Tessa Spillane

B.A., Mount Holyoke College
M.S., Smith College

Tessa Spillane enters her third season at the helm of Wellesley's highly successful crew team. Spillane comes to Wellesley from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where she served as the Head Coach of Men's and Women's Rowing. In her first year at Wellesley, Spillane coached the Blue to a third place finish at the Seven Sisters Tournament and a fourth place finish at the NEWMAC Championships. Spillane also boasts one Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association All-America Selection, 2005-06 senior co-captain, Meg Tabaka, the first Wellesley rower to receive national honors since 1995.

Spillane has also been a coach and staff member at the ROW AS ONE rowing camp for the past 11 years. In 2004, Spillane was named Northwest Collegiate Rowing Conference Women's Coach of the Year. She has coached a total of three Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association All-America student-athletes. Spillane has also served on the Board of Directors for USRowing, the national governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States.

Prior to Lewis and Clark, she served as the novice coach and varsity assistant coach at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She has also directed and coached several community based rowing programs serving masters rowing and at risk youth. Spillane holds a Bachelors degree from Mount Holyoke College where she was an NEWMAC All-Conference athlete and captain. She also holds a Masters in Exercise and Sport Studies from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.