USA Swimming has confirmed the names of the 10 employees who accepted Voluntary Separation Packages (VSPs) as part of USA Swimming’s efforts to reduce costs amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
USA Swimming emphasized that all of the organization’s employees were offered the same terms to their packages, with the actual amounts varying based on years of service, and that 10 out of the organization’s 91 employees accepted the offer. This is an addition to Mitch Dalton, the former National Junior Team Director, who took a position at the University of Texas. USA Swimming says some of those positions will be filled when more details about the financial future are known, and that some may not.
USA Swimming Employees Who Took Voluntary Separation Packages:
- Cathy Durance – Director of Member Services
- Tom Avischious – Senior Director, Team Services
- Joel Stauffer – Web Producer (website, footage requests)
- Mark Hesse – Performance Development Manager
- Mike Meadows – Senior Software Engineer
- Nicole Wilson – Senior Manager of Development
- Randy Julian – Central Zone Program Development Manager
- Scott Colby – Performance Development Manager
- Sydney Pinello – Education & Programs Coordinator
- Jean Skjerly – Purchasing Coordinator
The longest-tenured of those leaving is Cathy Durance, who has been at the USA Swimming National office for a whopping 38 years in various capacities. Tom Avischious, who has been with USA Swimming for almost 25 years, also accepted a package. Prior to his time with USA Swimming, Avischious was the head age group coach at the famed Carmel Swim Club in Indiana. He was also the highest-ranking employee to receive a package.
Joel Stauffer, whose rolls included web producer and video production assistant, had been with USA Swimming since May of 2004 – over 16 years – after graduating from Nebraska with a degree in Journalism in 2002.
Mark Hesse will be among the most visible names on the list for much of the swimming community. He has been with USA Swimming as an employee since 2011, and before that served for more than 7 years as a member of several committees.
While most of those who accepted packages span back to the pre-Tim-Hinchey-as-CEO-era, a handful are relatively new hires. For example, Mike Meadows had only been with the organization for just over a year.
4 of the 10 come from the same group, the Sport Development Team, which is led by Joel Shinofield. That group supports the growth of the sport at all levels and includes the recognition programs, National Select Camps, Team Services, education programs, data analytics, and Membership Services.
USA Swimming says that some of these positions will ultimately need to be filled again, while others may not, depending on the needs of the organization when the sport normalizes again.
its a coup… RIP grassroots USA Swimming
Mark Hesse is a huge loss.
So, for the average swim club, or even the better than average swim club, we can expect less from USA Swimming in the time of crisis for many clubs.
Yep… These were good people that got out in the field, worked hard and got their hands dirty. Just read about some of the comments people made. There was a time when USA Swimming had a surplus of money (that was funded by members and clubs) to handle “rainy day” situations like COVID-19. Unfortunately, this money has gone to overpaid executives, lawyers, sexual abuse lawsuit settlements and even lobbyist in California. The bad actors will continue to get paid and the membership will pay more and get less. There’s no end in sight to this problem because of the poor leadership from Tim Hinchey and his inner circle.
Guerra, Interested to know who these bad actors who “continue to get paid” are? You come on this board and haven’t put one positive comment on any post, just bash swimming and USA Swimming, but don’t even seem to be a fan of the sport.
Also, interested in your false info on a rainy day fund? USA Swimming is a 501c3 so I highly doubt your information.
As of December 31, 2019, the USA Swimming Foundation had about $1.5 million in cash and about $19.5 million in investments. USA Swimming had $5.6 million in cash and $53.6 million in long term investments. Most of that cash increase was from the sale of the offshore insurance company, and much of that cash was already earmarked. Unfortunately, audited financials for USA Swimming are only available back to 2017, and while we could probably deduce some info from form 990s (which are available back to 2001 that I’ve found), that would be a lot of work.
Do the $53.6 million in long term investments count as a rainy day fund? Again, not entirely clear. It appears that most of that… Read more »
Guerra does post positive things. This person seems to be a fan of Ray Looze and a lot of club programs. Guerra just seems to dislike the perceived corrupt people in USA Swimming along with Bob Bowman.
Sad to see many of these people leave. They have always been a great resource for coaches and teams and are all around just nice people. Best of luck and hope to continue to see them on the pool deck.
I worked with Mitch Dalton on an error in the 18u World 100 list this winter and he couldn’t have been more responsive, helpful, kind or considerate. This is a loss for USAS and the national junior team. The Texas women got a good one here. Best of luck to him.
There are some GREAT losses among the staff that was lost – WE will not immediately replace the connections and rapport these folks had.
Several of these people were instrumental in helping teams and coaches through the changes we are all enduring.
USA Swimming will need to replace these folks – not sure how this really moves things forward – when there are SO many things that need to be addressed (competitions, creating National Team Atmosphere, etc-etc).
I think USA Swimming owes its members (who are the heart and soul) an explanation of how this helps and why this decision was made.
I personally would have like to stay status quo and tighten budgets through next summer.
To the staff… Read more »
I agree with OLDCOACH. USA Swimming has long been a cesspool of corruption, a gross lack of transparency and nepotism at the employee, executive, board and LSC levels. After the most recent lawsuits and the current FBI investigation, I’m not so sure if Hinchey decided to cut bait with mostly hires (innocent or not) from Chuck Wielgus’ tenure to distance himself and the organization from the sexual abuse cover-ups, lies and scandals from that era. Unfortunately, there is much more that needs to be done to rectify this issue. Anyone that was on one of the USA Swimming Boards and allowed Wielgus and his inner circle to perpetuate their evil and financial shell games should not be working at USA… Read more »
Not among that list, but also recently departed, but scheduled for many months prior, are my old friends, Mick and Sue Nelson. They both are rich with knowledge in terms of facilities and aquatics. They are setting up shop in their own firm and out of the realm of the USA Swimming Foundation these days.
That mission of getting water in the control of swimming coaches, with a good number now who have built their own pools, has been a terrible weakness for the decades in the past. We were always tied to YMCAs, Universities, Park Districts. They helped to champion the business senses and economic landscape — topics where we have much more to learn throughout the profession.… Read more »
Mark, I couldn’t agree with you more. Mike and Sue were/are a wealth of information throughout the process in developing the ideas of FMC Natatorium in Illinois. Countless phone calls and conversation regarding building products and resources saved us time and money. Tom, Randy, Mark, and Scott I want to say Thank You in helping me develop in my profession as a coach. For the many current and past employees of US Swimming……..Thank You for your dedication, tireless efforts, packing up a suitcase from place to place to be helpful!!!
All the best, Dave