The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has cut more than 25% of its workforce in less than a month, a move that has relieved some financial pressure but has also created gaps in leadership and jettisoned decades of institutional knowledge. It has also left people throughout the Olympic business questioning how well the USOPC will function in the future.
“There’s no way — I don’t care what kind of organization you are — you can eliminate [25]% of your workforce and not be affected,” said one Olympic marketing consultant.
What has emerged as the most common concern is a lack of clarity in both the USOPC’s rationale and its future plans. “It’s hard for us to see,” said Athlete Advisory Council chair Han Xiao. “One of the issues is we don’t have a ton of insight into the day-to-day. We don’t know what the evaluation process is for these layoffs and furloughs.”
USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said that she’s confident the organization still has “the tools and resources we need, both financial and human capital, to perform and excel and serve the athletes in the way we need to,” though she also acknowledged the magnitude of the losses and said there will be an adjustment period. Thirty staffers accepted new positions within the organization, and several executives who took voluntary buyouts will need to be replaced. All told, the total workforce of about 540 has been cut by some 140 jobs, including more than 30 buyouts, 51 layoffs, 33 furloughs and 23 contractor terminations.
The USOPC eliminated two executive positions, chief of staff and chief marketing and communications officer, the latter of which was vacated when Luella Chavez D’Angelo stepped down in April. Current Chief of Staff Katie Bynum will assume the newly created role of chief strategy and growth officer. Among the voluntary departures are Wendy Guthrie, vice president of athlete safety, and Chris Coleman, associate director of athlete marketing. Hirshland said Guthrie’s responsibilities will be merged into a new chief of security and athlete safety role assumed by current chief of security, Nicole Deal, who will now report to Bahati VanPelt, chief of athlete services. There is no firm plan yet for replacing Coleman, an 18-year veteran who helped connect sponsors and athletes for endorsement deals.
There were also significant cuts in the communications department, which included longtime staffers Lindsay Hogan and Maureen Weekes, who each worked over a decade at USOPC. “On an operational side, they handled everything,” said athlete agent Brant Feldman. “A lot of institutional knowledge went away with those two being laid off.”
One avenue of relief is LA28 and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Properties joint venture, which will formally take on sponsorship fulfillment duties at the end of the year. Hirshland says that relationship will continue to evolve. She also noted that the vast majority of cuts affected the Olympic training centers, which were largely shuttered in March.
