USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey made less money in 2022 than the year prior, but his six-figure bonus still raised some eyebrows given the organization’s heavy financial losses suffered last year.
Hinchey was compensated $973,463 in 2022, down slightly from his $1,037,208 total in 2021. His base salary increased from $640,566 to $655,318, but he received a bonus of $236,205 compared to $325,000 in 2021.
USA Swimming lost $17 million in net assets last year while running a $10 million operational deficit, but Hinchey’s 2022 bonus appears to be for his performance from the year prior. His bonus is based on key performance indicators (KPIs) evaluated by the Executive Compensation Committee, which in 2022 was composed of chair Natalie Coughlin, Bob Vincent, Bruce Gemmell, and staff liaison Eric Skufca.
Hinchey hit all of his KPIs for competitive success at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 as well as National Team support. Team USA won 30 medals in the pool, more than its target of 28, while also winning the gold medal count (11). Notably, average monthly National Team stipends increased by $1,000 in 2021. Hinchey also achieved an important KPI by increasing the organization’s membership retention rate to 67.2% from 66.4% in 2020.
However, USA Swimming membership decreased by 80,000 members in 2021, down 19.6% from the last full season in 2019 (the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the 2020 season). Overall membership reached its lowest point since 2008, with full-tie premium membership at its lowest since 2004 and 12&under membership at its lowest since 1996.
USA Swimming fell short on one of its diversity KPIs for the second year in a row as multi-cultural membership dropped to 21.3% in 2021, down from 21.69% in 2020 and 21.7% in 2019. SafeSport training was completed in just 3.7% of registered athlete households, well short of the 10% target. The organization failed KPIs for annual growth in TV/digital viewership and growth in attendance (measured by percentage of venue capacity). Attendance averaged 66% across the 2021 Pro Swim Series, falling short of the 80% target.
CEO Tim Hinchey‘s Compensation by Year
- 2022: $973,463
- 2021: $1,037,208
- 2020: $706,197
- 2019: $792,207
- 2018: $721,101
- 2017: $319,728
Hinchey’s 2017-2022 total: $4,549,904
Hinchey’s predecessor, Chuck Wielgus, earned $1,032,978 and $1,213,546 in his final two years on payroll in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Here’s how their salaries stack up as percentages of USA Swimming’s total revenue dating back to 2011:
According to a study by Excellence in Giving from 2021-22, total income is the most significant factor influencing CEO pay. Hinchey’s salary accounted for 2.6% of USA Swimming’s total revenue in 2022. Based on an analysis of major national governing bodies (NGBs) in the U.S., only USA Track and Field CEO Max Siegel (3.4%) and USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley (3.1%) earned a larger proportion of their organization’s total revenue.
CEO Salaries at Major U.S. Sports NGBs
| NGB | Total Revenue | CEO Salary | Salary as % of Revenue |
| USA Track and Field | $37.9 million | Max Siegel, $1,307,769 | 3.4% |
| USA Basketball | $17.6 million | Jim Tooley, $540,211 | 3.1% |
| USA Swimming | $37.3 million | Tim Hinchey, $973,463 | 2.6% |
| USA Gymnastics | $38.2 million | Li Li Leung, $664,299 | 1.7% |
| USA Volleyball | $38.32 million | Jamie Davis, $626,052 | 1.6% |
| USA Soccer | $122.3 million | Head coach Gregg Berhalter, $1,678,820; sporting director Earnie Stewart, $822,361 | 1.4% for Berhalter, 0.7% for Stewart |
| US Equestrian Foundation | $34.58 million | William Moroney, $413,163 | 1.2% |
| USA Hockey | $49.89 million | Patrick Kelleher, $404,144 | 0.8% |
| USA Ski and Snowboard | $32.05 million | Tiger Shaw, $226,832 | 0.7% |
| US Tennis Association | $334.85 million | Michael Dowse, $1,404,751 | 0.4% |
(Data from 2022 form 990 filings except for US Tennis Association, from 2021)
USA Swimming paid Hinchey $1.037 million in 2021, or about 2.8% of its revenue that year ($37 million). That was a larger proportion than every major NGB except for the big outlier, USA Track and Field, which paid Siegel a whopping $3.8 million in 2021 — triple his earnings from the previous year — after bringing in $33.7 million in revenue.
