Meghan McMahon is the second wife of late David Fredrick Swensen who passed away on May 5, 2021. David Swensen was the chief investment officer at Yale University from 1985 until his death. Heartful condolence to him! And here, we will focus more on his wife Meghan McMahon.
So, Who is Meghan McMahon?
Meghan McMahon, the second wife of David F. Swensen, is a former tennis player and coach. She had coached for Yale’s Women’s Tennis team (Bulldogs) for 7 years with a record of (86-55; 26-23 IVY).
Late David Swensen’s Wife Meghan McMahon’s Age and Biography
Meghan McMahon’s full name is Meghan Ratchford McMahon. She is currently 58 years old.
| Full Name | Meghan Ratchford McMahon |
| Age | 58 years old |
| Nationality | American |
| Profession | Tennis Coach, Associate Athletics Director, Deputy Director for External Operations, Businesswoman |
| Business | PlayIvy |
| Husband | David Fredrick Swensen (Deceased) |
| Children | Two |
| Married/Single | Widow |
| Education | B.A. in English,Master’s Degree in Social Work |
Meghan McMahon’s Family and Parents – Mother, Father, & Siblings
Meghan’s father Brian McMahon studied at Yale University and he was in the baseball team of the Yale University. Likewise, her grandfather Leonard Mcmahon graduated with a degree in Law from the Law School in 1923.
She has a brother named Cullen McMahon and he was a varsity tennis player. Meghan and her brother opened the business that we have talked about above.
Meghan McMahon’s Children
Meghan is the mother of two. They are now 25 and 23 years old.
Her Education and University
Meghan graduated with B.A. in English from Yale University in 1987. She has also done a Master’s Degree in Social Work.
David F. Swensen’s Wife Meghan’s Net Worth and Salary
There is no proper information about her net worth and salary. But, she has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion including the fortune that her late husband David has left.
Her Career and Profession
Right after completing her study, she started her coaching career as an Assistant to the Director of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and worked at USTA’s headquarter in Princeton, New Jersey for three years. She used to help USTA organize college coaching awards and was constantly pulled by the cheerful college tennis coaches. She loved college tennis coaches’ jobs. Then she decided to have one.
In 1991, she left her job at USTA then took the role of coaching women’s tennis at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC). And it did not take her long to leave an impression.
As her first season ended in UIC, the officials from Columbia University from New York were on her front door. She then went to New York and became the coach of Columbia Women’s tennis. She became the coach of Columbia University in September of 1992. And that is when she had to compete as a coach against the coaches who were in other teams when she was a player.
Meghan McMahon’s Yale’s Women’s Tennis Coaching Career
Meghan came to New Haven and started her job as Yale’s Women’s Tennis team coach in 1994. While coaching, she started making the impact quickly as Yale’s Women Tennis team improved from 8-8 to 12-6 after her first two seasons. The team won more than 10 games every single year from 1996 to 2000.
Meghan led the Bulldogs to an 86-55 record. In the last season of her coaching, the team finished second in the Ivy League and the team achieved a 6-1 record, the best that they had in years.
During her final year, she assembled a young team, and the team performed beyond everyone’s expectations. Players like Susie Hinker ’02 and Andrea Goldberg ’02 loved playing under her. That year, they lost to Penn, the team that eventually became the league champion. After that game, the team went on to win other games including the games against Harvard and Princeton.
And she remembered, beating Harvard was an amazing moment of her coaching career. It was the first time that Yale Women’s tennis had won Harvard’s Women’s tennis team in over two decades. During her time of resignment, players like Biffy Kaufman, Karlyn, Ashley Marting were on great forms and had huge potentials.
She resigned as the head coach of Yale’s Women’s Tennis team on April 23, 2001, after their most successful season in 12 years. Her major reason to leave the job was to take care of her (and David’s) two young kids.
Her two children were of age 2 and a half years, and 1 year at that time and she could not manage to be both – coach and the mother.
Yale was appreciative of what she achieved as the coach of the Bulldogs, and Yale even dedicated one of the courts of the new Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center to her name.
Now, Danielle McNamara is the head coach of Yale’s Swensen-McMahon Women’s Tennis Team.
What made her successful in Coaching? Well, she said, one needs to have the compassion to become a good coach. She listened to her players so that they would listen to her in return.
Meghan McMahon’s Career as Tennis Player
Not just her coaching career, her playing career was also quite a good one. She was the star player for 1983 – 87 in Yale. She was undefeated in Ivy League play in her sophomore and junior seasons. That is how good she was.
She earned All-Ivy honors three times while playing for the Bulldogs.
She was 3-time All-American, 3-time Ivy League Champion, and most notably, she was awarded Yale’s Most Valuable player three times. She also won Lisa Rosenblum Award thrice and was Yale Letterwinner four times.
Meghan was a member of the U.S. National Women’s Tennis Team and traveled to the People’s Republic of China to participate in a tournament. She was U.S. Professional Tennis Association’s and Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association’s member.
She was the team member of the Prentice Cup that happens every four years, where Oxford and Cambridge’s men’s and women’s teams come to play the combined varsity team of Yale and Harvard.
She had the ITCA ranking of 23 in 1984-85 and National ITCA ranking of 49 into 1985-86. During those years, he had playing records of 18-1 singles (1984-85), 24-5 singles (1985-86), and 26-13 singles (1986-87).
One of her memorable games as a player was her win over Harvard’s number one singles player Kathy Vigna in April of 1986 where she won on straight sets, 6-1, 7-5.
What Is She Doing Now?
Meghan McMahon is the chairman of the Blue Leadership Ball (BLB) Committee. She is the Deputy Director for External Operations at Alison Cole and Associate Athletics Director for Steve Conn. She owns a company named “PlayIvy”, an educational consulting firm for athlete students.
Meghan McMahon’s “PlayIvy”
Meghan McMahon has a brother named Cullen with whom she formed a company “PlayIvy” that helps high school athletes to cruise through the confusing and competitive college admissions process.
Her clients are high school tennis players trying to make it to their top-choice universities.
In other words, her company PlayIvy is an educational consulting firm to guide athlete students on choosing the right college and to be recruited by the right coaches. So, how does her company does this? They make the list of schools where the kids’ academics scores and athletic talent are good enough to be accepted, and then they help those kids to choose the best one among those colleges.
Usually, she has around one or two dozen students annually with two or three years of commitment to help those students find the right college.
Usually, she begins working closely with an athlete student in the freshman or sophomore year. She inspects their tennis games and playing ability to decide whether they are on the right stage or not.
After the kids complete their junior and senior year, she helps them sending emails and letters to coaches. Her company’s fee structure is around $2,000 – $6,000 a year.
And most importantly, she is delighted to say that every 9 out of 10 students she coaches, makes it to their college of choice. With time, her company started to help other sports athletes as well, and not just tennis athletes.
