Gillian McDonald enters her seventh year as Assistant Athletic Director for Facilities and Game Management at Williams College in 2025-26.

She joined the Williams Athletics Department in summer 2019 from Russell Sage College, where she was the Head Field Hockey Coach and an Assistant Director of Athletics since 2017.

Before Sage, McDonald was the Head Field Hockey Coach and an Associate Professor of Physical Education at Hamilton College for 11 seasons. She was named the 2016 NESCAC Field Hockey Coach of the Year as chosen by her peers and remains the winningest field hockey coach in Hamilton history.  

McDonald played both field hockey and ice hockey at Bowdoin College. She was a First Team All-American goalkeeper in field hockey and a four-time First Team NESCAC All-Conference selection. She still ranks in the NCAA Division III top-30 in career shutouts, goals-against average and wins. She is also in the top-10 in the Bowdoin women’s ice hockey history book in career points and goals.

The Hudson, Quebec, native earned a Bachelor of Arts in French, with a minor in education, in 2004 from Bowdoin and her master's from SUNY Cortland. She attended the Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts.