimming student-athlete and was named captain twice. She holds a Master's of Science in sports administration from Marshall University.
Tafolla-Voetsch and her wife, Ann, live in Castro Valley with their pups.