Using 2021 registration numbers to s intellectually dishonest. That covers athletes registering from Sept 2020 to Aug 2021 Many LSC’s were only running virtual meets and many clubs cut back opportunities for full participation for younger swimmers. As a result the use of Flex memberships or not even registering athletes increased. This is a direct result of cobs who chose to only support high level swimmers and not ALL swimmers. Also a record number of clubs folded. You picked the one outlier year to make your point. Why don’t you share 2022 and 2023 data which is availible? Perhaps it would support your pre determined conclusion?
The membership numbers I pulled were directly from a KPI that Hinchey’s 2022 bonus was based on. Plus, USA Swimming still hasn’t published its 2022 membership demographics report so I’m not sure the updated data you referenced is as readily available as you think
Using 2021 data is intellectually not comparable. Clubs folded, intentionally didn’t register 10 and unders due to lack of competition opportunities, and more. You didn’t volunteer any of that context in your sorry attempt at a hit piece. Maybe he is bad at his job but this isn’t the best way to make your point and I am fairly
Confident 2022 data is availible if you just ask USA swimming!
https://staging.swimswam.com/usa-swimming-delaying-release-of-2022-membership-data-until-2024/
interesting. Minor nit to pick is the inclusion of Gregg Berhalter and Earnie Stewart as comps. While I’m assuming they may have been the highest paid employees at US Soccer, it is not an apples-to-apples comparison. The better comps would be JT Batson / Will Wilson, depending on the year of comparison.
Love the seasonal charm to the line graph in Christmas colors. Also underscores the trajectory changes in the red lines and black lines. ’nuff said.
Hinchey needs to be relieved of his duties immediately, and not wait until after the Olympics. I’m sure he’s a good father and husband, but he’s in over his skis, out of his league and been poisoned by the corruption of the people (staff, lawyers, board members, etc.) that caused USA Swimming their current problems. He was advised by his attorneys to lie (or intentionally mislead) in his congressional testimony and he actually admitted in a sworn deposition for a sexual abuse lawsuit to never doing the child protection training (or even reading the materials). The same “mandatory’ training that he and his henchmen jammed down clubs, coaches and volunteers’ throats all WHILE raising their dues and fees they pay!… Read more »
Stop sugarcoating it.
I remember watching a Youtube video a few years ago on Cody Miller’s channel where he mentioned his stipend was around 50k. Can’t imagine it be much more than that now. I am sure some of the athletes who helped him hit his “athletic performance” KPI wouldn’t be opposed to a bit more compensation. Seems like a guy running the business end of things should be more heavily weighted on business metrics.
Definitely need to examine the national athlete stipend validity. Believe it is much lower than stated.
Swim swam tell us who is on a witch hunt! The level of cluelessness how the businesses operate and subjectivity in all these articles about USA swimming and Tim H is appalling.
Jeff Bezos: “Any high-performing organization has to have mechanisms and a culture that supports truth telling”
As Jeff explains in the clip below:
“Truths often don’t want to be heard. Important truths can be uncomfortable, awkward, exhausting, challenging. They can make people defensive, even if that’s not the intent. But any high-performing organization—whether it’s a sports team, a business, a political organization, or activist group—has to have mechanisms and a culture that supports truth telling.”
And one of the things you have to do to support this kind of culture is talk about it:
“You have to talk about the fact that it takes energy to do that. And you have to remind people that it’s ok that it’s uncomfortable.… Read more »
What are they missing?
In a normal business, these results would have him out in a minute. Too much fat at the top.
The question I have after reading this story is that if the bonus he received in 2022 is the result of benchmarks he hit in 2021, including the performance of the athletes in Tokyo, why was the bonus bigger in 2021? What benchmarks did he hit in the 2020 covid year when everything was shut down that prompted a big bonus in 2021?