More than 30 USOPC employees have accepted a voluntary severance package as the organization begins to implement cost-cutting initiatives, according to USOPC Chief People Officer Bobbi McPherson. All USOPC employees received an email last Monday, April 27, with an offer of two weeks of severance for every year of service, from a minimum of four years up to a maximum of 26, plus an additional four weeks. Employees were also offered a cash lump sum to fully cover COBRA health insurance premiums for the entirety of their severance period. The signing deadline was 6:00pm MT yesterday. McPherson said the voluntary severance package is the first step in the USOPC’s spending cuts. “We’ve communicated to our whole organization that … we are going through an exercise that includes the voluntary program first, then a program-by-program review of all programs and services that are provided, and which could very well impact people as well, so that we can get our expense structure in line with the revenue projections going forward.” The severance offers were initially presented by CEO Sarah Hirshland at a leadership team meeting, which included members at the VP level and above, on April 24.
TOUGH DECISIONS: The USOPC has been facing significant financial strain following the delay of the Tokyo Games to '21, and Hirshland has stated publicly that the USOPC is planning to cut its budget by 10-20% across the next quadrennial. McPherson added that following phases of expense reduction may include staff furloughs or layoffs, and that a priority will be “trying to maintain connectivity to the staff that we need to run the training centers” in Colorado Springs and Lake Placid. Sources said USOPC Senior VP and Managing Dir of Marketing & Media Brian Gordon has accepted a severance package. On Thursday morning, Gordon announced on Twitter that he was leaving the USOPC. Multiple individuals also suggested USOPC VP/Bids & Protocol Chris Sullivan was considering taking the buyout. Sullivan, who joined the USOPC in '97, is the USOPC’s longest-tenured executive team member.
