2 Seats On USA Swimming Board Of Directors To Be Filled This Weekend

Two seats on the USA Swimming Board of Directors are to be filled this weekend as the House of Delegates are set to elect the successful nominees. The two positions available are At-Large Director and Athlete Representative.

The former will be voted upon on September 26th at 10:00 am ET by the House of Delegates, with an electronic vote running from September 19th-25th to decide the latter. The outgoing members whose terms are expiring are Davis Tarwater and Tom Ugast.

Nominees:

• Jon Kossow (At-Large)
• Kathleen Fish (At-Large)
• Eileen Hoffmann (At-Large)
• Caitlin Leverenz Smith (Athlete Rep)
• Cammile Adams (Athlete Rep)
• Katie Meili (Athlete Rep)
• Click here to watch video statements from each candidate

Selection Process:

• Twenty-one (21) completed applications were submitted for the two seats to be elected.
• All nine members of the Nominating Committee individually reviewed each application. The initial screening process included both a scoring matrix and conference calls in which the committee discussed each applicant. The Committee selected 13 applicants to advance to the interview process.
• Each of these applicants were interviewed by two committee members. Responses and impressions from each initial interview were shared with the full committee. Upon further discussions regarding each applicant, 10 candidates were invited to participate in a second interview with other committee members.
• After further discussions, the committee contacted and completed at least one reference check, and verified background checks, for each of the nominees advanced to the ballot.

The Nominating Committee:

• Mary Wallack, Chair (Board appointee – Semi-Independent)
• Maya DiRado Andrews (USA Swimming Foundation appointee)
• Tim Bauer (Senior Development Committee appointee – Coach)
• Cecil Gordon (Board appointee – Board member)
• Liz Kershaw (Age Group Committee appointee – Coach)
• Kurt von Moltke (Board appointee – Semi-Independent)
• Kathleen Klein Prindle (Board appointee – Board member)
• Stephen Schmuhl (Athlete appointee)
• Shannon Vreeland (Athlete appointee)

Of the 6 nominees, 5 of them are women. Those that have been vetted and recommended for the At-Large position have all served on numerous board of directors for  in the past.

The women going for the athlete representative seat have all won World or Olympic medals, each of them having an extensive swimming background.

At-Large Nominees

• Jon Kossow is a Managing Partner at Norwest Venture Partners in Palo Alto, California. He has been a board member of more than 15 companies across a variety of industries. He graduated from Harvard, where he was a member of the swimming team, with a degree in Biology. However, his introduction to the sport came at the age of 5 when he swam for the Badger Swim Club in Larchmont, N.Y. Since leaving college, he has swam at a Masters level and more recently, served as president of the summer swim league in which his kids compete.
• Kathleen Fish is the Chief Research, Development and Innovation Officer at P&G and leads the innovation program for the global brand. Her work includes investing in cultures, capabilities and technologies on brands such as Tide, Febreze, Pampers, Tampax, Pantene, Gillette and Crest. Prior to her successful career, she graduated Michigan State University with a degree in Chemical Engineering. Her involvement in swimming spans 50 years: 15 as a swimmer (Michiana Marlins, Michigan State University), 10 as an age-group coach, 20 as a parent, 4 as a board member for Cincinnati Marlins and her current position as Chair of A Matter of 50 Meters (Mason Manta Ray facility fundraising).
• Eileen Hoffmann is the Founder and CEO of Fashionable Investing LLC. She has two decades of asset management experience and has successfully led an international team of investment professionals. She has a BBA in Business Economics with honors from the University of San Diego and a Master of Arts in Economics from University of Denver. Her swimming career began in Colorado, 1980. She then went on to earn a collegiate women’s swimming scholarship at the University of San Diego. Today she is an active member of her local swimming community and since 2017, has served as president on the Board of Directors of Mountain Hi Swim League.

Athlete Representative Nominees

• Caitlin Leverenz Smith was a member of the USA Swimming National Team for over a decade and won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games. She has two NCAA National Championship Wins to her name, as well as 9 individual and relay wins. She captained her college team in her senior year and also captained the USA National Team on 5 separate occasions. She has a degree in Public Health from UC Berkeley and is has just completed a full-time MBA program at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
• Cammile Adams is a double Olympian and began swimming at age 4 and throughout her career, became a two-time NCAA Champion, seven-time NCAA All-American and a team captain. She was a 200m butterfly specialist and is a Texas A&M alumni. She also has a gold medal from the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships and a silver medal from the 2015 World Championships to her name. Since her retirement from the sport, she has established a Learn To Swim business which now has 6 locations across Houston.
• Katie Meili is a two-time Olympic medallist and former breaststroke specialist, winning bronze in the 100m breaststroke at the 2016 Rio Olympics and another bronze for her contribution to Team USA’s win in the 4x100m medley relay. She is a Psychology graduate from Columbia University and subsequently went on to graduate magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 2020. Last year she worked as a student attorney for the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic and has plans to join the law firm Jones Day, where she will practice corporate litigation.