New USOC CEO Hirshland Must Weigh Direction Of Reform
Incoming USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland will have to decide how closely to adhere to the reform direction set in motion by acting CEO Susanne Lyons and the BOD while the search played out. The lion’s share of the changes coming to the Olympic movement in the U.S. will play out over the course of the next few years, but the committee has already done surveys, commissioned the Ropes & Gray investigation into its own handling of the Larry Nassar scandal and created a commission to debate NGB governance reforms. That commission, led by WNBA President Lisa Borders, will begin meeting around the same time Hirshland is expected to start work.
“We have developed that plan,” Lyons said. “I’m very excited that Sarah will have an opportunity to come take a look at it and make it her own, and carry some of that important work forward.” At her introductory press conference, Hirshland declined to answer most questions about specific changes she feels are needed to the USOC’s policies, governance and culture, saying she is too new to have an informed opinion. However, as CEO, she will have considerable influence over the direction of the work.
During the final weeks of the search, Lyons said in a separate interview that all of the candidates were on board with the general direction of the reforms. In that same interview, Borders said the commission’s work will be an asset to a new CEO rather than a limitation on their own authority. Borders called the work a “nice umbrella of ‘This has been vetted across a wide variety of people and constituencies.’” She continued: “So it’s an easy strategic plan to take forward. I would see this as armor, if you will. The sword and the shield to make the organization better and leave an indelible fingerprint right out of the gate."
Hirshland will likely spend a lot of her time early in her tenure with Congress as it continues to contemplate changes to the Amateur Sports Act, which grants a monopoly over the Olympic team to the USOC. USOC Chair Larry Probst said, “Given the fact that most of the commercial responsibility will now move to the joint venture between the USOC and LA2028, I think that allows our new CEO a significant amount of time to spend in Washington to build and develop better relationships with our friends on Capitol Hill.”
