The USOC has reached into the real estate industry to hire its first Chief of Business Operations, tapping Highwood Properties Senior VP/Strategy & Administration KEVIN PENN for the job. Penn is expected to play a key role in reconsidering how sport programs are funded as part of a broader mission to develop data-based performance standards throughout Team USA. He will directly oversee USOC audit, business intelligence, facilities, finance, IT, security and strategic planning divisions, assuming duties previously held by retired CFO & Treasurer WALT GLOVER and former Chief of Organizational Excellence BENITA FITZGERALD MOSLEY. Penn will report to CEO SCOTT BLACKMUN. In addition to his direct managerial duties, Penn will act as a quality-control czar across the organization, Blackmun said in an interview when the job was first posted. But outsized attention will come to his role in sport funding. Blackmun said he wants data analytics to play a larger role in deciding how USOC money is divvied up across 47 subsidiary NGBs, rewarding sports where additional investment is most likely to yield Olympic medals. Those decisions will remain under control of Chief of Sport Performance ALAN ASHLEY, but Penn is expected to play a major advisory role. Penn has not worked in sports before. He will relocate with his family to USOC HQ in Colorado Springs and start July 18.
