Pamela Donnelly enters her 11th year as an athletics administrator at her alma mater in 2025-26. She was promoted in July 2023 to Senior Associate Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator (SWA).
Donnelly had served since October of 2019 as the Assistant Athletic Director for Business Operations, and was the Acting SWA for much of the 2022-23 academic year. In that prior role, she coordinated the athletic department's business operations, including forecasting, budget management, purchasing, accounts payable, travel, inventory of goods, ticketing and camps.
When she returned to Cal Poly Pomona professionally back in 2015-16, Donnelly was the interim Athletics Business Coordinator, as well as an assistant coach for the CPP track and field program, and later the Operations Assistant. She entered her CPP coaching role after five seasons as the assistant track and field coach at South Hills High School in West Covina, working with the hurdlers. She coordinated and designed the workouts and monitored her athletes' progress and successes throughout the seasons.
A former standout student-athlete at CPP, Donnelly (née Fortner) landed herself in the Cal Poly Pomona track and field record book. At one time, she ranked ninth in the 400-meter hurdles, 10th in the 4x100 relay, second in the 4x200 relay, and sixth in the 800-meter sprint medley.
Donnelly received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with an emphasis in retail marketing, from Cal Poly Pomona. She completed her graduate work at the University of San Francisco and earned a Master of Arts in Sport and Fitness Management.
Donnelly and her husband, Eric, himself a Cal Poly Pomona alum, have been married for 33 years. The couple are the parents of two daughters, Ally and Gabby, who both also have professional careers in sports. Ally is married to Greg Salvage, who formerly worked for CPP Athletics in communications. Donnelly has a passion for sports, and loves to read and spend time with her family.
