Minutes of the February 1, 2017 Usrowing Board of Directors Meeting
Minutes of the February 1, 2017 USRowing Board of Directors Meeting
Telephonic meeting 7:00 pm ET
Members Present:
Meghan O’Leary
Kris Thorsness
Sheila Tolle
Jim Dietz
Joe Manion
Nick LaCava
David Banks
Nick LaCava
Members Absent:
Jamie Redman
Bill Donoho
Others present:
Matt Imes
1. FISA Congress Tenets:
The Board discussed the upcoming FISA vote regarding a change to the Olympic rowing program, and recommendations to the IOC, which has the final call. This kind of analysis is done every four years, and the rowing program is scrutinized each quadrennial. The LM4- margins vs. heavies is small, and IOC doesn’t seem to feel that universality requires lightweight rowing. If gender equity progress is made by sacrificing LM4- to add the women’s 4-, FISA may concede. FISA has issued tenets/priorities:
o Place FISA in a strong working position within the Olympic Movement- meaning that we enable FISA to set the path for our program and support their guidance in the IOC politics;
o Maintain minimum of 14 Olympic events;
o Create gender equity among events in Olympic program
o Maintain current athlete quota
o Retain opportunities for lightweight racing in the Olympic program
These documents will be posted on the USRowing website, and possibly a press release, to give the U.S. rowing community information on this process. Don Langford, Glenn Merry and Matt Imes will attend the FISA conference.
Motion by Nick LaCava to adopt the FISA tenets above, seconded by Jim Dietz. No further discussion; unanimously approved.
Matt Imes left the call at 7:28
2. HPC Update:
Nick LaCava has reached out to Nick Peterson and the ISC about working on HPC governance matters. The proposed HPC members have been contacted, and a press release will be issued once all of them have committed. The HPTF report will be provided to the HPC, subject to non-disclosure agreement to protect confidential information, which will be edited from the version that will be publicly released.
3. Communications Update:
The February USRowing newsletter will include a letter from Meghan O’Leary about our progress and the recent change, in order to be transparent and keep the membership up to date. Meghan also reported that USRowing staff are interviewing some strong candidates for the Marketing position and expects to have it completed this month.
4. CEO Search Update:
Sheila Tolle has a call tomorrow with Prodigy, a sports leadership search firm, to understand their process and rate schedule. Prodigy placed the CEOs for Table Tennis, Tae Kwon Do, Luge, Curling, and the 2017 Sarasota Rowing Worlds, and Rick Adams at USOC speaks well of them. The board discussed whether to conduct the search using Board members and stakeholders/people from the USRowing community, or use a professional search firm. The USOC has also offered assistance in drafting the job description, posting, etc. Sheila discussed a proposed possible search committee members, and a general outline of the proposed search process.
5. Collegiate series:
Gary Caldwell, on behalf of the IRA, has asked to have their funds escrowed from USRowing’s general funds. Meghan O’Leary, Sheila Tolle and Glenn Merry will meet with Gary, and report back.
6. Director Elections / Nominations update;
Kris Thorsness reported about the number of applicants for each seat, and the expected process that the nominating committee will follow. The committee is meeting as early as this weekend to select about 12 interviewees, then schedule interviews for those candidates and make prioritized recommendations to the Board around 2/21.
Meeting adjourned 8:27 pm