Dale Neuburger Appointed FINA Treasurer, Will Run Unopposed For Role In June

FINA has appointed Dale Neuburger to finish out the current term as FINA Treasurer. He is the sole candidate for the position next term and is expected to be elected in June.

Former treasurer Pipat Paniangvait resigned this spring when longtime executive director Cornel Marculescu stepped down. Paniangvait had been FINA’s treasurer since 2009.

Neuburger is the United States Aquatic Sports (USAS) representative to the FINA Bureau. He’s been a Vice President with FINA since 2000. A USA Swimming Board of Directors meeting in 2018 revealed that Neuburger planned to retire in 2021. With that expected vacancy, USA Swimming nominated Olympic icon Janet Evans to represent the Americas on the FINA Bureau.

But Evans withdrew from that post, with multiple sources at the time saying Neuburger planned to seek the FINA presidency. Neuburger said he was too busy to discuss the matter with us during our reporting, but quickly moved to deny the rumors the day after our report.

Neuburger won’t be taking over the FINA presidency, but will remain in a high-ranking position within the world’s governing body for swimming. Neuburger was appointed to serve as treasurer for the remainder of Paniangvait’s term. This summer, Neuburger is the only candidate to hold the position for the next term. He is expected to be elected during FINA’s General Congress on June 5.

That Congress will also elect a new president. Husain Al-Musallam of Kuwait is the sole candidate. That’s a departure from the last election for FINA President, a contentious 2017 battle in which Julio Maglione won re-election after working to alter age limits to allow him to remain in that role. Challenger Paolo Barelli made a number of corruption allegations leveled at Maglione and his administration.

Both Al-Musallam and Neuburger were central to those allegations. Barelli accused both Al-Musallam and Neuburger of ethics violations, claiming they had helped Barelli’s opponent in the campaign for president of the European aquatics federation, LEN. Barelli pointed to Neuburger’s work with consulting firm TSE, which ran the campaign of Barelli’s opponent. A FINA Ethics Panel ruled that there were no conflicts of interest present in that situation, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Barelli’s appeal.