Elections are completed and, in addition to the 3 athlete members elected on Friday, 6 new at-large members of the USA Swimming Board of Directors have been named on Saturday after an election by the House of Delegates.
With the restructuring of the Board of Directors, the new members were elected to different terms, in order of the number of votes received, in order to set up future staggering of terms.
The 6 new directors were chosen from among 15 nominees, and includes 2 semi-independent representatives, which are defined as: individuals with a demonstrable connection to the sport, but who have not previously been members of the House of Delegates. USA Swimming President & CEO Tim Hinchey III and General Counsel & Vice President of Business Affairs Lucinda McRoberts will continue to serve as ex-officio, non-voting members.
They will join 6 returning members, who are representatives of each Zones, returning Chair of the Board Jim Sheehan, and National Team Steering Committee Chair Jim Wood.
- Chris Brearton* – 4-year term – former college swimmer, University of Georgia; sports media rights attorney, COO of MGM
- Dr. Cecil Gordon – 3-year term – USA Swimming Life Member, has served on 4 National Committees; 20-year active official, starter at the 2015 World Championships and 2016 Olympic Games;
- Jeanette Skow* – 3-year term – former college swimmer, Princeton University; 20-year Air Force veteran; former JAG Corps attorney
- Jay Thomas – 3-year term – 20-year US Naval Reserve Veteran; 23-year commercial Airline Pilot; 20-year USA Swimimng official; Member of USA Swimming Board of Directors, 2000-2014; FINA Official – 2008-2016
- Tom Ugast – 2-year term – CEO of Nation’s Capital Swim Club, which has approximately 50 coaches and 1,850 athletes in their competitive program
- Robert Vincent – 2-year term – Board of Directors, Florida Citrus Sports (Selection Committee); founder, President, and CEO of VW International, Inc. – a healthcare facilities company
* – Semi-independent members
This completes the 15-voting members of the USA Swimming Board of Directors. In late October, the board will elect its own officer positions from among its membership, including Board Chair, Vice Chair and Vice Chair Fiscal Oversight.
Returning BOD Members:
- Jim Sheehan, 2014-2018 Chair of the Board
- Dale Ammon, Western Zone (Non-Coach)
- John Bradley, Central Zone (Coach)
- John Roy, Southern Zone (Coach)
- Mary Turner, Eastern Zone (Non-Coach)
- Jim Wood, National Team Steering Committee Chair
Athlete BOD Members (elected Friday):
- Natalie Coughlin – 4 years (12-time Olympic medalist)
- Maya DiRado – 3 years (2016 Olympic gold, silver, and bronze medalist)
- Davis Tarwater – 2 years (2012 Olympic gold medalist)
The US governing bodies have been alright. I hope they put pressure on the IOC and FINA to clean up their act. Those agencies are corrupt to the core. Let’s hope they get Dale Neuberger out of US Swimming. He can be either a board member or a lobbyist, not both.
I’d add the USOC and Safesport.org to that list.
The USOC needs to deal directly with the IOC and WADA.
We (USA-Swimming) mainly deal with FINA (rules and Regulation) items.