Abbott joins the university as a distinguished executive-in-residence after spending nearly three decades at the helm of MLS. Hamre joins the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs as a research fellow. The duo will both serve one-year appointments at Georgetown.
The couple met at UC Berkeley Law School, where he served as the managing editor and she as the notes editor for the California Law Review.
“It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome Mark and Mareta to Georgetown,” says President John J. DeGioia. “We are so grateful to them for the experiences they will share with us — Mark, the wealth of knowledge he brings from his years building Major League Soccer, and Mareta, with her experience as a pastor and researcher.”
A driving force behind the inception of MLS in 1993, Abbott authored the original business plan for the professional soccer league, distinguishing it from the way other sports leagues were structured at the time. He went from being the lone employee of MLS working out of a fire closet in Century City, California, to helping shape every significant MLS initiative throughout its history, expanding the presence of professional soccer in the United States and Canada.
Abbott has served in various leadership roles in MLS since joining the league, from senior vice president to chief operating officer and finally as deputy commissioner and president. Through his tenure, MLS has grown from 10 clubs in 1996 to 29 clubs in 2023, during which time per club valuations increased from $5 million to $1 billion. Among his other accomplishments, Abbott negotiated over $3.5 billion in expansion and team sales agreements and managed the league’s oversight of over $3 billion in stadium development projects.
As the distinguished executive-in-residence at Georgetown, Abbott will provide faculty, students and university leaders with insights and perspectives from his career.
Previous executives-in-residence include Meroe Park (SFS’89), former executive director for the CIA, and Robert Mueller, one of the longest-serving directors of the FBI.
“On my first day as an undergraduate, my English professor, Michael Collins, told the class that one day we will jump at the chance to return to Georgetown, and I am very grateful to President DeGioia for providing Mareta and me with this opportunity to be part of the Georgetown community,” Abbott said.
Hamre, a new research fellow at Georgetown, most recently served as the pastor of First Church of Round Hill in Greenwich, Connecticut. As pastor, Hamre led the church’s congregation through worship services and managed the church’s staff and operations.
Prior to her ministry career, Hamre spent 16 years as an attorney specializing in corporate bankruptcy law, attaining the rank of partner and of-counsel at Stutman, Treister & Glatt P.C. in Los Angeles, California. In addition to her J.D, she received her master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary, completing her undergraduate studies at Harvard University.
As a research fellow at the Berkley Center, Hamre will continue working on her book studying St. Augustine’s Confessions and the role Augustine’s son played in the famed saint’s conversion to Christianity.
“I am eager to learn from and to take advantage of the outstanding resources, community and expertise at Georgetown,” Hamre said.
