Streeter Pulls Name For Consideration As Permanent USOC CEO

By Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

Streeter Will Not Seek Permanent USOC CEO Job After Taking Role In March

USOC Acting CEO Stephanie Streeter has withdrawn her name from consideration for the organization's permanent chief executive position and will step down as soon as the organization has found a new leader. The USOC's BOD today announced that the organization has formed a search committee to find a permanent CEO and plans to hire a search firm by the end of the month to assist in identifying candidates. It hopes to name a CEO by the end of the first quarter of '10. Streeter's decision to step aside and the Board's decision to pursue a permanent CEO comes on the same day NGB execs were set to hold a conference call and possibly hold a no-confidence vote in the USOC leadership. USOC Chair Larry Probst said, “We are going to be very thoughtful about this, engage all our stakeholders and make sure we find a truly extraordinary individuals because this is an extraordinary challenging position. Obviously, what we’re doing internationally is not living up to our expectations. We’ve got to be different, we’ve got to change, and we’ve got to be better.”

LATEST OBSTACLE FOR USOC: Streeter's decision to remove her name from consideration comes on the heels of Chicago's embarrassing first-round exit in Friday's selection of a host city for the '16 Olympics. She took over the leadership of the USOC in March following the ouster of former CEO Jim Scherr, who the USOC board felt could not lead the organization during challenging economic times. NGB leaders, corporate partners and reporters questioned the timing of Streeter's ascent from the USOC's board to the position of CEO and her compensation package, which was reported by the Chicago Tribune to be in excess of $1M, twice as much as her predecessor. NBC Sports and Olympics Chair Dick Ebersol yesterday said on MSNBC that Streeter and the rest of the USOC leadership's failure to build relationships with the IOC played a key role in Chicago losing the '16 Games to Rio de Janeiro. Under Streeter, the USOC claims it exceeded budgeted revenues by 10% while reducing expenses by 17%. During her leadership, the USOC also announced a new partnership with Deloitte and Proctor & Gamble but lost financial services partner Bank of America. Streeter noted her decision was really about returning to the corporate sector and was made before the IOC vote in Copenhagen. She said the corporate sector is "where I’ve been successful." Streeter: "It’s more about a decision to go back to that than anything else. ... I want to make sure that when we do have a search the board has a clean slate to work from. I’ve enjoyed working here. It’s a good time to step away and make sure the right CEO is chosen for the position." Streeter will not return to the USOC board. She vacated her seat on the board when she became CEO and that seat will be filled by someone else in the coming weeks.

SEARCH COMMITTEE DETAILS: The search committee will be chaired by USOC Board member and Stanford Univ. AD Bob Bowlsby. It will include three USOC BOD members and four representatives from USOC member organizations -- the National Governing Bodies Council, the Athletes Advisory Council, the Multi Sport Organization Council and the U.S. Olympians Association. It also will include Paralympic representation. The committee will recommend up to three finalists and the USOC BOD will choose the permanent CEO from among those finalists. Nine search firms have expressed interest in the process. Those firms will be interviewed by Probst and Bowlsby. The USOC will develop a comprehensive profile for the candidate and is looking for someone who is multilingual and possesses executive skills similar to Streeter’s, along with a background in sports, Probst said. They also have to be willing to travel around the world to help the USOC build a better relationship with the international Olympic movement. Probst: “We have good relationships but the reality is we don’t have political capital. We don’t have leverage.”

PROBST NOT LEAVING: Probst said he had no plans to resign, but added, “I serve at the discretion of the USOC board. It’s clear to me that going forward in order to be as effective as possible it needs to be done on a full-time basis and I’m willing to make that commitment.”

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