Stacey Ann Allaster (born July 12, 1963) was the Chairman and CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association from 2009 to 2015.

Early life

Allaster was born in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...

and grew up in

Welland, Ontario Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-on ...

. She started playing tennis at age 12. She attended

Notre Dame College School Notre Dame College School is a Catholic high school in Welland, Ontario, Canada with classes ranging from Grade 9 to Grade 12. The school was founded by the Holy Cross Fathers, a group of Roman Catholic priests who also founded the University of N ...

and received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Physical Education from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

in 1985 and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the

Richard Ivey School of Business Ivey Business School is a constituent unit of the University of Western Ontario, located in London, Ontario, Canada. Ivey offers full-time undergraduate (HBA), MBA, MSc, MFE and PhD programs and also maintains two teaching facilities in Toronto ...

in 2000.

Career

Allaster was a member of the Welland Tennis Club, where she learned how to play tennis. She also taught tennis to children and adults. After graduating from university, she worked for the Ontario Tennis Association as membership sales co-ordinator and director of player development. She became the Vice President of Sales and Marketing and Tournament Director of the

Rogers Cup The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...

. On January 1, 2006, she was appointed to be the President of

Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tenni ...

, a newly created role in the organization. In July 2009, Allaster was promoted to be the chairman and CEO of the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

, succeeding Larry Scott. In 2011, the WTA Board of Directors extended Allaster's CEO contract through 2017. While serving as CEO, the WTA secured one billion dollars in diversified contracted revenues. Allaster also oversaw the partnership of an international media agreement. On September 22, 2015 Allaster announced her retirement as chief executive of the WTA citing a personal change in priorities. The transition took effect October 2, 2015. On October 5, 2015, Steve Simon, the Tournament Director of the

BNP Paribas Open The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...

was announced to succeed Allaster as the new WTA chairman and CEO.

Personal life

Allaster currently resides in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

with her husband, John Milkovich and their children, Jack and Alex. Jack and Alexandra were adopted from

Kemerovo Kemerovo ( rus, Ке́мерово, p=ˈkʲemʲɪrəvə) is an industrial city and the administrative center of Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Iskitimka and Tom Rivers, in the major coal mining region of the Kuznetsk Ba ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

References

External links

Women’s tennis CEO Stacey Allaster on equal pay, sexy tennis garb, and VenusAdvantage, Allaster: How this Canadian rose to the topCEO Stacey Allaster works to widen WTA Tour's global appealTennis: Courting favour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allaster, Stacey Living people Canadian sports executives and administrators Sportspeople from Welland Sportspeople from Windsor, Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni Sportspeople from St. Petersburg, Florida Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States WTA Tour 1963 births Canadian emigrants to the United States Companions of the Order of Canada